Holy crap. I'm in college.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, it’s day two of the orientation time before classes start, and it’s just beginning to set in. I made it a pretty early night tonight, on account of the fact that my feet/head/body are killing me at the moment, but I thought I’d check in with everybody here before I go to sleep. In my bed. In my dorm room. In college. Where I am right now.

Anyway, a few thoughts on life so far:

I actually like my roomate, which I understand is a pretty rare event. But don’t worry, all you nay-sayers out there, because there’s chances for conflict here. We have pretty much nothing in common, for one thing. He’s a basketball playing, slightly homophobic cool guy, wheras I’m pretty much just a self-defacing wiseass who couldn’t care less whether you’re gay or straight.

Our biggest discreapancy, of course, would have to be the drinking thing. I don’t drink/smoke or whatever, whereas if he had got to all of the parties he’s looked for in the last two days, he would have died of alcohol poisoning before I could unpack my computer. It’s not an issue at the moment, though, since I don’t mind that he drinks, as long as he’s not an asshole about it, and vis versa, and we should do fine sharing a room.

Which, of course, brings me to the room. We’ve been both blessed and cursed by having a room in the basement of our building, Bonnycastle. The plus side? There are only six guys sharing an entire bathroom. It’s also much cooler down here. The downside? Nobody knows we exist. Every time I tell someone where I live, they give me a blank stare and say something to the effect of “Whoa, there’s a basement in here?”
We’re all a bit isolated down here.

And then, of course, there’s the fact that the University of Virginia is (surprise, surprise) chalk full of Virginians. As far as I can tell, I am not only the only representative of my city in my entire class, but of my entire state. I actually had to tell someone where Pittsburgh was. The Southerners have claimed this school as their own, for obvious reasons, and it’s pretty apparent that I’m an outsider.

Following the uniformity trend, so many people look the same here it’s creepy. My entire floor but for one guy is made up of tall skinny white boys, and two guys on the floor are named Dan. That means that 33% of the people on my floor are named Dan. Freaky. I just wish they were roomates. UVA is supposed to be fairly diverse and everything, but I’m not seeing it. Maybe I just need to get out of the basement, and into the harsh daylight. Which is very harsh down here, in fact. About 90 degrees with high humidity harsh. And no air conditioning.

But, now that I’ve written all this out, I begin to realize that I really could care less about all these little problems, because, holy crap. I’m in college. The rest of my life began yesterday, and now I guess I’ve gotta keep going with it. Oh, and what’s this “class” thing that everybody keeps saying starts on Wednesday?

2

Ah, good old Bootycastle…

Old dorms are pretty much a giant party scene. You may like your roommate now, but it’s only been a couple days. Of course, my take is slightly biased by my experience with my first year roommate (Webb 130’s! Yeah!).

The best advice I can give you right now is to go to the activities fair, and go to organizational meetings for anything you might be interested in. This is by far the best way to meet people outside of the frat system.

What’re you taking? Which professors?

3

I was really disapointed to find that college was nothing like Animal House. But then again it was nothing like Little House either.

4

Or Hell House.

Sounds like things are going better than average for you, roommate-wise. The moment I met my freshman roommate I knew it was going to be a rough year. And I was the one who was the bitch (I’m not proud of that, but sometimes folks clash, you know?). It’s hard to know exactly what to expect out of college, so take advantage of the orientation activities and social gatherings. You’ll meet tons of people and get some dirt on how things work. Good luck on the first day of class!

5

The “diversity” of Virginia State schools is… significantly overstated to put it kindly (I went to William & Mary). By “Diverse” I think they mean “People come from ALL parts of Virginia… plus we have some TAs in the Medical school who we think might be from Pakistan. But we’re not sure.”

Just wait till the first “dress up” occaision; I guarantee every one of those skinny white guys will be wearing a navy blazer and khakis. Guaranteed.

Anyway, UVa is a great school and Charlottesville is a pretty neat town as college towns go. You’ll have a great time!

6

UVA’s a little better than that, although it’s not as good as some other schools. Of course, when you grow up in southern Ohio, diversity of any kind is pretty impressive…

7

Heh, I started my first day of classes today at FSU… gosh, I haven’t had anxiety like that in YEARS. First, I get lost inside a building looking for the wrong room #, then, when I find the right class, I’m told it was cancelled because the three students in the room were the only ones who registered for it… After I get switched into a similar course, I find out that I can’t do ROTC this semester after all because of the lab hours. Then I started thinking about the possibility that I may never know more than about 6 or 7 people on the campus, and I nearly gave myself an anxiety attack… ugh, stupid overanalasis of the situation. Well, I’m sure that I’ll do well in my classes this semester. I just wish I didn’t miss my fiance so much.

