I decided I didn’t want to go to college a long time ago. As you can tell by me writing this in my dorm room, I changed my mind. This shocked everyone around me including myself but I love my choice. It was weird starting college as everyone is on their second semester, This is what I have learned so far.

1. They tell you nothing

Most of what I learned about the campus and how things worked was from the people around me. Thank god I have amazing suitemates who help me out! I didn’t even know we got bus passes from the school to get around the city!

2. Good luck making friends

People who come first semester get all these really cool bonding trips and events. The most we got was our IDs then told when classes start. This is both good and bad. For the shy people, you most likely will stick to being by yourself so this experience kind of forces you to go out of your comfort zone to make friends. Shout out to my suitemates for being amazing people!

3. You don’t get the warm experience.

Wisconsin is cold, man. There’s so much to do around here when it’s warm out so coming in the winter makes finding things to do a little bit harder. I’m a very outdoors type person and would love to go walking by the beach everyday or going on adventures exploring the city but that is very hard to do when you are shivering most of the time.

4. You don’t question the strange noises

My first few nights here the floor was vibrating. I just figured that was normal till I talked to my suitemate about it at lunch. Turns out the water pipe broke a few floors below us. We figured this out when we went to confront the people below us thinking they were the cause. The one guy looked scared and confused and said he was watching Aladdin with his girlfriend, the other jumped out of his room asking if we were talking about the mini-earthquakes.

5. Buying stuff for your dorm sucks

By the time you figure out what you need for your dorm, it’s already April so you need to decide if it is worth buying now or if you should just wait till next year. In my case, it was an electric kettle and I am so happy I got it before next year because I have consumed so much tea.

6. People are so helpful!

You don’t know where your classroom is? “Oh hunny it’s down that hall third door!” Need to know what stop to get off at? The people will be more than happy to let you know and remind you that your stop is coming up. I swear I would be so lost without everyone's help!