Whether or not you believe it, our freshman year is quickly coming to a close. It feels like yesterday I was graduating high school and obnoxiously bragging about how excited I was to be attending UT. Coming from out of state, I had no idea what I was in for, and I can safely say that Texas has gone above and beyond my expectations.
While we start to break out the moving boxes and make summer plans, I can't help but reveal my emotional side when reflecting on our freshman year. We only get one freshman year of college, and with that comes a lifetime of memories and experiences. Yes, I'm being extremely dramatic considering we have three more years here, but the end of a freshman year is the end of an era, and with that, we say goodbye to the iconic experiences that come along with our first year of college.
1. Orientation
It's safe to say orientation is a huge pain in the butt, but we only get one. Despite feeling like we're trapped at a summer camp no one signed up for, it's quite the experience. We meet probably 100 people a day — very few of whom we actually remember. If we're lucky enough to stay in touch with the people we meet, we always seem to make jokes about how we suffered through a few days in Jester together.
2. Firsts
Within the first few weeks of school, everything is a first. Without stating the obvious 'first time being away from home,' we still got to experience our first time on 6th street, our first fraternity party and our first formal. Although we're lucky enough to continue to experience these for the next three years, there's something sentimental about looking back at our first football game and laughing at how ignorant we were to what we were getting ourselves into.
3. Having a Roommate
Finding a roommate is easily one of the most stressful aspects of entering college, as it can make or break your experience. Something that's unique to freshman year, however, is to physically share a bedroom with someone else.
When a beach-blonde California girl slid into my Instagram DMs, I had no idea what a wild ride it would be together. Whether it was kicking each other in our sleep or giving each other a hard time for the messes, we won't get the luxury of being half asleep in bed and having your best friend right next to you talking your ear off in the years to come. Soph, I'll miss you more than words can describe.
4. Bid Day
Yes, Bid Day is an annual occurrence, but freshman year is the only time where this day is centered on us. It's a huge celebration of an accomplishment we've been working on for an embarrassingly long time. We're the ones who get the Bid Day Baskets filled with our newest sorority gear and a shiny new halo to display to the world.
5. Hardin House
No matter how much we complain about our Home Sweet Hardin, we wouldn't want to have it any other way. Despite the constant fines, Hardin was able to introduce us to our life-long friends who we probably would not have met if they weren't living side by side in one of UT's longest standing traditions.
6. Dates to Football Games
UT football in itself is iconic; however, it's only in our freshman year that the newest pledges take dates to the football games. There's nothing more exciting than the nerves that come with being set up with a random boy to take you to their tailgates or experiencing a college tradition with a friend from home.
7. Callaway
With the minor inconvenience of Hardin's strict 'No Boys' rule, the short walk to Callaway becomes a daily event. Whether it's pregaming for a night on the town or just going to hang out, Callaway becomes the ideal place to spend some quality time with our guy friends. There's nothing more refreshing than walking in with thirty girls and trying to find one boy to check us in past 10 p.m. They don't call it the House of Sin for nothin'.
8. Cheers
The one complaint I get from upperclassmen — how much they miss Cheers. Somehow, it's deemed a freshman spot, despite how much fun we all have there. Whether it's killer music or $2 Kamikazes, Cheers was an essential part of our freshman year, and I most likely will be that older girl still returning in the years to come.
9. The Undecided Major
One of the most beautiful aspects of freshman year: it is perfectly acceptable not to have a clue what you want to do with your life. As someone who has already attempted to change my major a few times, I will miss the comfort of having people tell me it's fine to not know — I guess it's time to figure out what I want to do.
10. Knowing We Still Have Three More Years
College seems to have its own time continuum. While the days drag on slowly, the weeks fly by, and before we know it, we're no longer the bottom of the food chain. With this perk comes great loss, as we leave behind the sweet ignorance that comes with our first year of college.
As our favorite seniors are getting ready to graduate, they tell us a thousand times how lucky we are to have so much time ahead of us, and we need to listen to them. We're supposed to have it all figured out, but lucky for us we have three whole years ahead of us to make a lifetime of memories. Let's just all hope summer speeds by so we can be back in Austin in a heartbeat to see what next year brings.
