Here's a few more pointers for you guys- just in case you were hankering for some more.
For those of you who haven't schedule your classes, make sure to note WHEN they are. Particularly in conjunction with one another. Now, I'm not implying that any of you will be registering for two classes at the same time (unless you've managed to get your hands on Hermione's Time Turner, in which case, feel free to FedEx that to me ASAP). But the "ten minutes walking time" you think is enough to get you to classes will NOT be enough. Sure, you'll have a couple back-to-back classes that are conveniently in the buildings next door to each other, but for the most part, the schedule kings of the world will probably make you sprint across campus. Now, don't be afraid to do that half-walk, half-sprint-for-your-life thing that we do when we're trying not to be late while simultaneously trying not to look like an idiot. You will look like an idiot, so just sprint. At least you won't be late.
And if you think it makes you look like a total Freshman, well, you're right. But it's not the sprinting to class that makes you look like one. It's the fact that you're sprinting to class because you didn't know to think ahead and not schedule all of your classes like this.
When you have class at 9:00, don't show up at 9:00. Use what I've learned as Theater Time. "If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. And if you're late, you're dead." Pretty much also college time. A 9:00 class usually means the professor starts at 9:00, so if you want a seat, get there ten minutes early, I'd say. And again, keep track of your scheduling. If you have a 9:00 class, want to get there ten minutes early, and don't leave your dorm until 8:45, you're dumb. It doesn't take five minutes to walk to class, I'm pretty sure. More like an hour and a half.
Have a doodle pad with you. I'm serious. I don't know if you're like me, but if I'm not doing something, I get bored very quickly. And for the first week, 85% of teachers decide to go over the syllabus they assigned as reading over the summer. It will take the full hour of class- multiple days. You will be talked AT, and not even in the lecture notes kind of a way. In the I-know-you-just-read-this-but-let's-do-this-again kind of a way. Not because the teachers don't have anything to teach you or anything- they've got plenty of material. They just HAVE to go over all of this stuff in detail, so we as students can't come back halfway through the semester and try and argue our way out of something that was clearly written in the syllabus we all signed. They're probably not in love with the syllabus either, but they've got to do it. So back to the point. A doodle pad. Don't let it distract you; just mindlessly use it. It'll help keep you awake and at least a couple neurons firing as your teacher talks about how cheating is usually frowned upon for the umpteenth time.
Lastly, just know that you will be tired. You will be running around all day, you'll be doing homework in the afternoon, and then you'll go out with friends. I don't care if it's the beginning of school, and you've got barely any homework, and it's only 7:00, and you were planning on going to bed early. You won't. You will probably go to bed anytime between 11:30 and 1:30. Count on it. You will be up all night looking at Cracked articles (am I the only one obsessed with this website?), Skyping anyone you remotely know online, dredging up status updates on FaceBook from a week ago for a reason you've yet to identify, or just wandering around the dorms at night because, well, let's face it, you live in a Freshman dorm, and there will always be shenanigans going down. Count on it. All I'm saying is invest in a stock in Starbucks and get some great undereye concealer, because the Freshman 15 stands for the fifteen minutes of sleep you will get each night.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Days #1-5 or Already Procrastinating
Welcome to this new blog, for the five (if I'm lucky) people reading this! This is essentially a blog for anyone who's looking to start college soon, who's already in college and wants to see what college is like in other places, or who's just being nosy when I post these things on FaceBook (here's looking at you, Mom!). Above all things, it's a place for me to talk endlessly and not receive any dirty looks for my inability to simply hush up.
For those of you that don't know me, I'm Bree, and I'm just starting school at SDSU, living on campus in the dorms. I live about six hours away, but I have the magic ability to apparate home anytime I want to. Oh wait. I was late to my Apparation class so I'm not quite sure how to do that yet...
Okay, so since I just settled in here after a few days (I moved in Friday, it's now Tuesday. Or Wednesday morning.), I've only now had time (or willingness) to write. But here's a little pointers for those of you still checked in.
During your first few days here, you will...
1. Introduce yourself so often, your own name won't sound right anymore. And you'll introduce yourself to people you will NEVER see again. But let it slide, because some of them, you will. They'll be your roommate, or your floormate, or the girl standing next to you in line for Chipotle (YES!), or the guy who's sitting next to you in your Anthro class. So just roll with it. All those introductions will catch on eventually, and it'll all work out.
2. Syllabi (Spellcheck informs me that this IS the plural form) are no longer 2-3 pages filled with happy messages. They are 682 pages long and filled with discouraging remarks and crazy expectations. Okay, so they're fifteen pages and filled with teachers (Professors, actually. Make sure you call them as such.) who BEG you not to be late (which IS discouraging to someone whose internal clock is in a different time zone naturally) and schedules for the semester. But yeah, same thing really.
3. You will do a LOT of walking. And I don't mean a lot of walking like you don't have a car, so you walk to the store and it takes twenty minutes each way (which I've already done here). I mean like, you will spend more daytime hours walking than sitting. Especially if you live on a campus that is built on a series of 62 hills. Okay, well, maybe three or four, but you try walking it all day and tell me it doesn't FEEL like 62. Because of this, you will (I am hoping!) have gorgeous legs by the end of the year. My roommate and I are convinced that we will LOSE the Freshman 15 due to all the walking.
