Hey everyone! I want to welcome all the readers and give a shoutout to the other Rutgers student bloggers on the team! Here's to a great year - cheers!
I have only been a college student for a little more than week, but here is what I've learned already (those shiny brochures leave out so much):
- There is no time for you to slowly transition from being a high school kid to a college student. You're just thrown onto campus and suddenly, you're expected to create your own schedule for your day, to feed yourself the proper amount of food (still learning to strike the balance of avoiding hunger and avoiding The Freshmen 15), to remember all the dates and all the events you need to attend, to wake up and go to class without your parent's exasperated pleas of "hurry up!", to do uncollected homework and study for tests in advance. It is overwhelming, but you also learn you can handle it.
- Books are expensive. Everyone knows this, but it won't hit you until you hand over a couple $100 bills at the bookstore.
- Rutgers buses will make you into a sardine.
- The smoothies at Neilson Dining Hall are divine! I highly recommend the Carribean Craze.
- Target's Back to School shopping night for Rutgers is akin to Black Friday, without the sales.
- NextBus is tempermental. It will tell you the EE bus will arrive in 5 minutes. And when you check it again, suddenly, the wait is 20 minutes.
- Your feet will hurt from walking, campus hopping, and bus riding.
- Rutgers has a mind-boggling number of clubs and organizations. The Involvement Fair has more people packed into a small patch of grassy area (Voorhees Mall) than you would have ever thought possible.
- Bring an umbrella. Move-in weekend was blessed by some type of sadistic downpour.
- Even though Rutgers in New Brunswick has more than 25,000 students, you will still see people you know --- often at the most unexpected places. You learn to create your own world and community in the university. It's fun!
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