Dorm life (:

The summer before my senior year of high school, I visited three colleges with my mom. The third college I visited, I applied to the same day. It was the only college I applied to, and I was accepted before my senior year even began. I fell in love with the campus and was beyond ready to leave my home town. I’d had enough high school drama to last me for quite some time. I visited the college once more with my best friend who was also considering attending. Senior year flew past for the both of us, and she had decided to go to a college about two hours from me. About a week after graduation, I went back to my college with my parents for orientation. It was the first time my dad had been here and he could tell that I loved it already.

Frat parties, sleep deprivation, piles of homework, and new experiences. These are common things that pop into a person’s head when college life is mentioned (or my mind at least). I am currently a freshman in college and living about five and a half hours away from my home. I adjusted pretty well. College life is not everything I expected it to be, although, I absolutely love it. Of course there are certain sterotypical situations that have occured while I’ve been on campus for this past month, but there are several things that took me by surprise.

I arrived on campus August 28th. The freshman class of almost 600 students was split up into orientation groups which would actually be the classmates of ours for two classes our first semester. Even though the week of orientation was not the most fun, it was nice being able to bond with people without having to search by yourself for friends. It was convenient that a girl in my group was also my neighbor! We have become very close along with our roommates. If I am not in my room, it is almost certain that you can find me next door. Sometimes we are watching movies, other times we are doing homework (like right now!). We are the noisiest people on our floor and have been told on more than one occasion to please be quiet.

I also became good friends with another girl in my club. We were introduced to some other people and I now hang out with them frequently. All the people here are great and I couldn’t love college anymore! Even though I do not have a car on campus, two of my friends do and we are often out and about whether it be a quick Target run, or a BK run. We also go to a few of the on campus activities such as the dances, football games, and meetings.

Although this is my first year on campus, I am technically a sophomore. I took many college classes in high school, and all 33 of my credits transfered. Unlike many other college attendees, I will be able to graduate a year early. I plan on double majoring in International Business and Spanish and will be traveling abroad for at least one semester during my college experience.

College is not all fun and games, though. The first weekend, my roommate came in completely drunk. Our neighbors and another girl on our floor all stayed up with her for three hours holding her hair back and just taking care of her. I would say that was an unpleasant experience, but a bonding experience nonetheless. None of us had expected this from her, and were slightly taken aback. We had not put a futon in our room yet and I insisted that she slept on our neighbors futon because I didn’t want her to fall out of her bunk bed. They agreed, and unfortunately, their $300 futon was puked on by my roommate! I felt completely awful, but they easily forgave me.

I’m not really involved in anything on campus, which is pretty uncommon. I therefore have a lot of free time. For the first half of the semester, I only have three classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and one night class on Tuesday. Despite all my free time, I am not always studying as many people believe. Many of my friends are overwelmed by the amount of homework they recieve, but I have only felt pressured once, and that was my own fault. I tend to procrastinate quite a bit, but I almost always get my work done. I feel as though it’s possible that I’m not stressed because I took so many college classes already, that I know how to cope with it all. Hopefully this will hold true throughout my college experience, and I will be able to have as much fun later as I am right now.