8

ultrafileter let’s just say that growing up in Brooklyn, NY perhaps I had a different definition of “diversity” than the people who wrote brochures at William & Mary!

9

Mirrored, I’m a sophomore (going to junior) at UF, and I still get lost around campus. It’s better if you go before classes to check out the places.

10

Hate to burst your bubble, Jester, but you aren’t the only yinzer at your school. My bud Mary’s there along with you, so look her up if you ever miss sentances ending with “N’at” and phrases like “The car needs washed.”

11

Heh, I know I sound like an old geezer at the ripe young age of 26 but damn, I’m so jealous! Now that I’ve been out of college a few (3) years, I miss it. Never thought I’d miss dorm coffee and living on cereal and tater tots, but, I kinda do!

Have some fun for those of us who wish we could go back and do it all over again, k? But make sure you wait till all your classwork is finished. :wink:

12

Ahh…I remember my first days of college like they were yesterday… Oh, wait, it wasn’t that long ago (only 6 years). Anyway, have a great time in collge…make sure to keep a nice balance between school work and social life. Too much of either makes for a bad experience…either horrible grades or complete boredom.

Just try to experience as much as you can, and have a sense of humor about everything. Good luck with classes!

Jman

13

Hey, Jester’s here! Haven’t seen you in a while!

Wait…they didn’t know of PITTSBURGH?

That is…um…interesting.

14

Heh, just wait. In about 4 years you will be forced to say “Holy crap, I’m out of college.” :slight_smile:

So, along those lines, make the most of it.

Though after a year in the real world, I must say I like getting paid…

15

Just started my first day at San Jose State. well, as a transfer student, but still its pretty exciting. I live twenty minutes away, so I just commute. 17 units and juggling two jobs to boot! :smiley:

16

Another yinzer that spent time in a Virginia state school. Pitt let me take my last two classes at George Mason. This was much more convenient for me, since I was living in Arlington at the time.

George Mason seemed pretty diverse, but that may be a function of being located in Northern Virginia.

Anyway, enjoy yourself! And try to finish your bachelors in less than a dozen years, like I did.

17

Wow! Thanks for the kind words, everybody.

The diversity really isn’t too shameful, although there is a definite majority of caucasians. But the minority groups all have very good representation and unions and such, so it’s not like they burn crosses on the Lawn or anything.

Classes start tomorrow, and I just bought all my books. All I can say is Geez…carrying that many books from the store to the dorms really isn’t any fun. And writing the check for them wasn’t exactly enjoyable, either.

I’ve been auditioning for some stuff as of today, with mixed results. The a capella audition that I had earlier went…well, it was interesting, to say the least. But I really just did it to get a feel for what it was like to try out, and I’ve got two more groups to audition for on Saturday. Not incredibly confident, but hey, miracles happen.
On the other hand, I’ve got an audition for piano lesson placement-type stuff this afternoon, and I feel really good about it. I’ve pretty much got my piece (Rachmaninoff’s C# minor Prelude) down, so I should do fairly well.

That said, I’m off to read my Philosophy homework for tomorrow. Later, everybody!

18

Ho boy. New student in CS at Virginia Tech here. I had a full-blown panic attack the minute my parents walked out the door. I got over it, and have just finished my first college homework assignment. Aren’t I swell and responsible?
Funny, it’s more like high school than everyone claims. On the other hand, I’ve had exactly two days of classes, so I’m in no position to be lecturing. (Hat hat hat.)

19

Allow me to make a college type suggestion as well. If you’re in a class you think is above your level right now, DROP IT! Drop it like the plague. Drop it like the Royals on an easy pop fly. Drip drop to the tip top it.

I ended my first semester with a 1.8. One and eight tenths. Less than a C average. The advanced calculus class which I aced into thanks to very simple prelim tests turned out to be WAAAAY advanced and was beyond my abilities. 5 credit hours worth of a D helped ensure that my starting college GPA was HALF my high school ending GPA.

Um, so good luck on your classes and your roommate and stuff.

20

wow, a lot a VA people here. i graduated from va tech and i’ve got to tell you the diversity there is amazing (nova folks, hicks, a few miscellaneous from other states and countries, and the rest of va). i will attempt to refrain from a uva comments:)
advice - don’t take classes too seriously until year 3 or 4, never let the opposite sex influence any major decisions, i.e changing schools or majors, and make the most of what is around you.