1. How it feels to walk 15-20 minutes to class

man holding hands of woman walks on concrete road Photo by Vladimir Kudinov on Unsplash

When you register for classes, freshmen are the very last people that get to register because it's based on how many credits you've already earned. This means that you are going to either a class you don't care about, but signed up for anyways, or classes that are on a weird schedule and you'll have to get used to it. This also means that sometimes you'll have to take Hawaiian Studies, located near the freshmen towers, and then what is usually a 20-minute walk to get to your Intro to Computer Science class, has to be in 10 minutes.

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2. Making friends with someone who you only see twice a week and will never see again once the semester is over

people sitting on chair Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

You're in a big lecture hall and you find a seat, then all of a sudden after a few classes you get to know the person sitting next to you. Sometimes you know their name and sometimes you don't. But that friendship will not go beyond that classroom. Sure, you find your best friends in college and sure, you and your class buddy head to get food sometimes, but that's not this friend. This friend is the one you only text about class and this friend is the one you only talk to in class. But if you needed someone to take your iClicker for your attendance, they're your ride or die.

3. Buying an iClicker

https://www.iclicker.com/students/apps-and-remotes/remotes

When you're on a zoom call, the professor can easily see you logged into the meeting for that day to get your attendance points. But if you have a class with over 100 students and the professor has the attendance affect your grade, it's taken through iClicker. You don't get to have the amazing experience of buying an overpriced remote with four buttons via a Zoom call. Seriously, I don't know if I want you to experience this because I wasted $50 or not. I'm a little mad I can't return the thing.

4. Having the weird roommate experience (for some)

teddybear on bed near night stand and window Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Unsplash

For some people, you might get this experience if you were given housing, but even then you won't get it to the fullest. In my freshman year, I had three roommates in total. Seriously. The first one was sweet and chill. We never hung out because we were just different people, but we never had problems. But I am also pretty sure I never saw her do laundry. Plus she was extremely messy to where I was surprised we didn't get bugs. But at least she kept it on her side.

My second roommate and I were actually friends and when she needed a roommate, she had asked me to move in, so I said yes because, friends, right? After coming home from work, I walked in on her butt naked having a good time with her boyfriend and then she didn't even let me back into the room when I left for her to get dressed. Yea that's a story for the books.

My last roommate moved in when the previous one dropped out (this literally sounds like a sitcom at this point). She had some personal issues of her own to the point I didn't feel comfortable in the room anymore, and if I thought my first roommate was messy, this one was so much worse. She would order food for her meals instead of going to the dining hall, which is fine, but then she'd leave everything from takeout on her desks or shelves to the point I DID see bugs on her side of the room. Yeah, not a fan. Very long story short, I moved out the first chance I got, and honestly if you don't get one roommate story that you'll tell your grandkids, you didn't dorm correctly.

5. Being able to see THAT kid of the class

woman holding balloons Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash

In every class, there is going to be one student that sticks out the most, and you're either going to love them or hate them. The majority of the time in big lecture halls, it is the "class clown," but not like the kid in high school that would make inappropriate jokes and that would try to get everyone's attention. No. This kid can say one thing to the professor and it's getting the whole class to experience a laugh, which they haven't had in the last 45 min that has felt like 45 days. So if you're that kid, thank you. Every now and then, the kid can be the "odd one out" you could say. I had a student in one of my Hawaiian classes make it very clear that destroying the environment is okay when you look at the outcome of industries. Read your audience dude. If you don't know why this should never happen in a Hawaiian course, that's another thing you're missing.

6. The full force of the Ohana

group of people sitting on san Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash

One of the things you'll constantly hear from universities and colleges is that they have some sense of a community and you'll feel at home. At UH Mānoa, you're guaranteed to feel that Ohana because that's built into the culture of Hawai'i, and in turn, into UH Mānoa. In the classroom and outside of the classroom. Between your classmates who are in the same room with you for your classes to your professor, or Kumu, who create an environment for you to learn about the different subjects being taught and put into perspective in everything around them. As an incoming freshman, especially out of state freshman, you're not going to fully understand the point of view of living in Hawai'i if your classroom is through a webcam.