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white long sleeve shirt sitting on grass
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UFL | Culture

When Does College Start Feeling Like the Movies?

Isabella Parra Student Contributor, University of Florida
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UFL chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Before you start reading: Put on “Bags” by Clairo. (Every good movie needs a soundtrack.)

There’s this idea ingrained into many students from a young age: that all the hardships and work we go through during adolescence are worthwhile because they lead up to the ultimate goal of going to college.

“Your worst day in college is your best day in high school,” is the phrase I constantly see on TikTok. College is the peak of our young adult lives, or at least that’s what we’re constantly told.

Yet I’m one month in.

And all I feel like is an adult.

So yeah, I think the movies lied to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Elle Woods go grocery shopping and meal prep or Fat Amy study for an exam worth 75% of her grade.

What’s this sick game? I mean, I think I’m studying more now than I ever did in high school, and I thought AP Lang was hell, but my economics class is killing me. But seriously, I expected to walk around club tabling day and join a killer all-girls a cappella group or study at the library and meet a super cute guy who I inexplicably have to fake date.

The Stephen C. O’Connell Center might single-handedly be the most overwhelming location on campus, and with hundreds of clubs at UF, the Student Organization Fair was a lot to take in. There are so many paths to take and not enough of me to go around. Coming home with a bajillion flyers and another hundred thousand QR codes, I started wondering if I am doing too much. In desperation to find “my people,” am I just spreading myself too thin?

The worst part, though, is when my friends from back home call me. They all seem to be having their Off Campus, Overcompensating, super-fun-cool college moments, effortlessly making new friends, peaking in the dating department and absolutely crushing the social scene at their colleges.

So am I the problem?

Maybe I don’t have enough main character energy.

My average day consists of meal prepping and cooking for about two hours, studying for another two and walking a treacherous 35 minutes to Marston and back. Sweaty and disgusting, I take a shower and watch TV for three hours. Then I do my laundry, vacuum, eat and go to sleep.

Now, unless the movies I watched consisted of feather-dusting all the windows in my student apartment, something seemed to have gotten lost in translation.

Still, there are moments in between when I realize where I am.

On that same walk, I always pass through Plaza of the Americas. I look around at the patches of grass and see people having picnics, holding club meetings, talking, playing instruments or just eating lunch.

It’s like a scene from Pitch Perfect, when Jesse and Beca have a picnic on campus and students walk behind them as they talk about their dreams and listen to music.

During game days, it’s just like the videos I used to watch longingly on TikTok: tailgating with friends, dressing in orange and blue, going to the frats and singing “Piano Man.” Better, even. It’s a sense of community, even when I don’t really have one yet.

So maybe it is just like the movies, if I let it.

I mean, hey, I’m only a month into college, right? If a movie followed all four years of college, I’d barely be 20 minutes in. And who actually expects the main character to have everything figured out 20 minutes into the movie?

Maybe I haven’t found “my people” because I’m not supposed to yet. There are places on campus that I walk past every day that could eventually hold some of my favorite memories. There are clubs I haven’t joined, nights I haven’t gone out, classes I haven’t taken and, yes, maybe even a super cute guy I haven’t needed to conveniently fake date.

And I think that’s kind of the point.

Coming-of-age movies wouldn’t be very interesting if the main character came in already knowing exactly who they were, who their friends would be and what the next four years of their life would look like. There has to be an awkward beginning. There have to be bad days, wrong turns and moments where nothing particularly exciting happens. Maybe meal prepping, doing laundry and making the 35-minute walk to Marston aren’t proof that my college experience hasn’t started. They’re just the scenes that would probably get cut from the final edit.

Because movie moments are everywhere. They’re in Plaza of the Americas when I look around and realize that I’m one of the students I used to imagine becoming. They’re in a crowd of people dressed in orange and blue, screaming the same song at the top of their lungs. They’re even in the moments when I feel like I haven’t found my place yet, because maybe finding it is part of the story.

So, when does college finally start feeling like the movies?

Maybe when we stop waiting for something big enough to make it feel like one.

I don’t need every day to be a football game, a spontaneous night out or the day I meet my lifelong best friends. Sometimes, maybe it’s enough to put on a good song for that 35-minute walk, sit on the grass at Plaza instead of passing straight through or say yes to something I normally wouldn’t. I can’t control when the big movie moments will happen, but I can pay a little more attention to everything happening in between.

After all, I’m only 20 minutes in.

Isabella Parra

UFL '30

Isabella Parra is a freshman at the University of Florida studying Media Production, Management, and Technology with a specialization in Digital Film and Television Production. Originally from South Florida, she has always loved anything that gives her a platform to express her creativity, especially through film, writing, design, and social media.

In high school, Isabella spent two years on her yearbook staff, first as a writer and later as the Marketing Manager. She currently serves as a Co-Social Chair for UF's Tower Yearbook and is excited to continue exploring writing and media through Her Campus. She especially loves writing about pop culture, film and television, college life, fashion, and the variety of topics she can't stop thinking about!

Outside of school, Isabella is almost always watching a new show or movie. She loves listening to music, playing tennis, spending time with friends, and collecting trinkets like Sonny Angels. She has a wide variety of interests, ranging from anime and K-dramas to fashion and video games. She also loves discovering new music, exploring Gainesville, and finding new things to obsess over. As someone who refuses to stick to one niche, she is always looking for new things to watch, try, and write about.