What have you found to be the most surprising aspect of college life? What have you encountered that you did not necessarily expect? What advice would you give someone in your situation? And, if everything has been just as you expected ... what do you miss the most about home?
The most surprising aspect of college is the eating. I feel crummy because I eat so badly but it’s not like I really have a choice. I wish I liked salad but I don’t. I’m left with whatever else they are serving in Suwannee. My roommate and I go out a lot which I wasn’t expecting either because at home she goes to bed really early. The most surprising is the fact that she makes out with every boy she dances with at the club and that is crazy to me. Before college she had kissed one boy and that was her boyfriend of over a year. Another thing is my boyfriend has gotten really jealous since I have been here. Honestly, he never once in our relationship until now has been jealous. It is really weird and neither of us knows how to handle it. So I don’t have advice for that issue. If I had to give advice for eating I would tell someone to get healthy snacks for their room. I can’t right now because something is wrong with my car. That is another thing I didn’t think about. I have never had anything wrong with my car until I came here. As for the roommate just let her do her own thing, people change I just didn’t know it happened so quickly. What I miss the most about home is having a ton of friends and never having to worry if I’m going to be stuck without plans. I also miss all of those friends, my mom and my boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising aspect of college life for me has been the amount of money I have been spending. Between eating out and going to different bars, my money has dwindled fast. There is no way I would believe someone who told me 3 weeks ago that I was be spending as much money as I have been the past few weeks of college I would be able to believe them. One think that caught me off guard was the amount of work that students are expected to do out of class. When in high school most of the work load was down during school hours. While in college I have only been going to a few hours of class a day and on some days just one hour. This means teachers expect you to use you extra time to do work for their class. This aspect of college life caught me off guard. I would tell someone going through the same situation as me to just keeping pushing through it. Once you get in the rhythm and learn what your teachers want from you everything gets a lot easier. I thought I had a good idea of what college would be like before coming into it. I did not think I would be doing as much work I as I am but I have gotten used to it. I also didn’t think I would be having as much fun as I am. The one thing I miss most about home is my mom’s home cooking. After a week of eating nothing but fast food and cafeteria food, there is not much else I could ask for than a home cooked meal. The last thing I miss about home was not having to do my own laundry. Laundry was another thing I had to get used to doing while adjusting to the college life.
ReplyDeleteAllison, I feel the same way as you about eating in college. Every time I leave the cafeteria I feel the need to go work and wash my face. I am not a big fast food eater so eating it a few times a week was a big shock to me as well. I think you advice is very correct too. I think healthy snacks are a great way to limit yourself from those late night fast food trips before you get home. I also think people should try to eat off the salad bar or go get a wrap instead of eating tons of pizza or French fries. This is my advice on trying to eat better in college. I am not surprised about you roommate. I think a lot of people like to go crazy there first few weeks of college because this is the first time they have lived on their own and do not have parents telling them what to do or what time to be home.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I got to college I expected it to be a lot harder. All I heard was that classes are going to be tough and that professors don’t care about your problems and this and that. I really enjoy English. I wasn’t expecting a 7-9 page paper due the second week but I guess that’s college. I was so used to only writing 3 pages and even that was tough. I don’t miss home very much and I was lucky when it came to roommates because mine is just like me. I have heard stories from friends that go here about how horrible their roommate was. A couple days ago one of my friend’s roommates woke up in jus her underwear and bra and a guy sleeping next to her. Needless to say she had gotten drunk before. I never expected this many people to be drinking and partying. All I hear about are the latest parties and who did what. I do miss my little sister cause we could always rag on eachother and she understands my sarcasm. I don’t think my roommate does though. I really hate my Astronomy class. The teacher is greek, speaks through a microphone, and mumbles all his words with an accent. I have this class for teo hours and twenty minutes. I never realized that it was going to e so boring. I guess the only advice for that is to look up your professors and see how they are. Also only take the class if you are interested in that kind of stuff. I only took the class because a previous student had told me it was easy. He failed to mention that he had already taken Astronomy before. Never Never listen to friends. I realized that I would rather be in a class that I enjoy and have tons of work rather than being in a class that I absolutely hate.
