Move-in day is finally here! We’ve waited all summer for this. Football season! Parties! Friends! Waddick’s breakfast sandwiches! (I know I’m not alone in loving these). But before the semester gets going for real, here are ten things that only happen during syllabus week.
1. Room configurations
Who needs Pilates when you can just shift a bunch of heavy dorm furniture around your new room for hours? Alas! The perfect setup never manages to fit exactly the way you wished it would, and when you have finally arranged the room to your liking you are left wondering why you only have 5 feet of floor space left to stand in. (This particular issue may not apply to those fortunate girls who have finagled their way into the wonderland that is Flaherty Hall.) Ah well- It’s not perfect, but it’s home.2. Unpacking (or not)
Now that your dream room is ready to move into, all that’s left is to cram every single article of clothing you own into every available crevice and string up enough lights to cause a fire hazard. For those of you who are impeccably organized and manage to fully unpack on move-in day, I salute you. I, along with others who labor under the burden of laziness, am more likely to be still living out of my suitcase come midterms week.3. Influx of back to school social media posts
During syllabus week you are absolutely, positively guaranteed to be bombarded at every turn with a sea of back to school ‘grams, tweets, Facebook posts, you name it. You have all experienced this especially irritating custom, and yet find yourselves strangely compelled to add your own to the mix. Your annual roomie dome-pic is planned and executed with the precision of a military invasion. For posterity. Because people care.4. Not knowing where your classes are
Contrary to what you might like to believe, I know more upperclassmen that end up clueless on their first day than freshmen. It happens to the best of us. You think you know what’s up—only to realize that you were TOO prepared when you printed out your schedule a week earlier after waiting at Flanner for half an hour for a class that was relocated to O’Shag at the last minute.5. The SWEAT
(I seriously hope I’m not alone in this). There’s always something you feel like you’re forgetting as you’re driving up Notre Dame Ave… and then as soon as you exit the car, it hits you. The humidity. THAT’S IT. South Bend is not perpetually in a state of frigid winter. You were so excited for sweater weather that you forgot the dregs of summer are still lingering. You curse the heat as you swim to class the next morning, trying not to let your t-shirt stick to your back under your backpack. (But lets be honest this distaste for summer disappears real quick as soon as the temperature drops below freezing.)6. Homework on the first day
Yes. We all know the struggle. Why oh why did we come to such a prestigious university?? Chances are you’ve got homework to do already. Some of you might have even had to do some reading over the summer. You can’t even remember what this class is about and you already have an assignment. There is no grace period. No time to relax. You have WORK. Shame on these professors.
7. Feeling the need to go out on school nights
SYLLY WEEK YAAAS! You get to see your friends again for the first time! There are so many parties! Where will you go? Wait. Just hit them all! You have work to do? Who cares! That professor doesn’t really expect you to get it done. Sylly week is for partying! Everyone knows that. (I am under the impression that partying all through syllabus week was invented by people who actually never have homework.)8. Oversleeping (because of too much SYLLY WEEK YASS)
Stayed out too late? Who needs sleep right? Apparently you do because your alarm that you forgot to set when you came home last night didn’t go off and now you’ve missed your first class and doubtless made a bad impression on your professor. Great start. Keep it up. But let’s be real: inside you know you’re just going to go out again tonight. No shame.9. Beginning to regret going out on school nights
It’s been four nights in a row now and you’re beginning to lose steam. BUT WAIT. YOU MUST GO OUT ON FRIDAY! It’s unthinkable that you would miss Friday night. But then you realize you haven’t completed a single assignment yet and your pile of work has become a mountain with eyes and teeth. You dare not go near it. The dread kicks in. How can you already be stressed about work and it hasn’t even been a full week back at school?10. Feeling secretly relieved it’s all over
For all your posturing, there is at least a small, secret part of you that is glad it’s all over. You can finally settle in. You *might* even start unpacking for real. And it’s past time you finally tackled that mini replica of Mt. Everest you have created with all your neglected schoolwork in the corner of your room. But first. You need to catch up on some Zzzs.
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