Days as a Freshman: 6

Current Mood: Confused

So, it’s almost been a week since I got here. A week and already it feels much longer. It must have something to do with living in the same place you to go to school at. You never leave anyone, so people and days just drift into each other to make this huge vague cloud of time.

Six days in, and its 50% great and 50% I want to turn around and go home. Part of that 50% of awesomeness is Sasha. The kid who sat next to me during orientation and who I’ve seen a few times since. He’s got a smile that makes me forget my name…and my ability to put words together to make a sentence.

I attempted to talk to him the first time at a bonfire that followed the ‘Welcome’ ceremony.

Standing with my roommates, shielding my face from smoke and wayward sticks piled high with marshmallows, I felt someone brush by me in an effort to get closer to the fire. Without looking I moved over, but stopped when I heard his voice.

“Hey. That speech took forever, huh?”

He was smiling at me again, a huge grin that took over his entire face. It was almost completely dark outside but I could still make out his smile. The first real friendly smile I had seen since coming to college. Read More »

Starting off a “real life” in a new city far from home after recently graduating college in May can be a very scary and lonely experience. Take it from me, I am currently doing it right now.

Having to make adult decisions and worry about things like finding a reasonable apartment to rent or what kind of medical benefits your job will have were possibly the last things on my mind as a carefree college student just four months ago.

And to add more sting to the wound, I have to hear about everyone going back to school.

My younger friends all have away messages up such as “Back at it! Pregaming, then out” or “Fall Semester Kick Off Party.” I sit in my tiny apartment and cringe with jealousy when I read posts like The First Day of School or My Freshman Year: Day One. I lament with my fellow graduates who are working as well and miles away over IM or email.

Somehow, it’s just not the same as stumbling into their rooms at 3 am when we all lived in a sorority house together.

Well, not only does loneliness suck, but it’s bad for your health as well. A recent article I read described how researchers had found that “loneliness may accelerate the rate of physical decline that occurs naturally with age.” Great!

So, not only do I feel old because I am a college graduate, but now, my current state of mind could be aging me even faster…AHHH! Read More »

It’s that time of year again: the first day of school. Students all over the world are preparing for the opportunities that lie ahead. There is so much to learn and so much to see. It is no wonder so many students look forward to this day.With the first day of classes so near, I began thinking about the way things were in high school around this time.

I remember the big trip to Office Max with my mom every year; we’d hop in her SUV and drive on down to the store, where I would leap from the vehicle while it was still in motion, and run up and down the aisles (think: Supermarket Sweep) seeking out the newest pens and folder colors.

I would then return home with my new purchases and proceed to label every folder for every class, color code my notebooks and binders, and put it all in my bag for the first day of school.

And I know I’m not alone. Read More »

For me, the return of classes, exams, club meetings, and late-night studying leads to the return of something else I could do without—unwanted pounds.

Especially as a commuter, I’m often only home early in the morning and late at night, when all I want is some comfort food and a red bull before I crack open the books.

My gym card sits snugly in my wallet, unused and unwanted, and the Wendy’s drive-thru employees know be my name, and any semblance of a workout routine and healthy eating habits become a fond memory.

This year, however, after many years of trial-and-error, I plan on keeping my waistline in check. Here’s how you can do the same during your busy semester:

Pack your lunch. No Power Rangers lunch box required—Tupperware and a brown paper bag will do. Go grocery shopping when you have a free hour and buy healthy lunch meats, bread, fruit, and granola bars. Sounds easy, right? Well, the trick to making this work is packing as soon as your bring the groceries home, not when you’re guzzling down hot coffee on you way out the door with 7 minutes to spare before class.

Keep snacks handy. Stock up on small plastic Ziploc bags, dried fruits, nuts, pretzels, baby carrots, snack size candy, and other mini snacks. Keep a bunch of these bags at the ready in your fridge so you can throw a few in your purse before heading out the door. Almost anything you bring with you will be healthier than a giant Snickers and bottle of soda from the vending machine when you’re trying to silence your grumbling stomach during class. Read More »

Days as a Freshman: 1

Current Mood: Exhausted.

So today was my first day. First day without my parents around, first official day on a college campus, and first time waking up in a bedroom that wasn’t the one my crib had been in 18 years earlier.

Moving in yesterday was like hell. It was hot, there were a lot of stairs, and everyone was trying to do the same thing at the same time. I’m in one of the dorms closest to the dining hall, on the second floor. Which, judging by this morning, means I’ll be smelling the day’s breakfast way before I officially wake up.

Saying goodbye to my parents yesterday was weird. I couldn’t say all the things I wanted to say because there were people everywhere. I promised I’d call a lot. I hugged them. And then they were gone. I felt like crying, got this weird ache in the back of my throat, and ran back up to my room before my emotions made me That Freshman Girl Who Bursts Into Tears in Front of Everyone.