ReplyDeleteBrandon,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the work issue. I was to used to doing all of my work in class. I rarely had homework as a senior. When I came here I was like “Are you serious? You want me to finish this when?” I got in the hang of things really quickly though. I learned to get my work done early so I didn’t have to do it at night. With the whole money thing, I have yet to go out to a party. I know depressing right? I also understand about the whole cooking thing. I went home this past weekend and I one went out to my favorite restaurant and the next day my mom cooked me food and did my laundry. I am one lucky chica.
When I got to college, I knew there would be surprises that would shock me. But going up to Athens a lot last fall for the Georgia games, and hanging out with my college friends there helped me be aware of a lot that college had to offer. Athens is a small college town just like Tallahassee, which probably made me feel real comfortable when I got here. What shocked me though was the amount of people in classes, big and small. I expected a lot of people in my English class, but it’s only like 13 people, smaller than any high school class I ever had. My algebra class was huge, and it was only an 8 o’clock class, so that was miserable. Also being able to drop algebra was easy, no need to ask my counselor or the professor, I could just do it on my own.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing was the amount of things to do, and how close they were to DeGraff and the campus. It made things a lot simpler for going out to eat and at night if I want too. It has a lot of freedom and I know that this time will help me become more independent so I wont leach off my parents for the rest of their and my life.
Another thing that shocked me is that Chick-Fa-La is so far from campus, how will I get sweet tea on campus. That blows, but it could be worse, at least its in Tallahassee
Alex Popham
The most surprising aspect of college life is how I always feel like I’m busy. I even feel busy when I don’t have anything to do. Just the other day I was talking to my mom, I mentioned how I had been busy all day and she asked me what all I had done. I could probably only name about 3 things that I had gotten done that day but for some reason it felt like a lot. The biggest key is time management for sure. I think it has to do a lot with adjusting to all of the freedom gained while keeping your priorities straight. Many new responsibilities come with college and my advice is to make sure to have a grip on it. It’s overwhelming at first, but life moves on and the transition into a new lifestyle becomes easier with time. I miss a ton of things about home. I loved having home-cooked meals and being able to sit around the dinner table with my family to eat. I thought I would hate doing my own laundry but it’s actually not too bad. I just bring my homework down with me and get stuff done, however, there is something I really do not like about doing my own laundry. It isn’t free anymore! Ah! I spent just under ten dollars doing laundry the first time, and I have many more times to come. Another thing I really miss from home is seeing my dogs everyday. We have two shih tzu’s; Buddy and Lucy. Buddy is 8 years old and Lucy is 7 months old. If anyone else has dogs then they understand how hard it is leaving them!
ReplyDeleteBreanna, you mentioned how you were expecting your classes to be a lot harder but realized that they actually turned out to be way easier. I can’t relate to this… probably because I’m also taking math (my worst subject!). So it’s kind of a drag for me, and something that I have to work harder at. You’re right though, this IS college and it’s just something that I have to get use to. It does get easier each day. I agree with you about the professors… I had it in my mind that they were going to just see me as a number and that I wasn’t worth their time. This was dead wrong. Both of my professors are more than willing to give any extra aid I need outside of class and are interested in my education.
ReplyDeleteSammi,
ReplyDeleteI agree totally with what you were saying about always feelings busy, even though I have nothing else to do the rest of the day. And yeah I miss my free laundry and food. I agree that that I miss my dog, Koal, and that it is good to have a grip onto the new free time we have. It has been pretty easy so far to transition, its just having our priorities straight. I have to remember study and school first, then play. Pretty much I just agreed with everything you said. There isn’t anything to disagree with.
