By Brian Brecker
Elm Staff Writer
WC students reemerged from winter hibernation to once again traverse these halls. Some of us, myself included, have already submerged completely in second semester studies to varying results. However, it is cogent to go back and consider how our expectations differed from the realities we experienced here as a first-semester freshman.
One reading this may wonder, ‘How can you accurately describe and encompass hundreds of students’ experiences in this article?’ Well, reader, I can’t. I can merely give my personal experience on the matter.
First off, for all the videos I watched and articles I read before entering college, very few of them prepared us for the complexities of living with other people and the rules that had to be set. This led to numerous awkward and embarrassing situations. Further, I have never seen so many break ups in the span of two months in my entire life. At the beginning of college I believe I experienced five breakups within my friend group, at least. Not to say relationships can’t last in college because they certainly can. I maintained by relationship through my first semester of college, though many relationships likely falter due to distance and lack of communication that was previously experienced.
Also, I never knew I’d be spending so much money on laundry. Before entering college, getting a job to get my laundry done never seemed like a plausibility. Also the nightly expenses for 1a.m. trips with friends to 7/11 are one of those impossible-to-predict expenses that can only be accounted for when one is properly integrated into their friend groups.
For roommate situations, the best option is to shower daily and recognize the room as two rooms conveniently sliced in half for each person’s comfort. The best way to anger your roommate and cause conflict is to invade each other’s personal space and property.
If there was one thing I was never prepared for, it was the amount of drama that happens in friend groups. Coming in as a person that didn’t really have friends in high school, I’m not sure if this is especially bad, or maybe it was just the dorm I was in, but there was a significant amount of drama. At first, college looked like the university advertisements where everyone is impossibly attractive and smiling all the time. Then, the reality set in that we’d all have to be living with one another for the extended future. For us sheltered kids, some aspects of college social life were simply too much to keep up with.
Somehow though, most of us survived, and we’re on the long haul now. It seemed to me that a lot of people suffered under stress, making the necessity of adequate counselling services pertinent in my mind. I hope all my colleagues have another great semester, or if they had a poor one previously, they find a path to success in this institution. One thing I learned in college was that no one is control of my future other than myself and no one’s going to take care of me but myself. So take care of yourself and your academics and have a fantastic second semester.