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.

2 comments:

  1. O, its 'gunna be a fun 4 years! LOL, make lots of memories and enjoy the journey.

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  2. I'm not a blog-stalker; I'm a fan : ) Love ya, babe!

    ReplyDelete