We all must go through “the freshman phase.” It seems like your freshman year just flies by; I guess time does fly when you’re having fun! The freshman experience is probably where most of your memories and learning experiences come from. It is the first time many students have total freedom to do whatever they want. College brings freshmen into a new home with new faces and new lifestyles. You can eat and sleep whenever you want, stay out as long as you want, clean whenever you want, etc. The only supervision freshmen really have is typically from their Resident Assistants (RA), and that’s only for those living on campus. Living on campus is a character building experience that everyone should have. There is nothing like random fire alarms (sometimes in the wee hours of the morning), receiving some of the best meals from the dining halls, and sharing a space with another person. For a lot of people, college may be the only time they’ll spend in such a close-knit community. You see a lot of familiar faces, and it is in your dormitory that you meet and befriend a lot of the people you will graduate with and have lifelong friendships with.
Although, I know not everyone enjoys their time in the dorms, the struggles you face there will become some of your greatest college memories. If you live like I did my freshman year, you will know the struggle of sharing a bathroom with a hallway full of females. Rushing home to take a hot shower only to find that all the stalls are taken is what I like to call a patience builder. Bonding with your neighbors at RA activities in the lobby is another thumbs up for the freshman experience. A lot of my peers did not stay in the dorms their freshman year, and I feel they missed out on a great deal of events and activities. Living on campus keeps freshman safer and more in touch with what’s going on in their community.
For my sophomore year, I chose to move out of the dorms. Deciding whether to continue living on campus after freshman year is a student’s personal choice, but everyone should at least try it.Living on campus is a part of the college process, you start from the bottom as a freshman in a smaller dorm, and by your senior year you’re probably living more comfortably in a place of your liking.
HCXO!