4. You could cover up your entire dorm room wall with flyers. People are out there, handing out flyers like the Apocalypse is on its way, and you will get suckered into taking 95% of them. And then you will stuff them in your bag. Every time I see someone handing out flyers, I think of a Mitch Hedberg quote when he says, "Whenever someone hands me a flyer, it's like they're saying, 'Here, you throw this away.'" Which it SO feels like most of the time. But before you throw it away, read it. Occasionally, you'll find something actually semi-decent and find your niche. At the very least, since it's the beginning of the year, 115% of the organizations on your campus will be handing out free things, most of which will be food. Speaking of...
5. College kids love food. We all though high school kids (especially those boys) could put away food like it was going out of style. But college kids take it to the extreme. It seems to be the number one motivating factor in dragging people off their butts (And remember, we only get to sit for about 2 hours during the day, during lectures. All other times, we're walking up massive hills to our classes.) is food. Please take advantage of this. If you're in a club or organization, offer food on your flyers. If you're starting a study group, order pizza. If you're trying to coerce your floormates into being friends with you, bake brownies. Trust me on that last one.
6. Plans will always be tentative. I learned that today. My roommate and I were on our way to the gym for Zumba, when we were accosted by a dozen of our floormates, who demanded we stop and go to dinner with them. We consented, gathered additional members, and crossed the bridge to campus, flocking together like the regiment of hungry Freshies we were. Later, we stopped by one dorm room for a Pretty Little Liars viewing, and then turned up for a massive Tosh Tuesday party (Yes, Daniel Tosh. Yes, Tosh.0.). And what were our plans originally? The gym.
7. If you leave your door open, people will walk in and out of your dorm. Just expect it. An open door means someone has the right and the obligation to walk in and talk to you. This is a good thing, especially when you're first starting out. Because after all those awkward introductions (Remember how I told you those would come up?), you'll be done, and you'll have met someone. And this IS a someone you'll run into again, since, after all, they do live with you.
8. Get spirited! When your school has events, go! You'll feel a sense of pride in your school- or, if you don't, you'll find like-minded people. Trust me, they're easy to spot. Just find one kid rolling his eyes at the pep rally, and you'll know you'll get along. And you'll know he only came because he was handed a flyer that mentioned free food. And if the school is too big to focus on, think smaller. Our dorm is one of the most actively spirited groups I've seen here, especially so early on. We've got a FaceBook page going so we can be social with one another and show our floor pride (My floor, if you're asking, is THE best floor in this hall. Hands down.). So no matter how big the group, you can find a way to get involved and show pride.
9. Don't get overwhelmed by everything. I swear by Evernote, which lets me make lists and schedules to my little OCD heart's content, and it helps. There's hundreds of clubs and organizations on campus- not to mention jobs, classes, study groups, and churches. Organize your time, and think about what's best for YOU. Don't let people sway you with fancy promises and shiny looking booths. (Do let them sway you with food.)
10. Lastly, please realize that the disease you felt you'd recover from at this point, Senioritis, will still be showing its symptoms as you begin your Freshman year. Especially when all you want to do is go to the gym, or a frat party, or 7-11 for slushees, or a Tosh Tuesday party, or to find whoever it was that pulled the fire alarm at three in the morning, because they are going down. Once the activities wind down and everyone showers up and heads back to their dorms, you'll sit on your bed and realize that, no, you haven't done the reading for tomorrow, and your room looks messy as ever, and your bag is completely unorganized, and you have 5 unread posts on FaceBook. And then, because you're (presumably) from this generation, you will choose FaceBook, and continue to use it until 1 AM. And then eventually, you'll find it to be 1:19 and realize that you're writing a blog post instead of sleeping since you plan on waking up in five hours. You thought you had learned after almost falling asleep in your Anthro class (because reading Cracked.com articles all night was MUCH more intriguing than sleeping), but obviously not. So now, concerned, you quickly hit "Publish" on this blog as you realize the tenses in this blog are totally varying and probably grammatically incorrect. And then you blame it on sleep deprivation.
For those of you that don't know me, I'm Bree, and I'm just starting school at SDSU, living on campus in the dorms. I live about six hours away, but I have the magic ability to apparate home anytime I want to. Oh wait. I was late to my Apparation class so I'm not quite sure how to do that yet...
Okay, so since I just settled in here after a few days (I moved in Friday, it's now Tuesday. Or Wednesday morning.), I've only now had time (or willingness) to write. But here's a little pointers for those of you still checked in.
During your first few days here, you will...
1. Introduce yourself so often, your own name won't sound right anymore. And you'll introduce yourself to people you will NEVER see again. But let it slide, because some of them, you will. They'll be your roommate, or your floormate, or the girl standing next to you in line for Chipotle (YES!), or the guy who's sitting next to you in your Anthro class. So just roll with it. All those introductions will catch on eventually, and it'll all work out.
