Freshmen year: a time of new beginnings. Between Orientation week, our parent’s constant check-ins, and our own social anxiety, odds are that we each came face to face with something we weren’t expecting. Like fire drills when you’re showering which force you out in front of the whole campus in your towel as bystanders take pics of you — yes, this happens (e.g. Me).

2. Everybody in first-year dorms is rowdy as hell, and things escalate so quickly all the time. Plus, the hall-cest (concentration of romantic relationships within 500 feet of your room) could bring out the worst in people. We could try to play peacemaker but watching it unfold was too good to turn away from.

3. So, the RA would come out and we would have to defend ourselves to our highest abilities, which are actually not very high. They were actually kind of low.

4. Our first visit to the club: ohhhh, what a night. Black lights, convenient platforms to jump on, and no inhibitions about our RCCs at 9am. Until 9:01am when we all were snoozing our alarms and dreaming of our next glorious outing (Insta pics to follow).

5. At some point, we’ve wanted to go back in time and change our answer to all those icebreakers asking for one word that describes us.

6. We’ve inevitably passed someone on our way to the Bookstore who thinks they’re “too cool” to acknowledge us. Uhh please, homie: we’re wearing the EXACT same hoodie. C’mon.

7. It doesn’t take long to realize that if someone offers to pay with their R-Card, there is only one proper reply.

8. And to the people that have cut someone off in line at the Campus Center by “talking to their friends,” Jimmy Kimmel wants to talk to you:

9. Regardless, we are a blue and gold family...until competition sinks in. 110% expect a version of this to happen at Lip Sync every single year. “I’m sorry but Alpha Omega Tau Delta had the best routine of all time.”

10. If you’ve had a Holt class during Fox Day, your teachers have expected you to show up for class that night. HAHAHAH, mmmmkay. You want to know what the fox says?

11. There aren’t too many people here that you can’t say hi to them all at least once. A moment of silence for all the neighbors, classmates, and strangers you passed, but never introduced yourself to despite being practically neighbors on a 5-person campus. How weird is that? Now that hipster chick from your English class will never teach you how to make pad thai, and that’s a tragedy.

12. You make up for it in other ways, though, like getting a best friend that Snapchats everything. It has been the best and worst thing to ever happen to you, especially since the app allowed screenshots and given you all kinds of trust issues that will live on forever. But, isn’t that what friendship is? Yesss *insert upside down smiley*

13. On the other side of the scale, we have that one friend who always manages to get home after a night out (#RIPRoxy), but nobody quite knows how. They don’t even know how. No matter the distance, location, weather conditions, or pregame level, they always end up back in bed slumbering by the next morning. Tell us your secrets, Houdini.

14. Down the line, we figure out the bare essentials. We learn where to get food after 3am, what classes to avoid, and how to navigate the campus without seeing any of our exes [official and unofficial]. Younger students may admire our expertise; we simply soak it all in, occasionally blessing them with our wisdom.

15. But, that wisdom doesn’t transfer over to transcripts, so The Lib is a regular venue of choice. It’s pretty bumpin’.

Thursday night, no mixtape in sight.

Catch me in Club Olin dropping beats and raisin’ grades.

Chalked up on Chai while I make it rain As.

See what’s up on Blackboard, then I read the notes some more.

Gotta work hard, play hard, ‘cause that’s the life of a Tar.

16. We can have the best or worst grades, but one thing will always keep us questioning our life’s progress: yes, our lovely families. We all have that one relative continuously asking what we’re going to do after graduation and we have to give the whole “I’m exploring my interests and building my character” shpeel, while inwardly silencing our screams of indecision before passing the potatoes.

17. Forget the haters, though, the potatoes, the GPA blemishes, the hangovers, the doubts, the degree even...because what matters is the entire life ahead of us each day, and making our moments count. Rollins is a chapter, but we have a full story ahead worth writing. We’re not just here to learn; we’re here to live and learn. Make mistakes and brush them off. Love yourself like Kanye loves himself. Say it with me, friends:

18. Fiat Lux: let there be light, 'cause we on a ultralight beam.