My name is Shea. I am a freshman at West Virginia University. I’m from Frederick, Maryland. Let me start off by explaining that when I made my fall schedule, I felt like an 8:30 a.m. class would motivate me to start my day early. But, I quickly discovered that as a college student sleep is scarce. Going out on Tuesdays and Thursdays wasn’t going to be an option. So I thought. When you don’t know anyone and your roommates are asking you to go out with them, you tend to choose parties over sleep. I have an 8:30 a.m. Spanish class, and I find it almost impossible to wake up for the class. Most days I roll out of bed and walk to class, and I guarantee most people think I don’t own nice clothes!
On my first Tuesday morning, I had PYSC 101 at 11 a.m. I decided to ride to PRT because I forgot to check the bus schedule the night before. I was running late so I crammed myself into a packed PRT. The PRT moved about four feet before breaking down… for a half an hour. Packed like sardines in a hot PRT, I regretted my decision. By the time the PRT was fixed, my class was about forty minutes in, so after exiting the PRT I walked right back on to ride it downtown. I missed my first class. Awesome.
As an incoming freshman, college is a chance to make new friendships and generate relationships. Having a boyfriend going into college seems ridiculous to most people. I was the girl that thought long distance relationships could work, only to get my heart broken by my boyfriend of three years. He broke up with me over the phone during the first week of school. Of course I was upset – I didn’t see it coming!
So, after the break-up my roommate Haley decided to cheer me up by taking me to a movie. I was all for the idea except when she told me we would be walking. Now, I don’t know my way around Morgantown very well, but I know that the Hollywood Theaters is a hike from Summit Hall downtown. Haley assured me that the PRT would take us towards the Coliseum and the rest would be an easy night walk. Stupidly, I agreed to go. The hike took over an hour and by the time we finally reached Hollywood Theaters I was sweating bullets. The movie wasn’t even good; it was about sharks attacking people. When the movie came to an end I almost cried thinking about the journey we had ahead of us.
Walking on the highway at 12:30 a.m. was not my idea of fun. In order to keep myself from crying, I laughed. I drew my attention to the cars that passed by in order to take my mind off the giant blisters forming on my toes caused by the small shoes I was shoes I was wearing. And, the pepper spray in Haley’s purse was the only thing keeping me sane. Cars flew by and I decided I wasn’t going to walk anymore and began waving cars down. The only car that stopped happened to be a police officer. He offered us a ride, and of course we took it. He told us we walked a total of four and a half miles! On the bright side, my first experience riding in a cop car was simply because of stupidity.