It’s my first year here at VCU and with that comes a lot: Meeting new friends, exploring new places, experiencing new things; the list of new goes on. But I’ve found myself fulfilling and thus learning from the freshman stereotypes I’ve gotten myself into and played the role perfectly.
1. Running late to class? You’ll catch me running, too.
So the story begins with my first day of college classes. My first class on the first day classes started began at 9:30 a.m. Somehow the night before, I didn’t set an alarm or my alarm failed to go off. To this day I still don’t know what went wrong, but I fully accredit my internal clock for waking me up at 9:22 a.m. and throwing my body into automatic panic mode. I jumped off of my lofted bed, grabbed my backpack and threw the door open and just began running from there. Of course, I had no idea where I was going, which is just another stereotype I’ve filled and truly a personal problem of poor navigation skills. As I’m scattering around the VCU campus trying to find the hall my class is in (which oh look! started two minutes ago) I realize I have not brushed my hair, teeth or changed out of my boyfriend’s tee shirt I fell asleep in and my pajama pants. I finally arrived, ratchet and out of breath, excused myself for being late and squeezed my way into an open seat. The teacher was super sweet about the matter, and taking a look around at everyone’s first day outfits and nicely put together looks, I quietly laughed to myself about the mess I was on the first day. But I made it to class! That’s the important part and boy am I shamelessly ready to take a full sprint again to make it to the rest.
2. Where am I?
I’ve definitely learned my way around mostly by now, but at the start of school I was in full lost puppy dog mode. You wouldn’t find me leaving my dorm without Google Maps up and running on my phone, twisting and turning each direction to see which way the little blue arrow on the map was facing. You have to learn somehow, right?
3. Rockin’ that orientation and welcome week VCU gear.
Did I pack tons of clothes from home to wear? Yes. Did I get seven new VCU shirts from orientation and Welcome Week alone? Also yes. So you know you’ll find me sporting my school spirit all over campus, along with my orientation lanyard and black and gold new student orientation string backpack. It’s functional, okay? So what if you can “spot the freshman” from a mile away just by what I have on.
4. Having lots and lots of questions.
When is Shafer open until? What options are for swipe exchange? What are RamBucks? How do I claim a ticket for a basketball game? WHAT IS AN ADVISING APPOINTMENT? Being a freshman you just don’t know a lot about a lot. You have to start somewhere and that’s by asking questions. Just by exposing my ignorance to things I don’t know about I can already feel myself becoming more educated on simple questions I’ve had. This also allows me to open up to more complex questions I have to explore in depth as well. Get educated!
We are all here to learn and better ourselves. Embrace your freshman identity and step forward to do just that!