The countdown has reached zero, you’ve said goodbye to all your friends, and your dorm is all set up. Now what? Now it’s time to start what everyone keeps telling you are the “BEST FOUR YEARS!” of your life! Here are some of the common struggles I’ve found between me and my friends because unfortunately as freshman, we are all taking a ride on the struggle bus as we jump into our first week at hOUme.
1. Walking to your classes
Some freshmen had the smart idea of walking their classes ahead of time. Not me. For some reason, I thought I could just wing it. How hard could it be? Yeah. I was more lost than Alice on my first day of school. I had to attempt to secretly use my GPS to find where I was supposed to go, but when the GPS blurted out “in 200 ft. turn left” I knew I was busted.
2. Freshman 15
I think everyone can relate to the fear of the “Freshman 15." Before I stepped foot on the campus I told myself that I wouldn’t fall victim to it. But with Chipotle, Wendy’s, dining halls etc. all in walking distance I knew this would be a continuous struggle. After my first day of dining hall food, I thought I could balance how much I consumed with a good workout. Only problem. So did everyone else. I walked up to the Ping center only to see the line out the door and down the street. Not even exaggerating. I figure like the week after everyone has made their “New Year’s resolution” this won’t be long term.
3. Morton Hill
Everyone living in South or East Green knows the struggle of getting up this hill. You could be a three-time Olympic gold medalist and still not be in good enough shape to tackle the beast known as Morton Hill. Seriously can we petition to build an escalator or something?
4. Putting yourself out there
Some people go into college with what seems like their entire senior class and this is usually who they are BFFs with the first week of college. Kind of defeats the purpose of the whole making new friends and a fresh start don’t you think? Although it may seem like people are shut off, I’ve found that people genuinely want to make new friends. And also people LOVE compliments.
5. Read how many pages by tomorrow?
Homework on the first day? In my 12 years of schooling, I never had to do more than have my parents sign the “Code of Conduct” sheet. You know the sheet teachers give making you promise to act right? So when my math professor said “go ahead and start studying at the very least an hour a night,” I figured he was exaggerating. I mean I knew college was a lot of work, but c'mon, the VERY first day of school? I am at the end of my first week and I can already tell he was right.
College is definitely very different from high school. From the homework to walking more than three steps to each class, it’s something we will all have to get used to. But at least now you know if you struggled at all this first week you aren’t the only one.
