What's going on, guys?
I'm Stefania (pronounced Stef-ahn-ya, because it's difficult to know just when reading it) a second semester freshman at Macaulay Hunter. If anyone else is a freshman, potential freshman, is interested in the program at all and wants to know what it's like being a newbie: have no fear, I've come to help.
We're already into March, so there's a lot of ground to cover. I'll break this into two posts so it isn't too overwhelming. So sit back and take a deep breath as we begin with the first semester.
For the last few days of August up until the end of September, you're friends with everybody. Everyone wants to start with a clean slate, be kind so as not to make a bad first impression, and generally make your own life easier. This is an incredibly pleasant period. You're all helpful towards one another, you're invited to hang out on a seemingly nightly basis, and you have no ill feelings towards anyone nor does anyone have ill feelings toward you. Before you think there's a "But, soon everyone starts to hate each other," you're wrong. Again, take a deep breath and remember that high school is over.
What happens is that soon, you realize that you don't share many interests with all of these people and you start to separate into smaller groups based on those shared interests. Everyone is still friendly, because it is only one month into college and no one wants bad blood, but the large group begins to dissipate.
The most important thing about this time is to stay on top of your school work. It is very tempting to hang out as much as possible because no one wants to be known as the person who "is always doing homework" or "never wants to hang out." But school will always come first, so this is my advice: Do as much as possible with your new friends (nothing that you feel uncomfortable doing, of course) without feeling as if you're infringing on valuable time to study or do assignments. You'll have more free time in college than you did in high school because you're not in school eight hours a day, five days a week anymore, so don't be nervous if you find yourself hanging out every night. As long as you feel as if you've allotted yourself enough time for your work, you're going to be fine.
With keeping on top of your work, remember to sign up for a bunch of clubs. Yes, you may sign up for ten and receive emails from them for the rest of the year when you've decided to join only one, but there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, just forward them to your spam folder. It's better to give yourself a wide range of options than be stuck with one club you're barely interested in because you didn't want to take thirty seconds out of your life to sign a mailing list.
Do the same with sports! Even if you're not athletic *cough cough* just give it a shot. Don't completely disregard a sport because you feel like you'll embarrass yourself; no one is going to remember you falling down after missing kicking the soccer ball. You're not the center of their attention, I assure you. Try it and if it's not for you, at least now you know and can move on to something else.
Now we're in November. The course load as picked up a bit, but it's not unbearable. It's especially doable because now you have a friend base who you can commiserate/do homework with. It'll be harder than before, but now you've eased into the school year. Talk to some upperclassmen for advice. A lot of them are not going to stare you down until you slowly back out of their sight because you had the audacity to speak to them. Again, this is not high school. It's much easier to talk to upperclassmen in college because you're all adults now and everyone has humbled. They may have been the head-honcho in their respective high schools, but so was everyone else, so they get off their high horses. A lot of upperclassmen are glad to give advice and chances are, you'll be in a class with some of them. Many classes at Hunter hold students of various ages, so you'll definitely be able to talk to a junior or a sophomore during your time at Hunter. And, if you dorm, some of them will certainly live on your floor.
Here we go, December. FINALSFINALSFINALS
You will survive! I promise! In fact, I'm living proof, because if I didn't, you wouldn't be reading this right now. You will cram, take power naps, drink copious amounts of your preferred caffeinated beverage, complain and moan, but you will get through it. You'll sit with your friends calculating the lowest grade you could get on your final to still pull an A-, and devise how badly you'll massacre your jerk of a professor on RateMyProfessor for expecting you to remember so much, but you will get through it. You'll talk to your friends at other schools whose finals are open-book, open-internet, or just non-existent, and you'll ask God what you did wrong, but you will get through it.
You will get through it.
And then, you're off for five weeks.
Happy First Semester!
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