1) Moving in and not knowing anybody.

“I mean, they all seem nice…”

2) Hoping your roommate(s) will not get on your last nerve.

"As long as you’re not being loud at 3 a.m. or sexiling me every other day…"

3) Falling in love with the dining room.

An omelet bar??!! Mac and cheese every week???!!! Count me in!

4) Actually being excited to start classes.

When everybody's inner Hermione Granger comes out!

5) Being so done with communal showers about a week in.

“If I see another hair on the wall, I swear to God…”

6) When the first disease epidemic hits.

You’re most likely not used to being around 10 other people who also have strep at the same time.

7) Spoiling yourself with unnecessary food orders and online shopping because you can

Who thought it was a good idea to give you a debit card again?

8) Deciding that the dining room and other school-affiliated food services are actually sorely lacking.

The workers are grumpy and mistreated. The mac and cheese actually sucks. Service tends to be especially slow when you have another class to get to in 20 minutes.

9) Realizing at least one of your classes isn’t all it’s cut out to be and being tremendously disappointed.

You’re counting down the days until it’s over.

10) Putting your email down for way too many clubs/organizations at the activities fair.

“Oh, yeah, I can definitely be in 20 student groups at once!”

11) Regretting doing so due to the flooding of your inbox.

“Wait, there’s actually no way in h*** I can keep up with all of this…”

12) Writing the first paper of your college career.

You’ve totally forgotten how to do MLA citations, and that’s okay.

13) Exploring the nuances of your relationship with caffeine.

How much sugar and milk/creamer? Energy drinks: Yay or nay? What campus food spot or brand? Does coffee even help you stay awake?

14) The first test!

Especially stressful because you probably haven’t yet figured out the right way to study for a college test

15) Really beginning to love (or hate) your floormates

From the floor clown/shower singer to the girl who gives sex ed workshops to the guy who burns a bunch of popcorn at 1 a.m., you’ll certainly remember many of these people for years to come.

16) Midterm season hitting

And you thought you knew stress…

17) When that one class kills your hope for getting through the academic part of college in one piece

You wish you could just adopt the “C’s get degrees” motto, but know it’s bunk if you’re trying to get into any kind of graduate school or keep a merit scholarship.

18) Being really glad that you have easy access to your classmates.

Especially if you’re in a living-learning community...you don’t have to leave the building for study sessions and homework help!

19) Halloweekend

In which you either fail to grasp why everyone's so hyped for three to fourstraight days and not just the one, or jump straight on the bandwagon and waste your money on buying multiple costumes.

20) Getting pumped for Thanksgiving break.

You miss your family, especially your pets.

21) Actually being able to breathe for, like, five days.

(Usually) no schoolwork to worry about, no fire alarms at unfortunate hours, showering without flip-flops, the list goes on...

22) Realizing finals are fast approaching.

A rather rude awakening from your blissful Thanksgiving break

23) Thinking about how unfortunate it is that finals week is the same week as preparing-to-go-home week.

How can you get excited about going home when your future is on the line?

24) Baby’s first finals week!

You could probably fill a thousand pages with records of every time you wanted to bang your head against the wall, twice that if you have bad test anxiety

25) When you’re finally free…

Your heart practically bursts out of your chest with relief as you write that last word of your last paper or test.

26) ...but not really...

Because final grades are not up yet, and many professors are painfully bad at posting grades on time…

27) Really being done and realizing you survived.

Now your brain can actually heal from being beaten to a pulp, and it’s the best f***ing feeling in the world.