1. Having a god-awful roommate
You know all of those roommate horror stories you always hear about from older people who've already been in college/are in college? Well guess what: they're all true. There's literally no escaping the horrors of living with someone whom you've never met, heck, it might be someone you know and love but the matter-of-fact is that living with someone can change your perception of someone.
2. Expensive, over-priced meal plans
Freshman year, one of my older already graduated friends came to visit and as we ate breakfast, she said: "That's the most expensive bagel you're ever going to eat." She wasn't wrong. On another occasion, a friend of mine called it "free food that's already made for you." Sorry to break it to you, but that "free food" is costing you or your parents somewhere in the ballpark of $6,000 a year (at least at my school it does).
Even worse, half the time the food is unhealthy, sometimes poorly made and generic. Yup. That daily plate of scrambled eggs or that bowl of cheerios is costing you thousands of dollars.
3. God-awful professors
Some professors are just straight up awful. The 1.0 and red, frown face on RateMyProfessor may not even come close to describing how excruciating that professor's class is. Whether they're the kind of professor to ramble on for two and a half hour lectures or the kind that doesn't cut you any slack at all – all students, no matter how studious or diligent – will come across a really, really awful professor at some point in their college careers.
4. The Dorm Experience
Roommates can be one bad part of the college experience, but frankly, if you ever move off-campus or get an apartment and your own room you're going to realize how awful the dorm life as a whole really was looking back at it. Sharing a space with sometimes, practically a stranger and having to wait in line for the showers to clear up is annoying. Finding the bathrooms full of puke after weekends of heavy partying and running into people you don't want to talk to every time you just want to make a trip to the bathroom or the study lounge is a true pain in the ass.
5. When Your Roommates SO spends so many nights in there it feels like he's basically moved in and taken over a part of the little space you have.
If this doesn't happen to you, then your roommate is probably bringing a different guy or girl every night which can be just as chaotic and problematic – or they're a literal godsend in the age of Tinder, hookups and one-night stands. But seriously though. There are boundaries! And some people get too comfortable, too fast. By the end of freshman year, my roommate's boyfriend was practically living in my dorm. I had to wake up and get undressed in front of him, could never be in my dorm because they were always in there having sex, and leave whenever I wanted to get any work done (which was most of the time as you can imagine) because they were always being loud and inconsiderate towards my presence.
6. Feeling exhausted.
This is not to say that some of us aren't privileged enough to have enough time to sleep or that we don't have good habits, but if you're like me – college means little to no sleep. Either because you're pulling an all-nighter and cramming for a test because you're taking a heavy course load and trying to graduate early, or because you're busy with your job and extracurriculars or just out trying to have a good time when you probably should be sleeping. Feeling like a zombie half the time doesn't come close to what it's like!
7. Going through a bad breakup or getting your heart broken.
You might think no one will ever break your heart like that one person in high school did, but rest assured – college is full of romantic drama and at some point, it'll be a small enough world where everyone knows who you're dating, who you've dated and who you have the hots for. College may be a ticket to freedom, but it's no exception from getting your heart broken – if anything, having to go through heartbreak or a bad breakup when you have real, adult responsibilities like a job and academics without having close family and friends from back home around to support you is way harder than you think.
8. Having moments when you ask yourself: "What the hell am I doing with my life"?
Am I really going to make a living salary by majoring in Philosophy? What if I don't get into law school? I'll be stuck with this useless degree for the rest of my life...
I haven't done enough, I haven't joined enough clubs, I don't have a job, I don't want to work this job anymore...
Am I really pursuing my passions? Am I really having the "college experience"?
Everyone has these moments and thoughts at some point in college. It's just bound to happen, but hang in there and believe in yourself because if there's something I've learned from my time in college is that in the end, it all works out.