Alex Popham
I think the most surprising thing to me since I've been at college is the thing about food. I agree with allison, is with this buffet I am able to go back for more and more junk food, especially the pizza. I dont really like that many of the options they have at Suwanee, so I usually experiment with what they serve, but a safe bet is always the pizza, and the pizza is REALLY good. like i really love it. And the problem with that is, that I have to keep going back for seconds or thirds, because its so good... I try to work out at least 3 times a week though, because I dont want to gain a whole lot of weight just sitting here doing nothing and eating pizza.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t expected everyone to be so welcoming and nice and accepting. Everyone I run into is so helpful and willing to give any advice or suggestions to help me with my studies and college career. I like that people are always inviting people to parties and just trying to get to know everyone. I like this and didn’t expect everyone to be so nice and cheerful. I also didn’t expect it to be so hot here, I was hoping by going further North it wouldn’t be as hot as it was back home, unfortunately its really really hot outside and I don’t like being hot at all.
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you, the amount of money I have been spending is obscene, but I thought that would be the case before I came to college. The thing I agree with you the most is the amount of work we are expected to do each day. I thought that before I came to college I was really well prepared for college because my high school prided itself on preparing its students for college. I think the thing is that its summer now so were moving at an accelerated rate.
I have two older brothers that have warned me over and over do not take college as a joke. So ive been prepared for this but it has been somewhat of a wake up call. I kind of knew what to expect but I don’t think I was ready to go back to school. I was in school for a week and already had a 7 page paper due. The most surprising aspect of the college life is how much partying goes on. I knew I was going to party a lot but people are going out every night of the week and on the weekends. I came in thinking I would only go out Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night. But that is not exactly how it has been. I would advise incoming students to not sign up for early classes and do not take Friday classes. I say this because Thursday night is a big party night. What do I misss the msot about home? I miss my moms home cooked meals the most. I also miss spending some time with my family. Im not home sick or anything it is just taking some getting used to not seeing them every day. But overall I am really enjoying the college life. I love being on my own and taking it one day at a time. As long as I keep my grades in tact I’ll be alright and continue to party. I can’t wait for football season though. Go Noles
ReplyDeleteBrandon, I agree with the whole money issue. My money is going down the drain night by night. From going out to bars and the clubs and buying drinks it is really making a dent on my cash. I was told by a friend who is a sophomore here at Florida State and they told me I would blow all my money my first year of college but I did not believe them. Now I am starting to think that it is very possible. I need to get a job or something because things are not looking nice money wise.
ReplyDeleteDennis, The food is definitely an issue after I eat it's just not enough and I feel like I need to eat more.I had one of the slices of pizza and it was really good but then I had another one a different day and it was gross I couldn't even finish it. I disagree with you on the friendly people thing. The boys have all been really nice and will randomly say hello when passing people. The girls on the other hand haven't been the same. A lot of the girls act like they're above you, atleast that's my experience. I also didn't realize how hot it would be here. I'm from the coast so I'm use to a breeze. Though I thought it was hot at home.
ReplyDeleteWatching the many television shows and movies that I have viewed about college has given me somewhat of an idea of what to expect. So far I haven’t really gotten any surprises because everything is going basically the way I thought it would. My classes are reasonably easy and the students in them are friendly. I’ve made many friends from all parts of Florida; it’s interesting to see the similarities and differences that we share. One thing that I miss the most is my family that lives in Miami. I’ve never been away from my relatives for more than a week, so it’s hard to wake up every day knowing that I’ll go another day without seeing them. I talk to my little sister and mom everyday but it just isn’t the same. Also, there is nothing like a home cooked meal. It’s something that I used to take for granted but know, when I go back home I will appreciate whatever my mom chooses to make that day. I know how to cook (sort of) but I haven’t made anything while living on campus yet. One thing that I am proud of is the fact that I clean my room. My mom used to make my bed, so I thought once I’m in college I would be lazy but I have been doing a good job at keeping my space clean. College is nothing short of an adventure and I’m sure that this journey is going to be full of ups and downs, but these are experiences that I want to live.
