The Freshman Transition
Katie Tandler | Life Section Manager

It's different.

That's what it all evens out to. Not everything qualifies as being better, nor does everything seem to be worse. The proverbial "ups and downs" (Lord, how we hear about those) level out into what simply becomes an entirely new angle from which we view the world.

That angle, of course, is the point of view of a college student.

There are a lot of contradictions at work here. First off, while you can basically do anything you want, you also have to do everything yourself. Like laundry. No longer can you count on the magic that happened at home, where all you had to do was put stuff in the hamper (sometimes you didn't even have to do that!) and every so often it would disappear to Laundry Land (taken by the Laundry Fairy, of course), and reappear in drawers, clean and folded. But not in college. These are the hampers of the real world, bereft of that magic, and the Laundry Fairy is nowhere to be found. Instead, she has been replaced by the rumbling, quarter-devouring demons found in every hall. Rumor has it that, at their hands, the College Laundry Fairy was killed and ritually eaten.

...er. Anyway. Responsibility. You learn to pay a lot more attention to time (no bells to tell you when to get to class now) and money, and you can even start to keep track of what day it is. It's amazing stuff. Of course, it's not quite the total "real world" experience, since you don't quite have to worry so much about food (except perhaps when figuring out means to avoid resorting to Dalton fare on the weekends). There are also little conveniences such as that lovely college entity known as... the Toilet Paper Fairy. God bless her.

Secondly, and perhaps most important: while you have quite a bit more freedom, it also means that you're not always guaranteed to have someone looking out for you. This doesn't mean, of course, that college is some bleak and desolate abyss of suffering in which nobody cares. Far from it. You simply have to develop a network of people to depend on. This is a very, very, VERY important thing. (And here's where I get serious.) Seek out people you can trust. Because when bad times hit-- and they will-- you need someone to keep you steady. This is why you should also try to keep ties with old friends from home, especially in the beginning. A friend of mine (who goes to another school) was having trouble dealing with stress from her classwork, roommate, and personal life, and she finally broke down a few weeks ago and tried (unsuccessfully) to cut herself with her room key. We talked about it, and she's better now, and she now knows to call me whenever things get rough like that again. Likewise, she's always willing to lend an ear when I'm at the end of my rope. I've actually been blessed with quite a few wonderful, supportive friends (and a wonderful, supportive boyfriend to boot), and can honestly say that I would never have made it this far without them. They are an invaluable resource that I treasure to this very day.

Friends. Find them. Keep them. Support them. And always be willing to welcome more. The wonderful thing about college is that the vast majority of the friends you'll make are only walking distance away. Very handy when you really need someone to go to.

Of course, being responsible for yourself doesn't just mean making sure you have people to bail you out. You also have to make sure to make the right decisions and avoid getting into trouble in the first place. I'd go into further detail here, but you've heard the spiels already, so I won't waste space repeating them. Just remember: dumb is bad. Don't be dumb.

There are other adjustments to be made, of course... the classes are different, your whole schedule is thrown out of whack (but thankfully so, for the poor souls among us who had to get up at a ghastly hour every morning for high school), the buildings are mazes and the stairwells are scary (well, they are!) and while you're all grown up, you find that the world around you has grown as well, and so for a while you can still feel small.

But you grow into it. At least I hope you do... I don't yet speak from experience, of course, as I am only a freshman. But I'm optimistic. And that's something important to keep in mind, too. If not outright optimism, then at least proper perspective. No one has yet brought about the end of the world by anything they did in college, and no one will, at least until they start offering a major in apocalyptic prophecies.

Speaking from the standpoint of the blind leading the blind, I can only suggest that you make the best of it. To enjoy the good stuff and weather the bad and, at the very least, find a lot of things to laugh at (things, not people). I'll try and provide a few here and there.

And remember that, above all, it's a change. It was once said that a man can never cross the same stream twice as the same man or the same stream: thus, things can never again be as they once were. They may be worse; hopefully they'll be better, but I can guarantee you one thing and one thing alone.

They'll be different.

Check out Whim's Tips For Surviving Your Freshman Year