College Life Questions

inNeedOfPencils
Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:56:16 +0000

Talk to people. Be social. Be more outgoing than normal the first few weeks and meet people.
Choose a place you feel comfortable in. It can be super prestigious and well-known, have a great night life, be in a beautiful location, but if you don’t feel at home there, it’s going to be miserable.
Yes, it’s very different. In high school, I spent my life doing homework. I had no social life to speak of, especially once junior and senior year hit because I was always doing homework. In college, you have less busy work, fewer tests, and studying is mainly what you make of it, what practice problems you chose to do.
Other people. My hall grew unusually close, and we are practically a family. Whenever we need to distract ourselves from homework, we go talk to each other. Whenever we want to eat, we round up whoever’s around and go together. If someone has a problem, everyone is there as support. We do everything together, and though people say that it’s weird and it makes us look like freshmen, we don’t care because when we’re together, everything looks brighter. So in short, whenever someone needs something, I get distracted. But it’s a good sort of distraction.
The first day of living in the dorms was crazy. I didn’t know anyone there, my family wasn’t breathing down my neck for the first time in my life. I kept on looking over my shoulder, expecting my parents or my brother to be there, and it was an unnerving, exciting, wonderful freedom. I started meeting my hallmates, being as outgoing as possible. I was extremely self-conscious, expecting that everyone knew what was wrong with me, not wanting to talk to me, but no one did. And no one cared. There was our first hall dinner, which was really awkward, but we started to get to know each other. The first hall meeting was long, where everyone introduced themselves and we started to see the quirks and stuff of the hall. There were also several events going on the day after move in, and the entire hall went as a group because we didn’t know anyone else to go with, but it helped us bond as a hall.
Living with a roommate is different, and it really depends on who you end up with. But a lot of the conflicts I notice happen because of a lack of flexibility. My roommate and I get along well because we expect each other to have our own separate lives, our own routines, our own habits, and we respect that. If you go in and expect people to change to accommodate you, problems will ensue. There are roommate conflicts in my hall, and they’re because people expect the world to revolve around them. Either by not restricting their stuff (and their mess) to their own space, by inviting people to the room at odd hours, or by expecting that people change their habits to fit their ideals.
My initial impression of my school wasn’t good because it was hot, I was tired and grumpy and annoyed with my family, and we didn’t have a real tour. But when I went there for orientation, I was certain that I had chosen the right place. People were friendly, welcoming, and the students were acting more mature than the parents. My orientation hall treated me wonderfully, and I felt at home with them. Even though things weren’t perfect, like the beds were a little hard, the food wasn’t great, but I felt so comfortable around the people there, that it made everything worthwhile. I felt at home and the best I’d felt in a long time while I was there, and I was confident that I’d chosen the right place.
My roommate was chosen at random, based on a very very basic compatibility survey (smoker/non-smoker, major, hobbies). There was a giant facebook group for the freshmen, and several people met there and tried to find roommates. But I think that you can get along well with your roommate as long as there’s no shortage of communication.
No I’ve been trying, but on-campus jobs are hard to get
I attend UC Irvine, and it has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. My hall is more of a family than my biological family, and we’re incredibly close. People are willing to help, willing to talk, and the campus is gorgeous.
I’d say my Games and Society class is hardest, mainly because I don’t know exactly what the professor expects us to know.