There Is Nothing Like Your Freshman Year Of College

By Alyssa Marchal on May 4, 2015

I’ve heard from multiple upperclassmen that there is no experience like your freshman year of college. I never understood how it could possibly stand out so much more than the other three years. It’s all just college, right?

Well, as my time as a freshman dwindles and the expectations of sophomore year come closer to being reality, I am beginning to understand everything.

What are we leaving behind? Gross and repetitive dorm food? The struggle of still being 18 and not bar legal?

Yes. But, the things we leave behind on a deeper level are what make freshman year so special. This really set in for me when a group of people drunkenly barged into my room this past weekend. One of the boys that was in there was so excited to tell me that it was his room last year. Though it was bordering an invasion of privacy, it made me happy knowing that this boy’s freshman year dorm made such an impact on him that he had to tell me about it.

There are so many things we are left with now that we will never again experience, and all we can do is appreciate them.

1. The Bromley Experience

Image Via http://www.freshmansupport.com/uiuc/housing/property/media/index.php?id=2813727424
“Bromley Pictures and Videos.” Freshman Support. Web. 3 May, 2015.

I know not everyone lives in Bromley Hall, but that is the term a friend and I coined to describe what it is like to live in a dorm. Seeing as most students move into apartments or sorority/fraternity houses after freshman year, we will never again live in a dorm.

On the surface, this seems like a bit of a relief. However, we are leaving behind something you just can’t get anywhere else. Of course, I am so excited to live with all of my sorority sisters next year, but I can no longer meet my best guy friends in the dining hall for lunch and dinner- free lunch and dinner, I might add.

I can’t just walk across the hall to chill in their rooms. Basically, keeping in touch with dorm friends takes a lot more effort when you aren’t living together anymore, and that is a little sad.

2. The excitement of a whole new life.

Image Via http://www.theprospect.net/the-ultimate-college-freshman-mistake-36672
Schulman, Bex. “The Ultimate College Freshman Mistake.” The Prospect. Web. 3 May, 2015.

This one is a little more obvious, but we are used to college now. The beginning of the year was filled with expectations and new experiences. At this point in our lives, we already know how things work on campus. We no longer have to use a map to find classes or have to ask which bars to go to on which nights. Seeing the world through our freshman eyes is the fun of it. Everything is a surprise until we get used to it.

3. We will be 18′s forever, but we won’t be the youngest.

This one applies mainly to Greek life on campus, particularly sororities. The newest pledge class is the most spoiled. It was kind of fun taking everything in as the youngest pledge class and knowing that there are still four more years of the sorority to look forward to. Soon, it will be our turn to welcome the 19′s and treat them as well as we were treated. I am so excited to meet our newest members, but it is still sad leaving behind the idea of being the freshman pledge class.

Things are changing, but change is a good thing, whether you want it to happen or not. With every year that passes, there will be memories to leave behind and new ones to take in. At least one thing we always have to look forward to is that we will slowly but surely earn earlier registration times.

Cheers to a successful freshman year and our hopeful futures!

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