ReplyDelete-MARTINE BARJON
Alex,
ReplyDeleteSweet tea? Wow I never knew chick-fa-la had good tea but I’ll go check that out one day. You are so right though when you talk about how the classes very so drastically because my psychology class is so full, but I made sure I grabbed a seat in the front. Also how you talked about how FSU is in such a small town, such as Athens, it’s a good thing because you get closer with a wide variety of people and feel a greater bond with people. Being away from family sucks sometimes, but I won’t deny that it hinders me from maturing into a responsible adult.
-MARTINE BARJON
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ReplyDeleteFor the most part college has been what I thought it would be. All my teachers in high school warned me that college would require a lot of work on our part, not so much on the teacher. They said that for every hour in class we should spend about 3 hours doing work/studying for that class. Without even realizing it that’s probably about how much time I have been spending on each class, which is really weird. I am surprised at myself for not going crazy and partying every night, celebrating my new found freedom. I didn’t expect that I would literally go out every night, but I did think that I would be going out more than I am now. Since being here, I feel like I’m more disciplined and responsible than I was when I was at home, and that really surprising. My friends, on the other hand, have not been as disciplined. When we were in high school they would go out to parties all the time but never drink or go out to clubs. They were always like “Drinking is gay, I don’t get why everyone thinks they are so cool because they drink.” Now they turn around in college and start drinking and clubbing every chance they get. I don’t mind that they started drinking at all--I actually find it rather amusing--it’s just that that kind of behavior was completely unexpected. I find it funny how people can change so much in college.
ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you about feeling “crummy” after eating at the Suwannee. The first couple of days on campus I couldn’t figure out why I would always feel like crap, I soon realized that it was the food I was eating. It doesn’t taste horrible it just doesn’t taste amazing, so now I basically eat salad everyday because it can’t be messed up if you get to make it yourself. Your advice for getting healthy snacks and keeping them in your room is a really good idea if you feel like the Suwannee is corrupting your body.
I think that the most surprising aspect of being in college now would definitely have to be the freedom that I have to do whatever I want, whenever I want. There’s no longer any curfew or chores that I HAVE to do. Everything is dependent on me, and what I feel like doing. During the week, I can go out to a club and be there until around three in the morning. There are not any parents up here looking over my shoulder to make sure that I’m on task and doing what needs to be done. I didn’t really expect college to be as much work as it really is. I knew that there was going to be papers to write and homework to finish, which I was prepared for. However, there are a lot of other things that need to be done that I didn’t really think about, laundry being one of the biggest. If there are other people in my situation, I would definitely tell them that they need to remember why they’re here. School always needs to come before anything else while you’re in college. The quicker you get through your work, the more time you have to go out and doing more fun things with your friends. Also, time management is the key to succeeding here at FSU. You need to be able to balance the time you go out with the time that you spend doing your work for school. If you let this balance get out of wack or if you lose sight of your goals, you’re going to end up failing out of college.
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ReplyDeleteAllison:
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that your statement about eating is one of the most important things I forgot to mention. Although, the food here in Suwanee and Fresh Food is good, it’s also not the best for you. I did the same thing you said to do and went out and bought some healthier snacks. I picked up things like Nutrigrain bars and Goldfish to eat in the dorm. Also, I would recommend that if you don’t like to drink sodas or other high sugar drinks, I would recommend buying a Brita water filter for your room. Hopefully, this will turn out to be a better alternative than some of the other junk food I could eat in my room.
Demetrius Solomon
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I find most surprising about college life is how quick courses go, and also the amount of time that you have to do when a huge assignment is due. The workload has increases a lot also. U have to multitask a lot and spend a lot more time studying cause if you don't then you will end up falling behind in class and that'll cause you to get a bad grade in class. It have to work harder and have discipline to tell myself when to study. I learned to not procrastinate and just say bump assignments, even if it takes me all day to an assignment I will do it and give it a hundred percent when I do it. For someone in my situation I would say take full advantage of the opportunity you were given and use all the resources that were given to you. I also would say give it your all cause this is where you shape and mold how your future goes. Everything you did in high school is over this is a new beginning so you should start right. The only thing I miss most about being home is the hot meals and the kind of food we ate everyday. I also miss being able to come home and have everything at my hands and not having to pay for it, but being out on your own teaches you responsibility and money management so this is a process. But other than that I don't miss too much about being home.
