BLOG: Ten thoughts from the mind of a freshman
That's Not My Style
By Hanna Hafner, Blogger
October 7, 2008 | 11:35 p.m.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll be absolutely fine,” my RA told me. Really?
Granted, I survived the first week of school and 20/20 hindsight made me feel like I did it easily. Maybe so, but as I moved into my cinder block, 20–by-8 room, or sat in my 9 o’clock class on Monday, fidgeting from the caffeine I’d thought I needed, I couldn’t help the anxious thoughts that crossed my mind.
1. Do I need a pencil?
School shopping isn’t what it once was. We’ve gone from #2 pencils to laptops, from getting textbooks for free with a warning to pamper it or pay, to spending upwards of $40 for a book.
In my first class, I sat there feeling unprepared. It didn’t feel like a scene from all the movies I could remember that involved a modern college classroom. There weren’t hundreds of students in front of laptop screens. Most kids had a notebook and pen. As if the media hadn’t hyped me up enough about college already.
2. Crap, I should have brought a mattress pad.
You might have picked up a checklist online, at Target or somewhere else of absolute necessities for college. I didn’t believe any of them. That is, I didn’t believe any of them until the first night I had to sleep on that bed. Memo: ask Santa.
3. Dessert? Every day? For lunch?
The dining halls were pretty overwhelming when I first walked in. It was bad enough that there were no signs anywhere specially designed for freshmen, directing them to the end of the line. But on top of that, each hall was different. With too many options, I felt safer sticking to the one closest to my hall, but what if they had better desserts at Boyd?
4. There needs to be an elevator here. And here. And here.
Jeff. Morton. Hudson. There might as well be a hill named after every building, because God and our aching legs know that there are that many.
5. Oh. So that’s how the shower’s going to be.
It’s like when you camp: get in, lather up, and get out. After a few days it was pretty easy to ignore people in their towels. At least for some of us.
I heard about one kid who decided to change in the shower to avoid the awkwardness, but what’s the use? Bathrobes aren’t that revealing, it’s just the fact that everyone knows we’re naked underneath it. But everyone is naked underneath his or her clothes, and we’ve come to accept it, just like people in my hall started to accept that I prefer to sing in the shower.
6. They really weren’t kidding.
I thought the stories about the parties on campus—how often they occur, how many people are there, how easy it is to drink without being disturbed—were exaggerated for the freshmen to excite us. Or maybe to scare us. But they weren’t kidding. And I’ll leave it at that.
7. That’s haunted too?
Even before classes started, I began to think that there was a connection between Ohio University being one of the top party campuses in the U.S. and it being the country’s most haunted campus. Two weeks ago, I was lead to a door that was supposed to have Satan’s face on it. You must be joking.
8. Is there no privacy?!
Phone conversations became a different story when I moved on campus. In the dorms, I didn’t want my roommate disturbed, and the hall was constantly filled with rowdy kids with Nerf guns. The outdoors was some solace, depending on the weather and my proximity to any form of wildlife.
9. My RA is just as mature as I am.
The Nerf guns weren’t a joke, and neither is hallway putt-putt. And, most likely, neither are the stories our RAs tell us about their wild and crazy freshman year. Precious.
10. Okay, what do I do now?
I moved in. I ate. I did my laundry. I was out of class at 10 and didn’t have to go back until 4. This just wasn’t what I was used to—yet. But I knew it was certainly better than my regular 7-to-2-then-homework phase that I’ve gratefully waved goodbye to, forever. And if I’m bored, I can always blog.
Freshman year follies
Freshman Scenario #7
Love those awkward moments
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