The First Month of College: I am so Confused

I'm done with my first month in college.

It was definitely felt like an entire year's worth of ups and downs squashed down into one month. I feel like I've been in college for years when in reality it's only been one fourth of the first year. To explain college to you guys who are curious about the experience rather than the technical "requirement" aspects of college (like what classes, units etc. etc.), I'll sort out all the categories and random things I went through the first month.


MOVE IN WEEKEND

There are literally 500 vlogs on youtube about college move-in day, or college dorm hauls. This can either be a fun process, or a sucky stressful one depending on how you go about moving in. I'm in a triple (holy crap TWO other people living with you?), because it's cheaper. Now what I didn't realize is how hectic moving into a space is. I mean, I just put my clothes and bedding in right?

Well.

For some reason, my family decided to move in a day earlier than my roommates, which in their defense was actually incredibly smart. I could take up all the space in the room without having to mind other people and their own space/things. SO, the actual process isn't too bad, it's just exhaustion drags you down and something that would take 20 min. stretches into an hour.

Plus, I'm the procrastinator queen- this meant that I would look at a bundle of things and say: "Eh, I'll find a place for that later, I'll just stuff it here real quick."

BAD! Don't do that, actually try to find a place for things. Anyway, moving in earlier than my roomies allowed me to check out the room comfortably etc. etc. Keep in mind this was just a benefit for me because I'm in a triple.

Another thing: Label your things! Or at least know which container has what. It makes life so much easier.

Other than that, say hi! to the people on your floor/building. Participate in all the cute group socials/hangouts that people initiate the first week. Unfortunately, I was sick and disgusting the first week so I missed out (not that big of deal everyone still socializes honestly). And all the school events that might have free stuff during move-in weekend/ welcome week= GO! It's nice to get some freebies.

FRIENDS?

I was so anxious to meet everybody and anybody. My roommates were more closed off and not as willing to be as social as I was. This doesn't mean I'm a popular "friends-swarm-me" kind of girl. Oh heck no.

I just get antsy being in my dorm for too long and I love participating in random activities that my dorm has and my roommates are just not into that stuff you know?

So! Some tips to make friends in college:

• The first week everyone is more open, so say hi to people and just smile. That easy.
• Join all the activities go to the school events!
• Open your dorm room up!
• Join clubs (and talk to people in those clubs)
• Don't rush anything

Don't fret, there are so many yik yak posts about people not making any friends and it makes me sad. What I did realize was that I made a lot of "hi!" friends. People you say hi to and chat a bit but would never make the effort of hanging out otherwise.

So once you make a friend, go ahead and ask them if you want to eat lunch together or something. There's this thing in college where you can make a friend for two seconds and never hear from them other than class. Develop that friendship!

This step has been the hardest because you're so focused on the quantity of friends that you forget about the quality of your friendship with people. I would rather have a good group of three friends rather than fifty that I only talk to for a couple minutes!

ACADEMICS
Oh boy. Here we go.

So I chose to take 12 units with a quarter system (I don't blame you non-college people if you have no idea as to what that means).

This was a great mistake. I have so much time I was bored as heck. Or at least I didn't feel productive enough, which lead to laziness, which lead to my grades being not so hot.

Weird huh?

So please make sure that while you don't want to overload yourself, don't underload yourself which I think is something that people don't really mention. Fortunately, I joined clubs and fellowships to use my time up.

Academically, I can't really give any tips yet considering my lack of experience/ time with the whole process. Sorry! I'll get back to this eventually lol.

RELATIONSHIPS

Okay this is a fun one to talk about although I'm not in a relationship right now (I've been single since the day I was born lol). BUT I do have friends that are doing long distance relationships/ are in relationships they were in since high school. Which is actually pretty interesting since I assumed that once you graduated high school it was a big GOODBYE to any girlfriend/boyfriend you had in high school.

So first, there are a ton of cute guys on campus. Because there just are cute guys. I think I'm smart enough to not get wrapped up in anything (I mean its not like I talk to guy very often because I'm shy and anti-social in some aspects woops). I just wanted to point that out because some guys are on-point with their face + outfits.

As for relationships, being a month into college, I feel like its way to early to have any serious relationship with someone you just met. Do people still fall into relationships this early? Yep. I'm still amazed with the speed of relationships sometimes. So my advice: pace yourselves! There's so much time on your hands that you can use for other things (and you can mingle more when you're single anyway).

There's a girl on my floor that actually went ahead and dove into a really serious relationship three weeks into the quarter and I still can't understand how that happened.

As for my long distance relationship friends: it can be tough. I have 3 friends in long-distance right now, and it's funny because they are all in different levels of "difficulty" when it comes to long-distance.

My first friend: "It's Okay"

• She doesn't really stress over the fact that she's in a long distance relationship. Contact with her boyfriend is a daily, literally hourly thing for her. They text, call, and he sends her stuff. It all seems pretty relaxed. There's no doubt in my mind that she probably misses him, but she's taking it all pretty well so far.

My second friend: "Uh, it's kind of hard"

• Her relationship surprises me because she's been with her boyfriend for four years. Four years guys. That's hella long in my eyes. People get engaged after four years. Anyway, since she's so used to her boyfriend being around all the time, the fact that they can't physically see each other each day is a struggle. But hey, distance makes the heart grow fonder!

My third friend: *no words but I can tell*

• Ah yes, my friends' very unsettling relationship that hasn't even lasted a year yet. My two friends, once they got into a relationship, serious & attached as hell. It's crazy. But the separation has definitely taken a toll on these two to the point where one is extremely sad. So please, if long distance can create a painful strain on one of you, maybe it's best to call it quits? Idk, that's just my opinion as an outsider to all this romance hanging around (so what do I know huh?).

So as much as I hate to sound like a mom, I think relationships really do distract you from studies, but if you're good at balancing life, go for it!

COLLEGE LIFE IN GENERAL

It's been quite a journey so far. I guess there is a certain degree of independence that I gained and experienced while dorming that I don't really have at home. My responsibilities are greater (all though you don't really notice until you sit down and think about it). I have to remind myself to eat, do laundry, vacuum, etc etc. It's interesting how you naturally fall in tune with the responsibilities that you have to do yourself.

I'm just a confused little baby first-year, and there are more things ahead. I just wanted to share a little slice of what has happened in the first month. And if you have questions, or if you're interested in any more college advice, just ask me! Comment/email or whatever! I'll be happy write about it!!