2. Syllabi (Spellcheck informs me that this IS the plural form) are no longer 2-3 pages filled with happy messages. They are 682 pages long and filled with discouraging remarks and crazy expectations. Okay, so they're fifteen pages and filled with teachers (Professors, actually. Make sure you call them as such.) who BEG you not to be late (which IS discouraging to someone whose internal clock is in a different time zone naturally) and schedules for the semester. But yeah, same thing really.
3. You will do a LOT of walking. And I don't mean a lot of walking like you don't have a car, so you walk to the store and it takes twenty minutes each way (which I've already done here). I mean like, you will spend more daytime hours walking than sitting. Especially if you live on a campus that is built on a series of 62 hills. Okay, well, maybe three or four, but you try walking it all day and tell me it doesn't FEEL like 62. Because of this, you will (I am hoping!) have gorgeous legs by the end of the year. My roommate and I are convinced that we will LOSE the Freshman 15 due to all the walking.
4. You could cover up your entire dorm room wall with flyers. People are out there, handing out flyers like the Apocalypse is on its way, and you will get suckered into taking 95% of them. And then you will stuff them in your bag. Every time I see someone handing out flyers, I think of a Mitch Hedberg quote when he says, "Whenever someone hands me a flyer, it's like they're saying, 'Here, you throw this away.'" Which it SO feels like most of the time. But before you throw it away, read it. Occasionally, you'll find something actually semi-decent and find your niche. At the very least, since it's the beginning of the year, 115% of the organizations on your campus will be handing out free things, most of which will be food. Speaking of...
5. College kids love food. We all though high school kids (especially those boys) could put away food like it was going out of style. But college kids take it to the extreme. It seems to be the number one motivating factor in dragging people off their butts (And remember, we only get to sit for about 2 hours during the day, during lectures. All other times, we're walking up massive hills to our classes.) is food. Please take advantage of this. If you're in a club or organization, offer food on your flyers. If you're starting a study group, order pizza. If you're trying to coerce your floormates into being friends with you, bake brownies. Trust me on that last one.
6. Plans will always be tentative. I learned that today. My roommate and I were on our way to the gym for Zumba, when we were accosted by a dozen of our floormates, who demanded we stop and go to dinner with them. We consented, gathered additional members, and crossed the bridge to campus, flocking together like the regiment of hungry Freshies we were. Later, we stopped by one dorm room for a Pretty Little Liars viewing, and then turned up for a massive Tosh Tuesday party (Yes, Daniel Tosh. Yes, Tosh.0.). And what were our plans originally? The gym.
7. If you leave your door open, people will walk in and out of your dorm. Just expect it. An open door means someone has the right and the obligation to walk in and talk to you. This is a good thing, especially when you're first starting out. Because after all those awkward introductions (Remember how I told you those would come up?), you'll be done, and you'll have met someone. And this IS a someone you'll run into again, since, after all, they do live with you.
8. Get spirited! When your school has events, go! You'll feel a sense of pride in your school- or, if you don't, you'll find like-minded people. Trust me, they're easy to spot. Just find one kid rolling his eyes at the pep rally, and you'll know you'll get along. And you'll know he only came because he was handed a flyer that mentioned free food. And if the school is too big to focus on, think smaller. Our dorm is one of the most actively spirited groups I've seen here, especially so early on. We've got a FaceBook page going so we can be social with one another and show our floor pride (My floor, if you're asking, is THE best floor in this hall. Hands down.). So no matter how big the group, you can find a way to get involved and show pride.
9. Don't get overwhelmed by everything. I swear by Evernote, which lets me make lists and schedules to my little OCD heart's content, and it helps. There's hundreds of clubs and organizations on campus- not to mention jobs, classes, study groups, and churches. Organize your time, and think about what's best for YOU. Don't let people sway you with fancy promises and shiny looking booths. (Do let them sway you with food.)
10. Lastly, please realize that the disease you felt you'd recover from at this point, Senioritis, will still be showing its symptoms as you begin your Freshman year. Especially when all you want to do is go to the gym, or a frat party, or 7-11 for slushees, or a Tosh Tuesday party, or to find whoever it was that pulled the fire alarm at three in the morning, because they are going down. Once the activities wind down and everyone showers up and heads back to their dorms, you'll sit on your bed and realize that, no, you haven't done the reading for tomorrow, and your room looks messy as ever, and your bag is completely unorganized, and you have 5 unread posts on FaceBook. And then, because you're (presumably) from this generation, you will choose FaceBook, and continue to use it until 1 AM. And then eventually, you'll find it to be 1:19 and realize that you're writing a blog post instead of sleeping since you plan on waking up in five hours. You thought you had learned after almost falling asleep in your Anthro class (because reading Cracked.com articles all night was MUCH more intriguing than sleeping), but obviously not. So now, concerned, you quickly hit "Publish" on this blog as you realize the tenses in this blog are totally varying and probably grammatically incorrect. And then you blame it on sleep deprivation.
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