As the beginning of school draws near, I know there will be a lot of anxious first-year Western students. I was that person last year, not knowing what to do or where to even start. When my family helped me move in and then left me, it was a strange feeling. In all honesty, I had no idea what to expect but I rolled with the punches and now here I am a year later writing this article. I decided to break down a few questions a lot of my first-year friends have been asking me.
What do you do when you're not in class?
Personally, when I'm not in class I am usually spending time in one of the dinning halls, most likely the Viking Common on the north side of campus studying and eating lunch. If it was after the school day was ended, I usual was spending time with my friends in one of the lounges in one of our dorms. Lounges are cool spaces in the dorms where you can chill out and study or watch T.V. on someone's laptop without bothering a roommate.
What kind of things are there to do in Bellingham?
Bellingham is actually a really cool town! Sometimes on Saturdays there will be a farmers market in downtown, Bellingham. It a really cool place to get fresh veggies and other cool things. There are, also, a lot of cool bookstores in Fairhaven, one of them being Village Books. AB Crepes is another student favorite, as is Mallards--an ice cream place in downtown Bellingham that only takes cash. My friends and I even saw Misha Collin's at Mallards once.
Were you able to take all your first choice classes?
Not all of them. Western is a big school with a lot of kids. The higher you are credit-wise, the earlier you go in the class selection process. Make sure you know when your sign up date and time is, you can find that on your web4u account. Some of the smaller upper classes can be difficult for freshmen to get into. But, it's also the perfect year to get caught up on some pre-major requirements and GUR requirements!
What's your favorite place on campus?
My personal favorite place on campus is the library. It's a giant maze at first and I promise you will get lost, but there are a lot of cool spaces to study. The higher level you are the quieter it is, accommodating large study groups and smaller singles or pairs who just want to put headphones in and get to work. There is, also, a cool cafe/bagel shop inside the library called Zoe's where you can get all your coffee and snack needs while using maximum brainpower.
How are the dorms?
I may be a little biased because I work in ResLife, but I think the dorms are great! Each dorm community has their own Hall Council that creates and funds events that the residents in the dorm can part-take in. The RA's also work extremely hard to make each person's dorm experience the best that they possibly can. Always look around at the posters and flyers up at the dorms to make sure you don't miss any fun events!
All in all, I'm extremely glad that I chose to go to WWU. The views of the bay from the PAC take my breath away every time and I'm grateful to call Bellingham my second home.
