Here are a few things that happen when you break out of the first-year status:
1. You finally get to utter the phrase, “Ugh, freshmen.”
With an ever-so-subtle tone of disgust in your voice, you can now comment on all of the stupid things frosh do (even though that was you only a few short months ago).
2. You get to choose your roomies.
Let’s face it, it doesn’t always work out when a computer matches you up with another person to share a living space with. By this time, you’ve (hopefully) found your people and can now call those friends your roommates.
3. You actually know people in the townhouses.
Any Fairfield student knows the freshman “Who do you know here?” struggle all too well. But hey, guess what! Those days of making the trek up from the quad, not knowing if you even have a destination, are over.
4. You become a regular.
The lovely people at The Stag and Einstein’s know me by name (as well as my usual orders of chicken and fries at The Stag and a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese and a large caramel iced coffee from Einstein’s) and I am not complaining.
5. You get to pick where you live.
This is true for most people, anyway. If you are more into having that sense of community and believe in what the building is all about, choosing a Res College was probably a no-brainer for you. However, for those of us that took a leap of faith and applied to live in the village (assuming you got a good number), you got to pick your building and room number (shout out to my Kostka peeps). It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.
6. You can get more involved.
Chances are that you’ve found a club or activity that strikes your fancy, or met people who have introduced you to one, allowing you to have fun and get involved on campus.
7. You have a better idea of who you want to be.
Whether you've switched your major three times, not at all, or you're still riding the undecided train, chances are you're on a more driven path to where you want to go.
8. You find out who your true friends are.
By this time, you've experienced enough to see who is there for you and who is there simply when it's convenient for them.
9. You're a bit wiser.
We've all made freshman year mistakes. What matters is that you learn from them.
10. You know the campus.
You no longer need to go around asking random strangers how to get from class to class. You find out exactly how long you need to walk to each building and how long you can sleep in (every second counts).
11. You’re ONLY a sophomore.
You still have these three remaining years of college ahead of you. That means plenty of time to make mistakes and be irresponsible before you enter the real world.
But in the end, you’re still not 21, so it still kind of sucks.
