Here are a few samples from my first blogging venture. You can see the precursors to my college blog experience, and you can also see how I liked to tell stories about my own life back then, too.
Entry 1: Lessons Learned from Freshman Year (Myths Debunked)
Hope you all had a good weekend! I spent it at Hershey Park, and even though it was cloudy, we had a blast. (Plus, very few crowds!) And, hello, lots of chocolate. I got several bars for free, and that doesn't include all that I got at the Chocolate World MEGA candy store. Now I'm about to start my summer online class, which doesn't look too awful.
Anyway.
Several months ago I drafted a very long post about college truths that ya'll should know, should you be going into college in the near future. Then, my computer lost it, as it does for quite a bit of my files! So, I have put together one in myth-or-fact style. This is Part 1, all about the "fun" side of school. So what surprised me the most? Take a look at my list...and pass this blog onto those who you think will benefit from it.
It's so easy to make friends at orientation. Nobody knows each other and they're all looking for friends!
False. Sadly. It was difficult to make friends at orientation. Many groups of people from high school stuck to each other like mod podge sticks to collages, and I even heard some people there comment on how difficult it was to make friends. In short, though, you will make friends, and the ones you do make at orientation might not be your permanent friends- I mean, how close can you get playing the Name Game over and over anyway? Honestly though, not everyone is so open, especially the high school groups who aren't interested in getting to know anyone else (this will probably change later).
I'm going to be honest here: if you're shy, you might have a tough time. Especially since everyone begins settling into groups sooner or later. I know, I know, it's not fair and you can't change your personality just to make friends. Just practice by going up to people and saying hello, maybe at summer orientation; you never know where it will take you. Talk to people on your school's Facebook page or say hi to your lab partner in class. Go to hall events. It'll work out in the end.
Orientation sucks.
Okay, this myth is true. Probably. No, it's not just information sessions. It's a long weekend where you'll have no free time, most likely. There are a lot of get-to-know-you games (ew), and at my school, library scavenger hunts (what am I, five?), salsa dancing (which was okay, but just another activity to take up every bit of our time), lectures about why it's bad to drink even though these never work on people, and working on a service project with your group. But after that, you begin school and you can forget all about it. And it's only 3-4 days!
Everyone talks about the party scene in college. That means it's going to be a big part of my experience, right?
I was shocked when I first arrived at the lack of partying. But yes, there are some, it's just not obvious and people don't always do it as much as you think. There are NO theme parties here (boo!) and most of the few parties that do happen are just people sitting around at someone's apartment and drinking. Yes, there are better things to do than this, guys! I've found entertainment in school-sponsored activities such as comedians, and even chilling with your friends in the dorm is fun and much more down-to-earth. In my dorm, Apples to Apples, baking treats, and dorm bonding stuff like Easter egg hunts have all been popular activities.
If you didn't smoke before, you will.
Really false! I saw this one going around in a popular Pinterest image and felt it needed to be debunked right away. To make a long story short, it's just not true. Times have changed and it's not the "cool" thing to do anymore. In fact, smokers will probably get on your nerves more than once for doing it where they're not supposed to (such as at the entrance to the dorm). Same thing for drinking, if you stick to your morals. You certainly don't have to. You've heard it many times but it's true: people REALLY don't care if you drink or not.
Living in a freshman dorm is awful.
Not at all. I lived in an all-freshman dorm for a month before I moved out. I think it was a good experience, not like the crappy, falling apart buildings that people think of when they imagine freshman housing. The rooms were nice and set up well, and they had one of the best lounges of all the buildings. This isn't to say that it's the best housing however. You'll probably also have a lot of bonding opps with your hallmates since you're all moved in together and because of the hall meetings you'll have at orientation. The only bad part about my experience was living next to a room of 5 male athletes...don't get me started. The only drama you'll see is usually between roommates or guys, but that's pretty typical for college. You won't meet many catty girls, if any, since people usually outgrow that by college.
Halloween was never just a kids holiday for me; it will be a great party experience!
Nobody really does anything for Halloween that much. Sure, we had a costume party (aka sitting around in costumes in the dining hall with music in the background, sans food, and at a cost of $3 for what was basically sitting around...) but nothing really happened on Halloween. It was a normal class day, and nobody wore costumes to class or anything like that. We did, however, have trick-or-treating in the halls the weekend before where little kids came for candy- that was awesome. If you're looking to celebrate, check out my post on it back in the October archives.
That's pretty much my experience summed up. Check back next week for Part 2, which will be class related.
Entry #2: My April Fools' Day
Actually, it was a pretty normal day for me. Also, if you are a Harry Potter fan, it's Fred and George's birthday, fyi.
It started off with our tech guy blocking the internet. When you tried to enter your browser to go online, a sign came up with a cat on it which said something like, "uh-oh ur kitteh has eaten ur internets!" It was funny at first. Then breakfast came, and people still couldn't get online. Then first period came. People still couldn't get online. Our history class needed the internet to do our research papers. So, we just sat there for a while, wasting time that could have been spent working. The whole school, teachers included, were angry. So much for a supposedly good joke. So my history teacher had to yell at the tech people to fix it, and a few minutes later (longer than it should have taken) it was fixed.
Also, something majorly annoying happened today. In this one class I have we started a project where we research a college and present information to the class. Then, the teacher said that whoever has the "best" presentation will get a prize. Now, what makes the "best" presentation? What if you do your very best work and still don't win? Why does this need to be a competition? Isn't the important thing to learn about colleges? Why do we need to be better than everybody else? All the presentations are going to have the same information anyway! As you can tell, I am not very happy with my school right now. Hopefully it was an April Fools' joke itself, but sadly, I don't think it was.
Entry #3: Happy Easter!
I always like the springtime, especially Easter. One thing about our family is that we always have special traditions that go along with holidays, which makes them even better. Here is what a typical Easter looks like for me:
*The night before, we dye the eggs. I always like to try out new dipping techniques, like half-and-half colors or polka dots. My parents also watch The Ten Commandments on TV. Another thing we like to do is watch the classics, like It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! I don't care that I'm 17. You're never too old to see the classics.
On Easter...
*First we go downstairs. We each get an Easter basket full of goodies. A yearly staple is the chocolate bunny called Parsnip Pete (scroll down a few posts to see more about the bunny).
*Then we have an egg hunt. We look for the eggs we dyed last night which are hidden around the house. This year we looked for the eggs we dyed ourselves (12 eggs each).
*Later we go out to brunch with my grandparents. It's always a good time. Except this year my grandma brought us gifts with tissue paper in them, and I put mine next to the candle on the table, and the paper caught fire, and my grandpa had to stomp on it to put it out, causing a commotion. Many people were looking to see what was going on. But at least the gift was safe. Oh well.
*Since it's a nice day, we walk around afterwards, looking at all the spring flowers.
*Then we go back to our house for another easter egg hunt. This one is bigger, and we have it outside. We use plastic eggs with candy in them. Sometimes they can be hard to find, but that only makes it more fun.
And that concludes my Easter celebration. Even though it isn't really about the bunnies and candy, it's still a pretty cool holiday in my opinion.