So #WelcomeWeek2k17 is here at last for GCU students and it's time for campus to be buzzing again! It's time for Union breakfast and Chick-fil-a sandwiches and lit sporting events.

As a sophomore this year, I can personally say that I've learned a few things about what to expect from experiencing Welcome Week last year and I'm sure my fellow sophomores will agree with me.

Having already been through Welcome Week as freshmen, us sophomores have picked a few tips and tricks when it comes to handling the incoming herd of Lopes.

1. We expect the move in crowd.

There really is no real way to prepare for this one. GCU sophomores just know that Welcome Week entails being bombarded with eager freshmen moving into dorms and touring the campus. So we move in early if we can and pray that all the freshies haven't discovered the heaven that is Qdoba breakfast yet.

2. We just avoid Chick-Fil-A.

Lord knows if there's anything out-of-towners like to do on campus during Welcome Week, it's wander in and out of the gift shops and stop in for lunch at Chick-Fil-A. We already know that the line is going to mean an hour wait at least, so we just avoid it and grab food off campus. (Or we go in at times when we know not a lot of people will be in line- like 10:30 before the lunch rush or 1:30, directly after).

3. We know that there are a million events planned...

We all got the Welcome Week 2017 emails a month ago and we definitely know about the pool party and Lope-A-Palooza. We know that campus is going to be crawling with newbies, who are going to flock to ALL of these events.

4. And we will probably only attend 2 of them.

We know that while all this is going on, we will be enjoying a Netflix binge session in our dorms on the couch with pizza.

5. We can skip that awkward first month of not knowing anyone

Freshman year was the worst in the first month or so (especially during Welcome Week), because we didn't have any friends and were missing Mom's cooking, but this year, we don't have to worry about going out and being polite to everyone because now we have friends to stay in with! YAY!

6. If we're accident-prone, we definitely avoid the Grove lawn

Too many of us suffered ill-timed hits to the head with soccer balls or footballs last year walking past the Grove lawn (or maybe that was only me). In any case, us sophomores that are slightly on the clumsy side know to avoid that lawn like the plague during Welcome Week. This makes for a lot fewer bruises.

7. We know we're going to want to have mac-and-cheese and slushies every night, but IT'S A TRAP!

The freshman fifteen was all too real for many of us and if we're honest with ourselves, much of it was due to the convenience of beautiful things that suddenly surround you like microwave mac-and-cheese and ice cold slushies. So this year, we know better than to binge on the multitudes of processed food around us... but we still binge a little.

8. We know we will witness SO MANY flirty freshmen

We know this fact to be all too true, because this was totally us last year. College freshmen in their first week at college catch the flirty bug HARD and definitely show it, whether it's at pool parties or in dorm lobbies or really anywhere. They see someone good looking and they just go for it. So naturally, as sophomores, we're not going to be surprised if we see someone during Welcome Week give their number to like 5 different people.

9. We've realized that whole "staying up late partying" thing is so overrated

Dear goodness, we cannot count the times we've stayed up late for some stupid party or event and then regretted it the next morning on the way to our 7 AM. This semester, call us old, but we're valuing our sleep and getting in bed by 10 PM latest. (And you guys think I'm joking).

10. BUT the whole "staying up late making friends" thing is so worth it

The only exception to the self-administered "no staying up late" rule is if we're staying up late bonding with a friend. Sometimes we need to eat ice cream at 2 AM with someone who just got dumped and sometimes we need to go have a deep existential conversation with someone 3 hours before we need to wake up again for class. These moments are so precious and should never be taken for granted, so they're well worth staying up a few extra hours.