I agree fully with Ryan Because having the freedom to do what you want to is a great aspect of being in College, but with that given freedom come with responsibility and you have to know when you have to buckle down and work hard and grind out and do your work. I also agree him also because the amount of work in college is a lot more than I expected it to be. But that why you come to college so everything you did before and all the habits you had before you have to let go. The way you work has to be different than what you did. The attitude you have has to be different in college because you just can't say I don't feel like doing something that you're not going to do it. And the biggest difference also is doing my own laundry again. I had to get used to doing my own laundry but that about it Ryan you wrote a great response to the topic.
ReplyDeleteEverything about college surprised me. Back home I was encased in this bubble unable to experience the real world. I wanted to but my mom thought it would be best to hold off on that for as long as possible. I was surprised that I could do things on my own. I kept waiting for someone to tell me what to do or yell at me for doing something wrong. It never came. I had no curfew and my mom wasn’t breathing down my neck to get my homework done. It was assumed that with my new found freedom I was going to go out every night come home late and barely study. What surprised me the most is that I didn’t do that. I haven’t gone out on weekdays and if I want to stay up late with friends I do my homework first. Even my mother doesn’t believe that I doing that! I thought id blow off responsibility but instead I’ve taking a hold of it. I often miss my mom yelling at me to clean my room. It’s filthy and I have no one to get me to clean it. I miss my brother poking fun at me and making jokes about how bad the music I listen to is. I play my iPod all the time in my room and not having an insult after every song seems eerie to me. Advice I would give to someone is bring a microwave! Suwannee gets old and take out is expensive.
ReplyDeleteEverything about college surprised me. Back home I was encased in this bubble unable to experience the real world. I wanted to but my mom thought it would be best to hold off on that for as long as possible. I was surprised that I could do things on my own. I kept waiting for someone to tell me what to do or yell at me for doing something wrong. It never came. I had no curfew and my mom wasn’t breathing down my neck to get my homework done. It was assumed that with my new found freedom I was going to go out every night come home late and barely study. What surprised me the most is that I didn’t do that. I haven’t gone out on weekdays and if I want to stay up late with friends I do my homework first. Even my mother doesn’t believe that I doing that! I thought id blow off responsibility but instead I’ve taking a hold of it. I often miss my mom yelling at me to clean my room. It’s filthy and I have no one to get me to clean it. I miss my brother poking fun at me and making jokes about how bad the music I listen to is. I play my iPod all the time in my room and not having an insult after every song seems eerie to me. Advice I would give to someone is bring a microwave! Suwannee gets old and take out is expensive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stephanie in that I expected college to be hard. I expected to have hours of homework long essays and mounds of handouts. College is definitely harder than high school no doubt about that. Even though it is fewer hours and less classes the amount of material is doubled if not tripled in comparison. Many people I’m sure have taken AP classes and for that, feel that they have been more prepared than if they had not taken them. Still the work load is a struggle and I am glad I was told in advance and made aware of this clear change.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising aspect of college is that there really is such a thing as being drugged at a club. I always knew there was such a thing as roofies but never imagined it would happen to either me or one of my friends. Last Friday at Baja’s my friend was dancing and she had a drink in her hand. She wasn’t really paying attention to the drink because she didn’t feel it was necessary while she was dancing. Her parents had told her along with everyone else’s to watch her drink 24/7, but she never thought it would’ve happened to her or this way. She didn’t remember his face but she remembered his name was Timmy and that he was dancing with her all night. He slipped the drug into her drink and her friends saw immediately that her eyes started rolling back into her head and she started falling in the middle of the dance floor. She blacked out and couldn’t remember anything from that night. I knew this thing happened in movies and just happened in the recent one “The Hangover” but I never knew this would’ve happened to one of my close friends. The only advice I would give someone in my situation would be to trust the friends you are with VERY well. Its extremely important, what would’ve happened if my friend went out with people she didn’t know and thought she was drunk or just acting stupid. It’s a major change leaving home, where you know people and who you can trust and then coming up to college not knowing anyone.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Bingham
