Hey! Look right there! A freshman!
It has become apparent to me during my first week of classes as a freshman at Boston College that, contrary to my carefully-faked confidence, this is all any returning Eagle thinks when they see me wandering aimlessly through Stokes. So this is for all my fellow BC frosh who are clueless freshmen and own it!
1. Using full names of buildings or even mispronouncing building names
We freshmen can't decide between calling Conte Forum "con-tee" or "con-tey" and overall end up mumbling it extremely fast or simply saying "that hockey place." We're also too self-conscious to call McElroy "Mac" and in general more inclined to eat in the comfort of Stuart, a clear sign of a freshman instinct.
2. Backpacks filled with every book sold at the bookstore
Am I really going to need all 7 textbooks required for my philosophy course in order to read the syllabus on the first day of class? Of course I am, I'm a freshman!
3. Painfully early for his/her first classes
If you see an anxious student pacing outside of a classroom presently occupied by a class that meets an hour before his or her own class, congratulations! You've just spotted a freshman! (Hint: It's probably me!)
4. Or painfully late
It turns out that the Newton bus drivers don't know your class schedule and will indeed leave without you. Or perhaps halfway through your class you realize you were in the wrong room and class the entire time but stay there because getting up and leaving is too embarrassing. (This is a real story! Undeniably a freshman move!)
5. Forgetting that campus maps exist
I canvassed three entire hallways in Gasson in search of 302 for fifteen minutes until I realized I was on the second floor and every classroom number consequently began with a 2. Somehow we freshmen lose every sense of reasoning and direction when it's the first week of classes.
So yes, we are clueless. We commit TFM (total freshman moves in this case). But we're just as excited to be here as we are nervous. Hey, every BC student must be a baby eagle at some point!
