When I was in high school, my teachers constantly talked about the wondrous world that is college. They encouraged my fellow classmates and I that going to college would be one of the best decisions we could ever make. They said that college is going to be awesome.
But what they didn’t tell me was that college is shit.
College can be complete chaos. Take move-in day for example. There were people EVERYWHERE trying to park as closely to their building as possible. So when I was simply five minutes later than the crowd, I ended up hauling my belongings all the way from D-Tower to A-Tower (not to mention the five flights of stairs I had to walk up). But that’s just the beginning of it.
After about five hours of unpacking and rearranging my room, I got to meet my roommates (add some emphasis on that ‘s’ please). As a freshman, I was put into a suite, so that meant nine completely new girls to live with. That’s right, nine (hence the emphasis on the ‘s’). Out of the 10 of us in the room, six were cheerleaders (not me) and five had boyfriends (not me). I felt like the odd one out. I was completely new to these girls, and most of them already knew each other. Talk about awkward.
Now, living with nine girls in a room that only has two bathroom stalls and two showers makes a great synonym for hell. At first, we were always fighting for the shower or trying to brush our teeth all at the same time. It just wasn’t working. Then classes started, and it seemed as though everyone’s schedule starting to line up and the bathroom situation fixed itself.
So now that living was mostly under control, it was time to worry about classes. Let me start by saying that starting high school at eight in the morning was never a bother to me, but a college 8 AM class felt like it started at 6. I don’t know if it was because I was up late due to the screaming girls that I was living with or just simply that college time is different than high school time. Nonetheless, those 8 AMs sucked. Once classes were over, it was time for food.
Just when I thought I had escaped the horrors of cafeteria food, I was reintroduced to it. Waiting in long lines to just get a simple wrap or buffalo chicken sandwich was one of the worst parts of my day. Not to mention that once I finished eating, I literally had to go to the bathroom within five to ten minutes! I have to be honest, the food isn’t that bad but it’s still not mom’s, and oh how I desperately wanted one of my mom’s home cooked meals.
After that, I was pretty much exhausted, so naps were necessary. I guess I can't complain too much about having nap time, but I mean... was I wasting my day? Sometimes it really felt like I was, and the days that I didn't feel that way, I couldn't fall asleep (coincidence or???). Then there's the rare occasion that I couldn't fall asleep because one of the girls wanted to be in the common room screaming or needed to go somewhere but not alone. What was I going to do? Well, I went along with it. I tried and put myself out there. Wanna know where that got me?
I was able to get used to the early classes, the food that meant immediately finding a bathroom, and wasting my days napping; however, I could never get used to saying goodbye to the girls and guys that became my second family. When May rolled around, it was time to pack everything up. All the memories of screaming lyrics in the common room as a suite, group showers, and hyping each other up before we went out needed to be put aside. It didn't settle right within my stomach knowing that the late night Sheetz runs to get all the boys slushies, trying on their clothes to see if two of us would fit, or the big bear hugs that came with every visit were about to disappear for three months.
My teachers never told me that college is complete shit because it ends.
