adjusting to college life

[shivering corpse]

So I started college monday. I'm living in a dorm room with a guy I don't know at all, hopefully will get to know better. I'm completely out of my element, and right now it sucks ass. None of my friends are going to the same college I am, so I have to make completely new friends, which so far hasn't been quite as easy as I hoped, though it is only the third day.

So can anyone else relate to this situation? What helped you out? How did you adjust to all the changes and depression you have about missing home/family/friends/comfort zone/ and all the stuff you used to do?

 

[Mosh Kosh]

Dude, good luck with all that. My best friend is going through it now, a few of my friends in fact, they dont seem to be doing TOO bad...

 

[gybberisque]

I'm going off for my first year Friday... but I know my roommate and have 3 good friends besides him going to the same college... although I am planning on becoming a guitar fiend so I don't have to be social too much...

 

[Mosh Kosh]

Thats my plan next year, be a guitar fiend.

 

[Arch]

A lot of sex will cure the blues.

 

[Beth]

Hey, I'm going through it...about 3 or so weeks ago, I moved an hour away from home, into my own apartment, by myself, and I don't know anyone. That part, I loved. I started classes Monday, and today I went to my final "1st" class, and I see that there is no one I know in any of my classes. It's alright though, because I live very close to campus, so I just drive to class and then drive home. I don't really need any buddies to be with me.
So I'm sure that living in the dorm is much, much different, and I'd hate to be in your situation

But being comfortable is just a state of mind, or at least in this situation. You'll inevitably strike up a conversation with someone who you can relate to soon enough.

 

[Silver Sable]

I didn't exactly move away or anything when I went to college, though my parents moved out of the state when I started college, so I was pretty much alone. I had one friend left from high school, and she and I had opposite schedules for some time. So basically you go to class, get a part time job and work your ass off at both. After four to five years, you realize your whole college years are past, and you never did any of the crazy college stuff people do at that point in their life.

My advise is to go out to parties and social functions for a while, and see if you can find people who have similar interests. Talk to every pretty girl you see, (or boy if that is your thing) and never let an opportunity pass because you are too shy or afraid of what people think.

 

[FrostGiant]

Everyone in the dorms is in a similar position. I really didn't get to know my dorm mates all that well until we hit a couple of parties and got drunk together. That always seems to help. That was also 8 years ago.......

Holy shit, 8 years ago. Now I'm getting fricken depressed. Thanks a lot.

 

[Sadistik]

When I moved in for my frshman yeay (fall 2000) I was kind of nervous. My roomate was a big fat scary looking guy, I didn't know anyone, and the prospect of college classes scared the shit out of me. But, somehow, it all works out man....

my only advice to you is DON'T get caught up in the party scene....I've seen way to many people, friends and strangers alike, ruin their college careers over parties (this means AVOID FRATERNITIES AND SORORITIES as if they have the plague!)

 

[Arch]

Also, try not to say how cool you were back in the HS days. People could care less what you did.

 

[KleptomaN]

Stop whining. You're living at the dorms. That's the quickest way to make friends except being a millioaire (just as long as you're not being a smelly jackass).
You don't have to live 10 driving minutes away from University with your parents.

 

[ucsbdude]

Ah yes, college, man living in the dorms was fun. Good times.
I didn't know a single soul the my first day of college. Next thing you know I was partying and having drunkfests with a bunch of new friends.
If you are sociable you will make friends instantly. If you're not then good luck.

 

[KoichCPA]

If your in a dorm, and you don't have friends after two weeks, I'd be shocked.

 

[Lina]

Hey, I'm going through it...about 3 or so weeks ago, I moved an hour away from home, into my own apartment, by myself, and I don't know anyone. That part, I loved. I started classes Monday, and today I went to my final "1st" class, and I see that there is no one I know in any of my classes. It's alright though, because I live very close to campus, so I just drive to class and then drive home. I don't really need any buddies to be with me.
So I'm sure that living in the dorm is much, much different, and I'd hate to be in your situation

I never thought I'd have so much in common with a Christian virgin-on-purpose. I do the same -- drive to campus, go to classes, maybe talk a bit in the hall with a classmate afterward, then go home. And thankfully, the Public Policy building is on the edge of campus, so I don't have to wade through all the trendoids having loud convos on their cell phones about how drunk they were last night.

