About Five months ago, you, a tired senior with all kinds of seniorities, opened the mail box on your way home from school, and found THE letter. THE LETTER that told your future. The one that would decide where you would be going in Mid-August or early September. You got your college acceptance letter.
You ran inside your house and dropped everything you were holding to give all of your attention to this letter. You did not know whether to stand or sit or what. Finally you decided to just plunge right in and tear it open only to find the first word was CONGRATULATIONS and you broke into your happy dance. The once tired senior you were before you got this letter has become excited and yet filled with anxiety as you are now a college bound freshman.
One to two months later, you throw your caps in the air, thank your friends and family, and leave the steps of where you spent your high school education. You are no longer a confident high school senior but a, what I like to call, an in-between college freshman. You no longer have the ability to know exactly where your next class is, all the rumors as to whether or not you're teachers are actually what you need, if you'll even have your best friend in any of your classes and last but not least, what the cafeteria will be cooking on a day to day basis because nothing in high school is like college.
You are on your way to being independently dependent.
Here is what to expect when you're expecting college.
1. That in-between feeling
All summer long up until your family has unpacked the car and left you to fend for yourself at college, that in-between feeling sinks in. It happens when your excitement for finally leaving home increases, but the reality of leaving home and growing up makes your excitement seem so wrong, but right at the same time. All summer you'll find yourself choosing between your family and friends and saying to yourself, this could be the last time. Sooner or later you'll find yourself looking at old family photos and silently sobbing at the end of "Toy Story 3," as you miss childhood, but also welcome adulthood.
2. Uncertainty
No matter what, no freshman really knows what exactly they're doing, heck, not even every senior knows. It all starts with what to pack. When packing for college you either bring too much or you bring too little. Learn to pack for the season, especially if your college is near enough that you can go home every once in a while. Bring what you need and also a few things you want there for fun. You don't have to totally ditch everything from your childhood, bring one of your favorite stuffed animals and tons of pictures to make it feel like home. The right people will not judge you and those will be the people who become your friends.
3. Move In
Move in day is one of THE most hectic days on campus besides Homecoming. No matter what, be prepared to walk distances with your items and to wait for extended periods of time. Not to mention, the elevator could take forever or even worse be broken. Eventually, you will finally get all of your stuff into your room only to find you physically cannot move between your stuff and your roommate's stuff as you just politely smile at each other, shrug your shoulders and say "COLLEGE." You then leave your room as your family hurries out of the non air conditioned building to drive over 100 miles home, while both of you try to keep it together as you part ways, but you'll know as soon as you are out of sight of each other, you'll both tear up a bit.
4. Freshman
No matter what, every freshman you meet is as lost as you are. Lost in the sense of finding friends, who to eat with, how to fill the void of being without your family, and last but not least, classes. For the entire first couple of weeks of school, the floor you live on, in your dorm, will be the closest it will ever be with each other. A couple of floor-mates will just run down the hallway saying food and everyone will go eat together with the thought of preventing the nightmare you have of eating alone.
5. Reality
The first entire two weeks of college are like living in a different dimension, nothing is the same as it was. Your once tight knit dorm floor actually starts to hate each other and you find yourself caught in the middle of wanting things to be perfect and just saying good riddance. Your really exciting professors that made you seem like you are actually going to enjoy class, will be the professors you absolutely hate, and the classes you first hated, will become the tolerable ones. The once seemingly great food, becomes dry, tasteless, sparse, garbage. But hey, hopefully you and your roommates still get along with each other, but that's not always the case. Also, hopefully by now, you have learned the importance of elevator courtesy, meaning, if the person hits the button for the floor after yours, you by all mean DO NOT press the button for your floor. YOU WALK.
6. Alcohol
Sooner or later you will find out who of your friends drink and how much alcohol is being circulated around you. Please, the first time either you or your friends get drunk, make sure they're alright or that you have someone to make sure you're alright. If you're going to drink, get a buddy because the last thing you want to do is seriously injure yourself by falling off your bed, breaking the toilet, or becoming too dehydrated by drinking way too much, that it would warrant a trip to the hospital.
7. Roommates
In the beginning of the year, you and your roommate will do anything to live peacefully together, however this may not be the case for the rest of the year. There will probably be times where you and your roommate or suite mates will just not get along at all, and there will be times where you just totally get each other. In some cases, you and your roommate may have not gotten along at all and will not plan to even room with each other the following semester or year. But you could be the room/suite that triumphs among all the failing rooms and decides to stay together for the next four years. If you have decided to room with a friend from high school, your relationship could go either way. Either you two could totally work out and just co-exist perfectly or you could hate each other and never want to see each other again.
8. Bathroom/Laundry
If you did not share a bathroom before with more than two people, well you do now and it's a pain. There will be times when you're finally ready to take a shower and you can never seem to find a time when the bathroom is free. You either take a shower at 3 a.m. before going to bed or waking up extra early just to get clean. The same scenario applies to doing laundry.
9. Friends
The friends you make your first semester will not all be the same friends you have your spring semester, and it's okay. The entire first semester, everyone is just trying to get by to feel as though they fit in. So it's possible that some people were just being friends with you to not feel lonely and the same goes for you as a friend. The people you thought were once great comedians or the really confident people you used to once admire, just start to become tasteless and offensive. By the end of your first year, you may even find out who you friends actually are, as some people can actually be crazy.
10. Winter
It gets cold. Like the wind hurts your face it's so cold. The winter can actually be great in the beginning but not until you've trudged through three or more feet of snow to get to your classes for the past couple months. Usually by that time, everyone just wants to go to class and get back to their room . People get crabby in the winter, be aware.
11. Midterms
Remember those pesky mid-terms you had to take in high school? You might not actually have to take any.
12. Finals
Finals exist and so do egos. Everyone is doing something more important than the next person and can't seem to stop self promoting themselves. This is finals week. RELAX.
13. Move Out
By the time move out day rolls around, you will be glad to say goodbye to most people, and sad to some. But will be happy to have a few full months of home cooked meals and friends and family who just get you. It's okay to say goodbye, but just remember, it's not goodbye, it's see ya later.
