College, in itself, is a whirlwind of experiences and adventures, especially with so much to learn during the first year away from home. Anyone who says there were no nerves involved is probably lying. Moving away from home means suddenly being responsible for everything that probably used to be taken care of by your parents.
Between academics, campus life and friends, there’s a lot to learn in your freshman year. Here are seven things that I will take away from my freshman year at Northeastern.
1. Friend groups change, so let them. It’s hard, but it happens. The first few months of freshman year, every person puts his or her best foot forward. It takes a while to actually get to know people. Maybe you just slowly drifted apart over time. Maybe there was a fight. Either way, it’s very rare to find the set of friends you fit in with perfectly right off the bat. Just because your core group of friends changes does not mean you can’t stay friends with them, so give it a try.
2. Everyone ignores quiet hours, so if you have a test to study for, good luck. There will always be that one person across the hall who still talks on the phone loud enough for the rest of the hall to hear or the friends that stay in their doorway and talk rather than go inside a room. You’re going to hear the bass of your neighbor’s music and your other neighbor’s alarm go off after a late night nap. After my freshman year, I left my dorm with one looming question – what are quiet hours?
3. You don’t leave Stetson East without grabbing a chocolate chip cookie. I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory.
4. Coming back from a long weekend means returning to disgusting communal bathrooms. Be careful of which stalls you use. On that note, if you stay at school for an extended weekend, do everyone a favor and keep it classy.
5. Dining hall food isn’t as good as you remember from Welcome Day or orientation. Northeastern does have good food in its dining halls, especially compared to other universities, but it’s not secret that every Husky has the same realization at some point during freshman year. They bring out the good stuff for prospective students and their parents. Last Welcome Day they had Boston Crème Pie for dessert. How often does Stetson East really have Boston Crème Pie?
6. Take advantage of where you are. Boston is a beautiful city with so many opportunities and activities, but it’s easy to become complacent and just stay on campus. The city has so much to offer. Don’t end the year with regrets of things that you never gave yourself the time to do. It’s easy to take things for granted, especially when you know something will always be there. I can’t even try to count how many times my friends and I walked by the Roxy’s Grilled Cheese Truck and said, “We still need to try Roxy’s.” Now, I’m sitting back in New Jersey still never having tried a famous Roxy’s grilled cheese.
7. International Village is its own country. Northeastern’s campus isn’t that big, but it’s like the other side of Ruggles is a black hole where things get lost. Unless you’re willing to make the trip across campus often, my friends and I have found that we rarely ever saw anyone from IV throughout the school year.
Photos: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/blogs/thenextgreatgeneration/freshman-ca…
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http://www.imig2012.org/general-information/images/Bostonpic.jpg