One down: A freshman looks back at the lessons learned in his first year at USU

“College! Yes! Finally, I’m moving out!” This is what I, and many other freshmen, were thinking last summer while packing our things to move into our new homes: the dorms. The first year of college is supposed to be one of the most exciting and fun times of our lives, and now that the first year is almost finished, was it all it was cracked up to be?

“I loved it, I was ready to get out of the house and be on my own. Therefore, it was a very exciting experience for me,” said Jamie Babcock, a freshman majoring in English when I asked how she felt while packing up her bags for the trip to campus.

Who could forget pulling up to their dorm for the first time and unloading their things out of the car, usually with parents or relatives helping the move in. You stop, look at the building that is your new home, take a deep breath and go inside. You check in, then head up to your room and you see it.

“Honestly, I was surprised at how they were set up and how small they were,” Babcock said.

You accept it.

“This isn’t so bad,” you think. You unload everything into your room and hug your parents goodbye, maybe a tear or two is shed and you see them off.

Reality hits you. You are on your own. There is no curfew, no one watching you to make sure you’re making the right decisions. Once school sets in, you will have no one except yourself bugging you to get your studies done. This releases many emotions such as excitement, rebellion and, of course, a little fear. Most just push past these emotions and begin to unpack and meet their new roommates.

This can be a very surprising experience. You just moved out of your house and are expected to live and get along with these new and potentially strange people. Whether it is someone from just another town, another state with different ideals, or maybe someone from a foreign country with extremely fragrant food, you just don’t know what to expect.

If all goes well, you get along with your new family and begin to prepare for the real reason why you are attending college – to learn! Right? OK, maybe not for everyone, but for the majority, this is true.

This is the time when it is easiest to make friends, since everyone has something in common: everyone has this nervous look on their faces while searching for their new classrooms. In the end, we find them, sometimes after walking into the wrong class a couple times.

After the whole moving out thing and new class schedule sets in, it’s really all downhill. People begin to realize that college is not nearly as scary as they may have first presumed, but is rather laid back and mellow.

The months begin to roll on and you’re getting the hang of things more and more each passing week with your new group of friends. You become used to the Junction food (if you are lucky enough to live near it), regardless of its lack of good taste and healthy options (with the exception of the fruit and salad bar).

“I do miss my mom’s cooking, the Junction’s food is objectable,” said Rob Young, a freshman in the flight program.

Before you know it, midterms show up and then finals. Oh, what a great time of social seclusion finals turn out to be! You push through again and Christmas break arrives as a welcome relief. Before you know it, the new semester is back up and running and the all-too-familiar syllabuses are passed out and the regular cycle of college life goes on.

So, was it all it was cracked up to be? Well, despite the questionable Junction food, school overload and a general lack of money, college is truly an amazing experience. College is just as much a social experience as it is academic. At no other time in our lives are lessons learned and friends made so quickly. The first year of college still stands up to be one of the years in our lives that will never be forgotten.

Tyler Larsen is a photographer for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to tmlarson@cc.usu.edu

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