College is so exciting! If you are reading this, you are probably heading into your freshman year, and let me tell you, freshman year is a blast. However, it can feel difficult if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into! My freshman year was one of the most fun and exciting years of my life so far. I met my best friends, my boyfriend, and joined a sorority that I couldn’t imagine not being a part of. You are going to run into some bumps in the road, it happens, but you are going to have such an amazing time. It is most likely your first time living on your own and having complete freedom from your parents, so take advantage of that! College is a time to try new things and find out who you really are! Here are a few things I learned about my freshman year: Living in the dorms is such a crazy experience. When I was living in the dorms, We didn’t have an option to have completely gender separated dorms. If your school offers co-ed dorms, I highly recommend it. These dorms have such a social atmosphere and I made some of my best friends my freshman year through the dorms. We would get big study groups together and hang out in the common area in our free time. We had our own little family made up of the people on our floor and it made us feel a little more at home! Speaking of feeling at home, decorating your dorm is such an important thing to do in my opinion. No, you and your roommate don't have to match, but when you make your area personalized to you, you’re bound to feel more comfortable in it! Personally, I decorated my space in my room very similar to how I would have it decorated at home - lots of pillows, my guitar sitting in the corner, and my desk space organized with more makeup than school supplies. Throughout the year it definitely changed, but there were a lot of items I found very helpful while I was making the transition to dorm living! ✰ A Bed Shelf with USB ports for charging This was definitely one of my favorite purchases for my dorm room. I had no choice when it came to lofting my bed, so the bed shelf allowed me to keep my phone charging next to me at night, and even fit my hydroflask! It was a great alternative to a night stand and saved a ton of space! ✰ Space Saving Hangers I loved having these space saving hangers because I was sharing one closet between 3 girls, and I personally have a lot of clothes. We all got different colored hangers as well, so we knew where each person’s clothes ended and the other’s started. Having the majority of my clothes at school helped me with my transition of living away from home because I never had to think about all of the things I left behind! ✰ Cute Organizational Bins I used these bins for just about everything! I used plastic bins to organize my drawers and wire bins to store things that were sitting out on my desk or in my closet! We used them for our medicine baskets, our laundry supplies baskets, and our cleaning supplies baskets! It took the ugliness of what was in the basket away and made them cute enough to just leave out in the room if needed! ✰ Coffee Machine Now, I made a deal with my parents that I would wait to get a new computer until mine died if I could get a Nespresso Machine instead, and well, It was the best decision I have ever made. Being able to make lattes right there in my room was SUCH a money saver. I rarely went out for coffee, and if any of my friends wanted to get coffee and chat, I was just able to make them a cup and we would hang out in my room or in the common area! If you’re smart about it, you may even be able to create an underground coffee shop on your floor and make some money off of it! Now, I could go on forever about what you should have in your dorm, so when it gets closer to when you would be buying things to move into your dorm, I will have a whole post for it! But for now let's move on to… Rushing was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. Almost everyone in my family is in greek life, so there was a lot of pressure put on me to rush, and I almost didn’t go through with it! I believe that even if I didn't rush my freshman year, I would have ended up rushing at some other point throughout college, but I am so thankful that I did it freshman year because I created some amazing memories with my pledge class and made some of my best friends! Even if you don’t think you want to rush, try it anyways! Depending on the school you are at, recruitment may last anywhere from 3 days to one week, so you aren't going to have to commit to being in a sorority on the first day! Go to day 1 of recruitment, and if you don’t like it, then drop out of the process! It's no big deal! But, you may be surprised at some of the houses! Every house typically has something that fits everyone's personality. Another big reason that you should rush is that being in a sorority can look amazing on a job application in the future! It shows dedication, a heart for volunteering, and leadership (if you decide to take a position). I know when we think about sororities and recruitment, we tend to think about that viral video of all of the sorority girls saying “we’ve been waiting for you all summer,” and yes, the singing like that does happen, but that only happens during recruitment. The rest of the year, we are committed to academics, philanthropic work, and supporting each other in any way! And even if you do commit to a sorority, you can always drop it after your first year if you end up not liking it. But I cannot stress enough how important it is to still give it a chance! As we all know, with college comes lots of parties. You may be surprised to know that it isn't just the frats that throw parties on campus. Lots of the sports teams decide to throw parties as well! However, who is throwing the party does not matter as long as you know how to party responsibly. My #1 tip is to bring your own water! There is going to be some point in the night when you want it, but you aren’t going to be able to get it. Throw a mini water bottle in your purse, or even carry around your hydro. Not only will this help you stay hydrated, but you will thank yourself in the morning. When it comes to drinking, try to bring your own drinks. We have all heard the nightmare stories of girls getting drugged at frat parties, and even though I haven't heard about this happening to anyone I know, it is still something that happens, especially at big party schools. To make yourself even safer from this happening, make sure to bring someone to the party with you! If you are out with your friends having a good time, you’re less likely to take a drink from a random guy that you don’t know! Party culture can get crazy, so make sure you are drinking responsibly, utilizing ride sharing apps, and if you do go home with someone that you met at the party, make sure to be safe, respect yourself, and get tested regularly for STDs. It is so so SO important to talk to your roommates before living with them to make sure you all get along well because crazy roommates do exist. Last year, I had a roommate that had no respect for boundaries, would constantly forget her key, and come back to the dorms blasted and wake all of us up at 3 am. If your roommate starts to turn into a nightmare, don’t worry! There are definitely ways to get around it! Make sure you create a roommate contract when you first move in! That way, it is clarified in writing how you will handle disagreements and things that make you uncomfortable. We were required to do this through our RAl, and I am so grateful that we had it. When you first move in, you will probably want nothing to do with your RA, but if you get into a situation where your roommate becomes a nightmare, they will become your best friend. If you explain what is going on in your room, they will do their best to assign you to a new room, or remove that roommate from your room! So, don't fret if your roommate isn’t who you expected them to be. I eventually want to do a separate blog post for each of these topics, so I am leaving it brief for now. Freshman year is so exciting and there are so many things to look forward to! Push yourself to try new things and meet new people! Have the time of your life! You only get to live your freshman year once, so go all out and do what you want, but try not to get into any trouble! Congratulations on making it to college! You’ll have a blast. xo, The Undergrad
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AUTHORCamille Baron is a 20 year old attending the University of Utah and is in her third year as a Strategic Communications major. She strives to educate college women like herself to achieve their full potential in all aspects of life. ARCHIVES
July 2020
CATEGORIESAll Business And Professional College Culture Education Health And Wellness Self Care Travel |