I shifted slightly in my seat and glanced at the clock to the right, wondering when the bell was going to ring. Then I remembered that this was a college class, and there were no bells! The teacher walked in a few moments later, introduced herself, and asked us to call her by her first name. Ten minutes into the class, a student walked in, bearing no excuse note and receiving no “tardy slip.” The other students in the class, mostly jaded upperclassmen, didn’t blink an eye at this. I had a wide grin on my face by this point, and I was sure it would remain for the rest of the semester.
Having completed all of the Spanish courses offered at my school, I am currently enrolled as a non-degree student in a Spanish 301 class at Purdue University. Three days a week after the final bell rings at my dress code-enforced school, I rush to Purdue where sweatshirts and pajama pants seem to be en vogue. The first few weeks of the class made me so excited for college. These students went home to dorms filled with friends and parties, whereas the only things that awaited me were homework, piano practice, and a mother who made me eat my vegetables. But as the semester progresses on, I am starting to see that my situation might not be so bad at all.
The ratty, wrinkly sweatshirts that most of these students wear are often the only clean items they have. They don’t have a mother willing to iron, fold, and put away their clothes. When these students have a calculus problem they can’t do, unless they have a math major floormate, they have to search to find someone to help them. They don’t have convenient access to a father willing to sit with them for hours explaining how to solve one derivative. The dorm rooms that these students go back to after class are usually miniscule and shared with a roommate. The thin walls don’t really make the area conducive to studying. They don’t have a house with a room of their own, or parents that force little brothers to keep the music down so that hard studying is possible.
I’m still looking forward to the freedom that college is going to offer me, but I am going to make the most of and enjoy the two years I still have in the comfort of home.