The Freshman 15: Davidson Edition

Welcome, Class of 2019! I hope you’ve enjoyed these first few weeks of Davidson life. Driving onto campus for the first time, walking into your new room to find that your roommate has already claimed 75% of the floor space, trying and failing to remember 500 names, that first Saturday night down at F… whew! And that doesn’t even cover the first day of classes. We at Davidson like to keep the pace fast and the fun flowing (unless you’re like the 99.5% of us who make time to study, too). That being said, there are a lot of things you might not have thought of yet to add to your first year Davidson bucket list.

I now present to you, O Glorious Class of 2019, the Freshman 15 of things to do between now and May 11, 2016.

1. Flickerball: Okay, this one’s probably a no-brainer, but for those of you who are hesitating about playing, here’s the push you need to get out on the field! Flickerball is awesome not only because you become a contributor to one of the rarest sports in the world, but also because you actually get to know your hall. (Shoutout to the Belk Eyed Peas of the Esteemed Second Belk West.) I got to know a bunch of girls through Flickerball and it’s a ton of fun to play together and cheer each other on. If you’re not into the sporting aspect of Flickerball, I encourage you to give it a try anyway — even if you don’t want to play, you’ll still have a ton of fun cheering on the sidelines!

2. Eat brunch at Toast: Don’t get me wrong — Commons brunch on a Sunday morning is pretty spectacular. But if you want to further indulge your carnal desire for breakfast food, grab some pals and head down Main Street to Toast. Stuffed french toast, omelets, breakfast sandwiches… you really can’t go wrong. And if you go on a Saturday you can check out the Farmer’s Market on the way out.

3. Lake Campus: This one may be a little challenging without wheels, but it also gives you an excuse to make friends with someone who has a car. Lake Campus, especially RIGHT NOW and in the spring, is perfect for lazy afternoons. You can take sailing, waterskiing, and wakeboarding classes, and you can rent canoes and paddleboards for “free” (it’s covered by that nice thing we call tuition) and swim/lounge by the beach. And if you can’t bear the thought of leaving your homework on your desk, Lake Campus is a pretty sweet spot to finish reading assignments.

4. Stroll through the town of Davidson/neighborhoods: My friends and I discovered this one late last spring as a way to escape campus. The neighborhoods across from Concord Road are great for getting lost in and letting your mind wander. Getting off campus and forgetting about school for an hour helps make you feel human again, especially around midterms and finals.

5. Do a DO trip: So you either went on Odyssey or you’ve heard everyone else talking about all the fun they had on Odyssey. Why not rinse and repeat? Escape to the **wild** for a couple hours, a weekend, or a week (Everglades, anyone?) and enjoy great food, friends, and foliage. It’s an alliterative win-win-win.

6. Find a club that you’re really into and then go all out: Freshman year I signed up for approximately 40 million clubs and proceeded to drop all but two of them. Go to a bunch of different info meetings to see what really suits your fancy, and then try really committing yourself to one or two that you love. You’ll have a ton of fun without overstuffing your schedule. We might be biased, but we highly reccommend Her Campus…

7. Eat a quesadilla at late night: To the untrained eye this piece of advice may appear trivial; however, I highly encourage you to indulge in a delicious late night Union ‘dilla at some point soon. They literally ooze cheese. A crispy, expertly grilled tortilla perfectly complements their cheesy gooeyness. A great snack to go with Live Thursdays, study breaks, and weekend munchies.

8. Dress up for theme parties: Davidson is not a place to shy away from your inner fashionista. Toga, Highlighter, Mathletes vs. Athletes… so many costumes, so little time. The more you dress for the theme, the cooler you will look. Better head to Value Village now to stock up before they run out of swag.

9. Go to the lectures that you (secretly) think sound really cool: We all go to Davidson. We’re all brimming with intellectual curiosity. And there are all sorts of REALLY COOL lectures to fuel our quest for knowledge! In all seriousness, definitely take advantage of having incredible speakers come to you, for free. They cover all kinds of topics that you don’t necessarily have time to go over in class, and different departments will bring experts from around the world to campus for the sole purpose of educating us. That’s pretty sweet.

10. Cheer on the ‘Cats at a sporting event: A quarter of this school is comprised of student athletes, which means you probably already know a good many of them. And they would love to see your smiling face at their game! Bonus points: See a game/match/meet for every sport on campus. The first football home game is Saturday September 12th, and there’s nothing more auntumnal than a football game.

11. Swing on the swing: I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me until February of my freshman year to use the swing that’s between the Union and the Library. It’s as fun as it looks.

12. Volunteer at the Davidson Farm: By now you may have noticed the signs on the salad bar in Commons marking certain veggies as coming from the Davidson Farm. That’s right, we have our very own farm! It’s a super fun place to volunteer. Last year, I had the pleasure of harvesting string beans for Davidson kids to munch on. It was awesome. Plus, if you’re there during harvesting season, you might get to taste a fresh carrot. And if you’ve never had a carrot pulled straight from the ground, you are missing out.

13. Play in the snow: All you Northerners out there will probably laugh at the way Davidson flips out when it snows half an inch. Well, I’m from coastal California, so snow is a huge deal. And campus is absolutely gorgeous when covered in a fine layer of powder. Ambush your friends with snowballs! Make a snow angel! Find some cardboard and get sledding! It may not be much in the way of inches, but it’s magical nonetheless.

14. Go to a Union Board crafting event: Want to paint pottery? Tie dye a t-shirt? Build a bear? You can do all this and more courtesy of the Union Board Crafting Committee! Last year, the line for Stuff a Plush wrapped around the entire second floor balcony. (Worth it.)

15. Stay up all night…: …NOT to do homework. I am not advocating for that kind of all-nighter. I’m talking about chilling in your friend’s room, watching Netflix, eating pizza, and shooting the breeze until the sun comes up. That’s what college is all about.

• Bucket-list
• Freshman Fifteen