Before coming to college, we’re surrounded by the excitement of moving away from home, making new friends and of course getting to the next step in our lives. However, this excitement quickly dies away after your first month of college when you have these 11 realizations:
1. Sharing a room
If you, like me, were lucky enough to have never shared your room with someone else, having a roommate in college can be a huge wakeup call. Sure, the idea of living in a dorm away from your parents sounds great, but sharing a small, single bedroom with another person can get a little cramped sometimes.
2. Your digestive system might be off for the first week…or month…
Going from home-cooked meals to dining hall food can be a little hard on your digestive system. It might take a week (or month) for your body to get adjusted to your meal plan.
3. Time management is key
The homework in college isn’t always hard, it’s just extremely time consuming. That’s where time management becomes your best friend or your worst enemy if you struggle with it.
4. Alone time is vital
You love your roommate (hopefully), but sometimes you get sick of her annoying chewing. Having alone time in college is a major key, as DJ Khaled would say, so any amount of alone time you get, you use. Whether that’s to watch Netflix without headphones, lie in your bed completely naked or whatever else you do when you’re alone.
5. Finding food you like
Your meal plan says there are 20+ dining locations on campus that take your meal plan, yet you can only tolerate food from one of them.
6. The elevators take forever
It’s a five-minute walk to class, but you better add another five minutes for waiting for the elevator, and then another five minutes of being on the elevator as it stops at every floor in between yours and the first floor… Maybe I’ll just take the stairs next time.
7. Every weekend is the same
Once you’ve been to one frat party, you’ve been to them all. Yeah, there might be a different theme every weekend, but for the most part, they’re all the same.
8. You’re not going to make as many friends as you did in high school
The first month of high school, I knew everyone’s names in all eight of my classes. In college, you’re lucky if you make one friend in all six of your classes by the end of the semester. There’s just too many faces and not enough time.
9. 8 a.m.’s will be the death of you
You woke up at 6:30 a.m. for four years of high school, yet somehow the thought of waking up at 7:30 for an 8 a.m. makes you cringe.
10. Feeling stressed out becomes a normal feeling
After you get over syllabus week, the feeling of being stressed out starts to make you feel warm inside. You don’t feel yourself without feeling stressed out.
11. You’re going to need more than just a week to study for a test
Studying the night before a test may have cut it in high school, but in college you’re going to need to start studying for a test at least a month in advance if you want to get a C.