As an incoming freshman, I received a whole lot of advice (some unwarranted like, “oh no, do NOT room with your high school best friend. You’ll hate each other!”) and some vague and obvious like, “make sure to study hard!” I’ve been here for just about a month now, and I’ve mentally compiled a list of all the advice/new things I have learned since being here.
1. Fruit is expensive. We ventured across the street to Harris Teeter the day after move in and were appalled at the price of a bag of apples. Popcorn and m&m’s were cheaper, so we got that instead. Very healthy.
2. You can have the neatest, most sanitary, immaculate dorm ever and still get roaches. But if you scream bloody murder, as I do by reflex, somebody will come help. My suitemates and I have a designated bug killer in our hall. 3. There are snakes here. This girl brings her pet snakes. A lot of people love her and her snakes, but as a person with intense Ophidiophobia, I do not. Sorry, snake woman!
4. Rooming with your best friend can be amazing. Rooming random can be amazing. And rooming with your best friend can be horrible, and going random could be awful. It really depends, so don’t listen to the rumors and unwarranted pieces of (rather aggressive, at times) advice. If your bestie and you are close, enjoy spending a lot of time together, and are able to maturely work out conflict and address tension, you’ll be fine as roomies. 5. Be careful with your dining dollars. I have 5 left. It’s mostly been spent on Einstein’s, and it’s just barely PSL season. Christmas drink season is still upon us, but I’ll have to pay for those with normal money or Captains Cash.
6. Tailgates smell terrible, but they can be really fun–even if you don’t drink! So don’t feel pressured to drink if you don’t want to because you can have a good time just dancing around with friends. 7. Ice is extraordinarily difficult! Most people just put water bottles in their fridge, from what I’ve heard. We have a Brita filter, so we don’t have to keep buying water bottles. However, our Brita filter doesn’t fit in our little fridge, so we have to make ice in an ice tray. It’s annoying to fill, and we always end up getting hair in the freezer. So, be ready to deal with ice, and be prepared to fish hair from your freezer (actually, I don’t think anyone else really has this problem…) 8. Speaking of hair: a warning to my gals, or really, to anyone with long hair: say goodbye to good hair days, especially if you have pretty long hair, like me. It’s always frizzy and sweaty and just not fun to deal with. Invest in some humidity control hairspray–it’s worth it. 9. Laundry is expensive. Okay, $1.50 for each wash and dry doesn’t sound so bad, but trust me, $3 is something for a college student. Also, the washers and dryers only take quarters, so if you try to use other coins, it will eat them and not return them. I’m salty that it took a dime from me. 10. This one is corny and wholesome, but you will meet amazing people, and if you put yourself out there and step a little out of your comfort zone, you will experience so many fun and amazing things. Everyday will bring some little, or big, bouts of excitement. College really is SO different from high school. Thank God.