When you go off to college everything changes. As a college student, you don’t have your parents around telling you what you can and cannot do. You finally have that freedom that you've been searching for since the beginning of your high school career. You no longer have a curfew, so you can stay out as late as you would like. You can sleep over at a friend’s dorm without asking your parents for permission. You can skip class and your parents will never find out about it. Most importantly, you no longer have to hear your parents complain about how you sit around all day and watch Netflix and eat junk food. Well, let me be the one to tell you that not everything changes when you go off to college.
One thing that should always stay the same is your courtesy towards others. I’ve been living on a college campus for the past three years, and I have noticed a lot of things that go on that need to be addressed.
1. Pay attention when you are walking.
I understand that you can receive a lot of messages between the walk from your dorm to your class, but look up every now and then to make sure that you are not about to run into someone else or something like a trashcan or a light pole. That would just be embarrassing for you.
2. Walk on the RIGHT side of the sidewalk and do not block a pathway.
Nothing is more irritating than when you have to move off of the sidewalk because someone is walking on the wrong side and refuses to get out of the way. What side of the road do you drive on? The right side. The same rule applies to sidewalks. Apply it. The same goes for those groups that are just big enough to block an entire pathway so it inconveniences everyone else trying to get by. Be courteous of others and step to the side. A sidewalk is not the place to hold a meeting.
3. Walk at a normal pace.
There is nothing more annoying than when you have 7 minutes to get to your next class and it’s all the way on the other side of campus and you get stuck behind someone that is walking slower than a turtle, and you cannot pass them because the sidewalks are crowded because it’s in the middle of a class change.
4. Umbrellas are not always ideal.
Walking to class in the rain is no fun. For those of you that decide to use an umbrella on rainy days, this is for you. Umbrellas are big, and they can get in the way of others walking past you. Be cautious of where you hold your umbrella. Do not swing it back behind you because more than likely there is someone walking directly behind you, and how awful would it be if you were to poke their eye out? When you pass someone else that is using an umbrella, be mindful that both of your umbrellas are not going to fit perfectly on the sidewalk at the same time. Move your umbrella slightly to the right so that they don’t hit each other.
5. Hold the door for the person behind you.
If there is a person walking directly behind you, please hold the door for them. Nothing is worse than having a door hit you in the face. If someone has a stack of papers or books in their hands and it looks like they might struggle to open the door, be polite and take a couple extra seconds out of your day and hold the door for them. It might make their day a little bit better. And if someone holds the door open for you, please make sure that you always say ‘thank you.’
6. The unassigned, assigned seat.
We’re in college which means that we no longer have teachers telling us where to sit. However, every college student knows (or should know) that on the first day of class, everyone picks out their seat and more than likely that is the seat that they will sit in for the rest of the semester. Do not be that person that comes into class each week and sits in a different spot every time. I know that I hate when I walk into my class and see someone sitting in my seat that I have been sitting in for the past 7 weeks.
7. Wait until the previous class leaves the room before you enter.
You are waiting in the hallway for the previous class to let out before your class can go in, as soon as the first person exists the room, the next class is rushing in, why? There is no place for you to sit because the previous class hasn’t even had the chance to pack their belongings up. Be patient. Let at least most of the class out before you begin to stampede in.
I'm sure that there are many other things that should be addressed, but these are just the few that came to mind at the time. The moral of the article is to just be mindful of others whether it's on a college campus or really anywhere, because the majority of these can be seen outside of campus as well.
