Of all the living experiences you’ll have throughout your life, freshman year residence halls are certainly among the most formative. Living in the residence halls, for most, marks the end of an era — one of which includes home-cooked coddling, reasonable expectations of privacy and silence. For the the most part, residence halls are a cesspool of Athlete’s Foot and yesterday’s mistakes, but the more you learn to cope with the trials and tribulations, the better off you are.
Roommates
As the old saying goes, “Living with you has made me seriously consider living in my car.”
Roommates are less a practice of compatibility and more one of patience. No matter how many mutual friends the two of you have on Facebook, or how much both of you love the beach, pizza and ‘California kush,’ life will still get in the way, and circumstances will undeniably breed tensions. It’s no one’s job to tell you to pick up your clothes or go to lecture but this kind of freedom can be overwhelming and lead to bad habits, like eating too many doughnuts or failing all of your classes — whichever one comes first. Part of living under your own roof for the first time requires self imposing restrictions.
Wine and viticulture junior Hannah Ermisch stressed the importance of open communication when cycling through roommate unpleasantries.
“Don’t be scared to communicate, but be kind and sincere about it,” she said. “The silent treatment never works.”
Most of us (some of us with bruises) can attest to that.
If you live in a triple and both of your roommates get in a fight, never, ever take a side.
They will make up and both hate you.
We all have the potential to be petty, and you will probably (definitely) steal their (organic, fair trade) yogurt at one point or another. Just admit to it. Take out the trash even if no one’s asked you to. Wash your sheets, often.
Shower
You won’t use your robe as much as you think you will, and eventually will stop caring about that birthmark on your leg.
Clothes
Pack 1/4 of your closet and then cut that in half. This is not complicated arithmetic. Bring more socks than you think you’ll need. Throw away all the clothes you wore to parties in high school.
Speaking of high school, college is not high school. Make an active effort to meet as many people as feels comfortable, and when in doubt, ask them lots of questions about themselves, or the drought. Both of those usually strike up great conversation.
Clubs
You are not too cool for anything. Not doing anything is very uncool — maintaining six subreddits gets tiring after month three, as does the self-created Ramen cod of depression.
Try to find your niche — maybe it’s playing beach volleyball or performing in theater productions. Maybe it’s working at Petco off campus or spending hours on Dexter Lawn writing fiction. Whatever it is, you’ll find it. Chances are, it’s probably written on a poster somewhere outside the library.
Psychology alumna ‘15 Kelly Budisch, who was a resident adviser for Yosemite Hall, said that if she could go back and deliver some words of wisdom, they would be this:
“Don’t BFF and only hang out with the first group of people you meet. Meet as many people as possible, get involved in organizations. Don’t limit yourself.”
You should never feel like there’s a race to adjust to a new environment — everyone transitions at his or her own pace. It takes a long time to fully acclimate, to feel like you’ve met your “people,” to build up a tolerance to the MSG at VG Cafe. Don’t worry if it feels like you’re slower than the rest. Do what feels right, with people with whom you feel comfortable, people who challenge you, people who illuminate the best version of you. Wait for the right people.
Food
Take someone over 40 with you to buy groceries. You will buy way too many pre-made salads and they will expire.
Lastly, get off campus as often as you can. If you don’t have a car, make friends who have one or take the bus, even it feels like a hassle or a trek. Accept and anticipate change.
Wear shower shoes.
Check out our Freshman 101 tab for more how-tos, tips and advice for incoming freshmen.