Last night my two roommates and I went to dinner and then to a Welcome Session in the student center. Stacey is my first roommate, and she’s your typical polo shirt clad, bleach blond, heart charm necklace wearing California girl. She only ate a peach at dinner and kept saying how “Massachusetts is so cold in the summer!”

I’m not sure we’ll get along. Read More »

Ahh, to be a freshman again…

Long after the fact, I can safely say that there is no experience that can quite match being 18, fully on your own for the first time in your life, and living in a dorm surrounded by the hundreds of the horniest creatures on this green earth.

As a kid who had a pretty awful high school experience when it came to members of the opposite sex, I went into my freshman year with the attitude that I’d pretty much take on all comers. I turned down girls like a 15 year old boy would turn down an offer to look through Penthouse magazine.

Needless to say, it was a very fruitful year. Read More »

Everyone’s heard of it, and no, it’s not a first year’s urban legend. The Freshman Fifteen is all-too painfully real, and extremely hard to avoid.

However, if you’re smart enough to check up on CC before heading off to the most fabulous four years of your life, there’s still hope!

Just follow these guidelines and you’ll be happy to return home next summer with your washboard abs (or, you know, minimal love handles) still in tact.

1. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Don’t deem your shiny new meal card a free-for-all twenty-four hour all you can eat buffet. It’s NOT. Yeah you’re in the mood for pizza but ooh a burger might be nice and holy mother of Mary unlimited soft-serve? Before you know it your quick lunch between classes could feed an entire third-world country.

It’s okay. Focus. Eat what you’d eat at home. A sandwich on wheat bread. Some chicken breast and salad? Keep it healthy, the binge drinking will make up for the slice of chocolate cake you so wisely skipped.

2. Stay active you fat lard! Not only are you no longer working out five days a week for your high school cheerleading squad, but you’ll likely be lounging and snacking a lot more (I’ll get to that later, you’re not off the hook.) so it’s important to exercise! Not only do you probably have free membership to an on campus gym (take advantage of all that tuition you’re paying for mama’s sake!) but it’s a great way to meet all the cute muscley boys. Yummy! Read More »

It’s mid-August. You know what that means…almost back-to-school time. When the fall starts to roll around, it causes me to reminisce of my early college years. The one particular experience that is forever implanted in my mind is my freshman year roommate.

Note: I swear that everything in this post is true. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Just four years ago, I was preparing to attend college in the big, scary state of New York after growing up in a small mid-western town.

Of course, no one that I even remotely knew or went to high school with was going to my school, and that was part of the excitement. I was going to be assigned a random roommate and had visions of us staying up all night sharing secrets, watching movies, and dishing about our latest biology class crush.

Well, little did I know, but I was moving in with the WEIRDEST person on campus. And, to make matters worse, this was before the days of Facebook, where I could have stalked her and been mentally prepared for what was to come. But, no, I had a friendly, casual phone conversation with what seemed like a sweet girl. Little did I know what was to come in the next year.

Example A: Chinese Fighting Swords. One day, I came home from class to find her unwrapping three large boxes containing something she had ordered off the internet. What were they you ask? Real, sharp, metal, will-kill-you-in-one-swipe, fighting swords. Three of them. She proceeded to then rub them against her skin and tell me how sexy the swords were. Yes, I feared for my life. Read More »

Last summer, I found myself packing up my life (have you ever noticed that your life seems extremely pathetic when you get around to actually packing it up in luggage?) and heading off, seven hours away, to a world of cheap beer, dirty laundry, and glorious, glorious freedom. It was my freshman year of college.Sure, I had older friends, and they were all dying to give me advice.

Don’t procrastinate, never forget your shower shoes, beware the freshman fifteen, look to your right- look to your left- both those guys probably have chlamydia. You know, stuff like that.

Anyway… it’s about time to pack up life (beware moldy sandwiches) and head back to school, but for you young readers this is a big deal, and there’s no doubt you’ve got questions. So, I’m hooking you up with some vital answers. Read More »

I might be soiling my classes, but at least I’m in college. Life on the outside is tough. I just watched my best friend’s little brother get rejected from four different schools—all on the same day. It was just one thin envelope after another—like watching a train wreck or something. According to MSN, this year colleges rejected a record number of applicants, so don’t feel too bad if you didn’t get into your reach school.

Even safety schools are getting more selective. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio saw a record number of applicants this year, only admitting 73% of them, down from 78% last year. First of all, why the hell is there a Miami University in Ohio to begin with, let alone one that rejects people? Has the world gone mad?This whole thing is getting out of hand. Not only obscure schools are getting more applicants, elite colleges also received a record numbers. Read More »