The first few months living on campus is… a lot. It’s bizarre, it’s fun, it’s mortifying, it’s isolating. Being the new girl is never easy. But never fear, each day gets a little better. Campus slowly colors with familiar faces, and suddenly, it’s very normal to barge into your neighbor’s room and eat all of her peanut butter.
My advice to anyone starting college: try to do avoid doing the following five things, and you’ll be set.
Don’t…do first impressions: It takes time to know somebody. Don’t think you have a person pegged after a minute of small talk. Everyone is nervous, everyone has layers. Keep a very open mind, and persevere – the girl who hates Gilmore Girls (kidding, nobody does) could be cracking jokes at your 21st, you never know.
Don’t…take things personally: Good friends can feel like clothes sometimes. This is awesome, except when you find yourself stark naked, three gazillion miles from home. Suddenly, there’s no seat saved in math class and no one who knows you’re still hilarious when you make a bad joke. On occasion, (five times a day) you’ll long for people who really know you, so you can stop having to prove yourself and take a long nap. Wait it out. Don’t be upset if your new friend leaves for Tuesday night dinner without you, or if you’re not included in the group chat: it is never personal, we guarantee it.
Don’t…ignore your parents: When set free into the exciting world of all-night libraries and sleeping a door away from a boy, it can be pretty tempting to shut out the world and live second to second. It’s great to get away, do your own laundry, meet new people, and reinvent yourself, but please: call your mother. Once a week, set a time, and give her the rundown. Shoot her a bi-weekly text if you’re feeling really generous. You’ll both feel better afterwards.
Don’t…never leave campus: Technically, you could live a fairly functional life on campus. Being able to walk 5 feet and buy anything from curly fries to an eyebrow wax is pretty amazing, but also kind of lethal. Make an effort to leave campus regularly for your long-term sanity. Break out of the comfy bubble and float back down to Earth.
Don’t…commit floorcest: Unless he is the love of your life, absolutely do not hook up with your neighbor. It may seem like a really good (read: convenient) idea at the time. It isn’t. It will be always be awkward, no matter how many times you slur to one another in a vodka-haze that it’ll be fiiiiiiiiine. Unless you enjoy stressful walks to the bathroom and indoor sunglasses, try to limit random encounters to people living further than a door away. Same goes for classmates. Econ 305 is bad enough without excessive sweating and staring a hole into the floor.
Live by these five simple rules, and you’ll be in for a great year. Except maybe the last one – you’re only in college once…