Allison, I know at this point you are probaly stuck with a meal plan, but at this point i'd probably hold off with one for the next semester. I decided not to get one because after orientation i was already sick of the food. But i decided to stick with healthy meals to make inside my dorm instead of having the all you can eat buffet inside the Suwannee. My boyfriend has also became extremely jealous. This past week he came to visit me for a few days and got to see how many guys there were up here and now he's buggin. I've told him trust is a big deal for me and if he doesn't trust me, we should reconsider our relationship.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Bingham
The most surprising aspect of college life is that there really is a party every single day of the week! It doesn’t really matter what day there is party. I always thought that parties were only on Friday, Saturdays, and maybe even Sundays, but not during the week. For example, I was downstairs last night playing ping pong with a bunch of my friends, and the only thing that I saw was people coming in at like midnight from parties that they went to on a Monday night. I think its kinda crazy for students to go out during the week and come back late, unless they know that they don’t have anything due for that class, which I highly doubt since it is summer semester, or that their classes are late the next day. Personally, I would tell these people to not go out to parties till Friday, because that way they can focus on getting their school work done first, and then they have all weekend to party. There is never going to be a weekend where there is no party, so if you have to give up a party during the week, that should be fine. Though there are some things that have been unexpected, I still miss a lot of things and people about. I miss my family and my girlfriend. I also miss my mom’s cooking, because now I am stuck either wasting money eating out, or eating ramen noodles. I don’t mind eating Ramen noodle cuz they are amazing, but I would much rather have a meal cooked by my mother.
ReplyDelete-Harold
Alex
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that it is a lot easier over here to drop the classes. I also dropped algebra for this semester because I was waiting on my IB scores, which happened to make a 5 on it, and I didn’t need to talk to my counselor like I did in high school. I did it all by myself. I also agree with you when you say that coming here to college will make you a more dependent person. I hope that happens to me also, because I grew up really attached to my family. I don’t plan on not being close with them, but I do plan on allowing myself to do thing by myself and not need my parents to do it for me.
-Harold
gNot a lot of things have suprised me so far in college. I pretty much expected everything that has come my way. Actually, the one thing that did suprise me was the amount of walking. I have never walked as much as I have in the last week and a half. And come to think of it I really expected the food at the suwannee to be better. For example, today was chicken pot pie day. Excuse me, turkey pot pie. It was absolutley ross. My other options were a rib sandwhich which I'm pretty sure was from the ribs we had yesterday, a pizza, or salad. I mean I love pizza and salad but it seems like I eat it everyday. I guess what I'm trying to say is I miss my mothers home cooking. It's really made me appreciate a home cooked meal every night. Another thing that sort of suprised me was how I got sick within a week of being here. I have had a cold for no joke like six days. I had heard the stories of dorm colds but didnt really believe any of it...until now that is. If I had to give someone some advice for college I would tell them that one, you can never bring enough socks. I've had to do two loads of laundry because I go through my socks too fast. The second thing I would tell them is to pace your self and try to stretch your money. The last piece of advice I would give is be careful with the women up here, they are not as innocent as one would hope. You have to have some self control.
ReplyDeleteDemetrius, I agree whole heartedly with you. The workload is definitely much more than anything I have faced before now. I mean a seven page paper in the first week?? I dont know how I managed to meet that deadline. On top of that I have another 1500 word paper due in my other class. Thats like 5000 words in a week! I mean I'm not complaining at all, just sort of astonished. And from what I'm told, this is childs play compared to the fall so I'm starting to get a little nervous for the next semester.
ReplyDelete