In the next few days, if it hasn't happened already, college campuses will be back in full swing. Complete with the smiling faces of numerous freshmen, ready to embark on their new life away from home. They arrive optimistic of leaving their high school days behind and enjoying their newfound freedoms. They expect University to be like that of an American Pie movie.
As upperclassmen, there are things that you begin to notice each and every year after the influx of freshmen. One of my personal favorites is the cringe-worthy running of the freshmen. Not to be outdone by the running of the bulls in Pamplona Spain, the running of the freshmen happens across numerous campuses' like the spread of a viral video.
Freshmen get lost because that is what freshmen do. Many of them are managing their free time on their own for the first time ever, so once they are late due to a variety of reasons they run (if you can call it that). Some newbies carry an unspoken confidence about them, it is these freshmen who will become leaders of their fraternities and sororities while enjoying the running of the freshman. The first days of class can prove problematic, especially if they do not possess an easygoing confidence in them.
They run to class and across campus the first few days. They seem to ignore the fact that being late to class during a syllabus week is the very most acceptable time of the school year to be late. For one, it is largely assumed that students will get lost or underestimate the length of the trek to class.
Secondly, you are not going to miss anything other than following along with a typically self-explanatory paper which will somehow need to be re-explained again later. There is no assignment due at the start of class. Lastly, it is not as if the professor will even know or notice you on your first day. Heck, they may not even know you by the end of the semester. You have a much higher likelihood of being known (in a negative way) by the upperclassman that you just ran into on the sidewalk.
It also never seems that the running freshmen look as if they ever jog any other time. Their form is usually terrible creating bad optics as they dodge in and out of their peers. Running with a backpack on does not help and I have seen many of freshmen drop their backpacks during their sprints only to have to stop to pick it back up, losing valuable time and social status.
Your mom took you out back to school shopping last week for some sweet new fashion which you just wrinkled and made sweaty before ever making it into a class. Your first impression to classmates is now wondering why you are sweating and breathing heavy for an 8:30 a.m. class. Nobody likes that person that they have to step aside for because you feel the need to run and possess little agility.
So before you start running to class these first few days of the year, please ask yourself if you want to risk ending up as a laughingstock via a Snapchat video. Calm down, take it slow. There will be a lot of stressors during your college career but don't make having to be on time to class the first day one because us upperclassmen will be watching and maybe laughing.
