For starters, I had to take the bus to campus. The college campus is a 20-30 minute drive from my house, and since I didn't have my license at the time, one of my parents would have to drop me off on their way to work (which, by the way, is in the opposite direction). Instead of taking me all the way out to campus an hour early just to get to work on time, they dropped me off at a local bus stop. My first experience riding a bus was that first day of school, and I had no idea what to do. I managed to deposit the money and find a seat without too much hassle, though I ended up sitting in the same spot for almost the entire semester.
On top of that was the fact that I was, as far as I knew, the youngest kid on campus. I tested out of high school a year early because my classes were boring (and, subsequently, I wasn't the getting the best grades), and on the college campus I felt like I was really just a little grade-school kid trying to pass myself off as a mature, responsible adult. I imagined that I'd be found out, and that the other students (all much older than me) would ostracize me, make fun of me, and my time there would be miserable.
The bus dropped me and a bunch of other students off across the street from the college, and I followed the crowd over the lawn of the theater next to the campus. I still had a half hour to spare, and I spent it wandering the campus, trying to familiarize myself with its layout. All of my classes were on the same side, and in the same general area, so it wasn't that hard to get used to.
I had four classes that first semester, all of them on Tuesday and Thursday. That first day, I walked between classes, frequently checking my schedule to make sure I had the right building and the right room. I had ten minutes between classes, and I was early to all of them.
I never really got to know any of the kids in my classes. This is probably because I'm an extremely quiet, shy person around people I'm not already familiar with. In my Economics class, we had to work in groups, so I became acquainted with my groups members, but I never added much to conversations, always fearful that they'd discover my true identity.
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| There are no pictures to match today's blog, so I'm posting random college-related stuff. |
A strange thing, though: I find I enjoy having morning classes. In high school my day started at 6:00, as I had an early morning class I attend before school. Getting up at 5:30, five days a week for four years, really grated my nerves, and I promised myself that I'd have afternoon classes when I got to college and could make my own schedule.
Instead, last year, my Tuesday and Thursday classes started around 8:00, and I've carried that tradition on through the next semesters. On paper, it made more sense for transportation, but it also kinda feels nice. I'm getting two more hours of sleep than I did when I was in high school, and I'm starting my day doing something productive and thought-provoking. After class, I get to come home and work on accomplishing something (like getting a job).
Starting college, I've decided, is a terrifying thing. The government is no longer forcing you to go to school - you're going of your own free will. You have to decide which classes to take, and when to show up, and so forth. All through grade school people are telling you what to do, consulting you for your opinion, but ultimately making the decision for you. When you enter college, you're suddenly forced to make those decisions for yourself.
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| Stock Photo FTW |
College is terrifying, but real life is terrifying, and this is just a part of it.
I want to congratulate my old high school friends (and even the kids who I kind of knew but never really talked to) for moving up a rung on the Illusion of Reality ladder. You've been here all along, but now you can finally prove it to everyone else, and that's awesome.
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