Classes and Prohibited Items and Families, Oh My!

The last time we spoke, dear freshmen-to-be, we discussed packing, plugs (or lack thereof, as your case is), people, and privacy. I left you with the promise of more, coming up soon. Here is your (eagerly awaited, I'm sure) more.

I’m going to give you a basic rundown of The Way Things Work In Academia. Your degree program requires a certain number of hours—around 120, let’s say. You’ll either be a B.A—Bachelor of Arts—or a B.S—Bachelor of Science. B.A’s have a foreign language requirement, B.S’s don’t. That’s the only difference. Each class has a certain number of hours associated with it, determined by how many times a week you go and how long you stay once you’re there. A MWF class that meets for fifty minutes (8:00-8:50) will count for 3 credit hours. Likewise, a TR class from 9:00-10:15 is also 3 credit hours. Minors don’t count for anything once you graduate, so choose something you enjoy. Take your core classes first—get them out of the way with the people you came with and you’ll be happier later.

Probably in high school, especially if you took advanced placement classes, you got used to taking lots of notes, just hours and hours of lectures. That’s over. You won’t need a huge notebook for each class. The system I’ve settled on looks like this. Two divided subject notebooks-one for MWF and one for TR. One three ring binder with a divider for each class’s handouts and syllabuses. Grab the day’s notebook, the binder, any textbooks you might need and your backpack will be gallons lighter than if you’d chosen a binder for each class.

They don’t mean it when they say you can’t have a coffee maker/toaster/hot pot in the dorms. They just mean they don’t want to see it. They do mean you can’t have open candles but the same rule applies-if they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. This is the only true rule: if they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Take note.

If you can move your bed up and down, you’ll be tempted to raise it as high as it will go. You think this is a good idea because of all the extra storage it will provide… but it’s not. You won’t be able to get up and down easily, leading to roommate laughter as you fling yourself upon your princess-and-the-pea-like bed only to slip and slide back to the floor. Also, the bed, if low enough to access easily, will provide seating. You don’t want your bed that high, I promise.

You will probably miss your family a bit, especially if you were close in high school. Talk on the phone as much as you feel comfortable with. Go home and visit them. Have them come visit you. No one will look down on you for being a natural, normal human being with natural, normal human attachments to the people who gave you life (and who, incidentally, are probably paying for your college experience). They miss you, too, and don’t particularly like it when you’re gone. Leaving you for the first (and second and third and fourth, etc.) time might be a little difficult for them. They might cry a little. This is okay, and expected. You might not cry then, but you will probably cry later. This is okay, too.

Ultimately the point I’m trying to make is that you're not going to do this college thing right the first time. Despite my (very accurate and very ineffective warning) you will bring too much stuff and not have any place to put it. You will spend the first week and a half eating nothing but ice cream and Froot Loops. You’ll probably miss class once or twice and you’ll probably get sick from the ice cream. College is a new experience, and you’ll make the mistakes, and you’ll learn from them and move on. Once you’ve moved on from the mistakes you’ll enjoy yourself immensely. I had more fun my first year of college than I did all throughout high school combined. I can’t wait to go back and I can’t wait to meet all of you. So stop and introduce yourself. I'll be the one with the smile. :)

Elizabeth

How to Survive College From One Who Knows

The first thing you should do, right from the moment you read this is to reevaluate your packing list. My older brother told me to do this and I scoffed at him. Although in my defense, he told me I would only need one towel. He is a boy and for all the girls who are worried, let me reassure you. You need at least two. But he’s basically right. The reasoning is thus—“I will be living at school for the next ____ months. I want to feel at home. I will bring ____ and that will make me feel at home.” But it won’t. Nothing will make you feel at home but time. Your books will not have sufficient shelving and they will remain unread. Your scrapbooking things will stay in their box, and your art supplies will remain untouched. So leave your four hundred page manuscript at home. This (very, very good) advice will be ignored and I accept that. But I had to try.

As far as what you do need, let me give you some practical suggestions. Bring a surge protector. Your dorm is very old and, as my mother says, was built before microwaves, refrigerators, laptops, cell phones, alarm clocks, lamps, blow dryers, and hair straighteners. As a side note, when my mother was enrolled in my current institute of higher learning, she slept in the room next to mine. Yes, I think it’s crazy, too. But that’s how old your dorm building will be. Back to the task at hand? There will not be enough plugs. Take note.

The only thing that will save you from the dread concrete block walls are posters and pictures. They hang best with those pull-to-remove-without-damaging-the-paint tabs. Invest, please. Sticky tack and hot glue are also good bets.

Curtains. For the first three weeks of school, my roommate and I fell asleep to the soporific glow of orange street lights. Then we bought some extra-thick curtains and it was better.

At least two coffee/tea mugs. You’ll want to share with your soon-to-be-but-not-yet friends and sometimes you just won’t want to wash the dirty one. These also double as bowls. Bring a plate, though. Coffee mugs don’t work well as plates.

Seriously consider investing in a rug—big enough to cover what’s already there, be it carpet or tile.

You will make friends, there’s no doubt about it. In fact, there will be nice, interesting, funny, fascinating, downright lovely people all around you 24-7! As any introvert knows, this is a recipe for disaster. Find a place you love and can go to be alone—the back corner of the library, the chapel between services, a tree, a gazebo—and make a point to go there regularly. How regularly? Once a day. Quiet time won’t happen in the dorm room and spiritual growth won’t happen without quiet time. “Elizabeth,” you scoff, “I’ll be fine. I won’t have to seek out alone time; I’ll be alone a lot. Making friends is hard.” Yes, it’s hard but you’ll do it and you’ll like it.

Let me reiterate, because it’s important: quiet time won’t happen in the dorm room. Not quiet time with God, not quiet time with your journal, not quiet time on the phone, not quiet time for sleeping. You’re living with some twenty-odd people all of whom have their own personality, schedule, and sense of what privacy means. The dorm will be loud. Very loud. Sometimes it will even be you being loud. It’s okay. But bring ear plugs, too. And don’t expect to get quiet in the dorm, not even after quiet hours. No one will enforce quiet hours, either.

Besides making time to be alone, the best thing you can do for your spiritual well-being is to find a church family. You’ve never been responsible for this choice before and it’s understandable to want to wander and explore a bit. But I wouldn’t wait too long to make a decision. Pick one and GO. Regularly—Sundays, Wednesdays, volunteer if you can, where ever you can. Nothing will make you feel more at home than having a regular church you attend. It will ground you and you’ll begin forming bonds with mature Christians. That can only be a good thing.

Coming Up Next: The Wonderful World of Academia; The Rules: What's Up With Those? and Welcome to College, Poor Little Freshman, Because it's Going to be a Long Year.

I remain, as always,

Yours,

Elizabeth :)