My freshman year was awful. I was at the U of Wisconsin and didn't know anyone, and my roommate was a dumb racist from South Carolina, and even so, she was like my only friend. Everyone on my dorm floor was "extroverted" (loud and obnoxious) and insisted on pulling their stereos into the hallway and blaring rap at all hours of the day and night while "raising the roof" like the bunch of fucking honkeys they were. And I never realized just how inconsiderate people are until I shared a bathroom with 20 other girls. People would put big chunky food in the sinks and just leave it there, expecting it to magically disappear.

And despite how much I hated everyone then, I wasn't nearly as misanthropic and introverted as I am now. So my roommate and I rushed a sorority the second semester in an effort to make friends. And I made a few (none worth keeping in touch with though), but I'm not sure all the free beer was worth the stupid "sister activities" we had to do. And I turned down the nerd sorority to join the "good" one, which just means I chose to associate with unaccepting bitches with snobby rich-girl NY/NJ accents over probably very nice girls.

Longing to get out of the white Midwestern bubble, I transferred to the U of Maryland, which I hadn't even considered applying to the first time around. And I was much happier -- it had the diversity I was used to, and people were more politically engaged. But I lived in my own apartment, which made a huge difference in my happiness. Still, despite all that, I didn't make any "college friends." I went to parties with people from work, and I joined a couple clubs, but I didn't meet a single person that didn't annoy me.

[/rambling]

 

[Hamtaro]

I went to ハムハム University and I had fun.

I stayed in the dorm cage wwhich was a really damn big cage. I t was fun and rooled but everyone just kind of pooped wheeverer they happened to be standing at the moment so you had to watch your step (only at first later you just didn't care at all)

I made a lot of friends and I was a superpimp

 

[Sóti]

i'm starting my last year of highschool, and after that its either college or flightschool

 

[J.]

God, I miss college. When I think how monotonous "the real world" is, it makes me long for my partying days.

I think every college student should live in the dorms for at least one year. You'll meet tons of people, some nice ones and some assholes, but it's an experience you'll never get to try again. Luckily, I had some nice rommates, and surprisingly, one of them was actually into a little bit of metal.

Moving into an apartment is nice, but you run the risk of becoming introverted and anti-social. Not necessarily bad things, but fuck man, have some fun in college.

And don't listen to the people who tell you not to party or join clubs or anything. That is what college is about. It's not about studying all night and all weekend. This is the only opportunity you'll ever have to enjoy college. Make your grades and party 'till you puke. Oh, and get laid a lot.

 

[Lina]

God, I miss college. When I think how monotonous "the real world" is, it makes me long for my partying days.

I think every college student should live in the dorms for at least one year. You'll meet tons of people, some nice ones and some assholes, but it's an experience you'll never get to try again. Luckily, I had some nice rommates, and surprisingly, one of them was actually into a little bit of metal.

Moving into an apartment is nice, but you run the risk of becoming introverted and anti-social. Not necessarily bad things, but fuck man, have some fun in college.

And don't listen to the people who tell you not to party or join clubs or anything. That is what college is about. It's not about studying all night and all weekend. This is the only opportunity you'll ever have to enjoy college. Make your grades and party 'till you puke. Oh, and get laid a lot.

Ugh. *sigh* Dreamlord. Haha, it doesn't surprise me you had fun in your frat.

"Moving into an apartment is nice, but you run the risk of becoming introverted and anti-social. Not necessarily bad things, but fuck man, have some fun in college."

What if you don't think drinking yourself into oblivion, hooking up with a stranger, then puking your guts out the next morning, weekend after weekend after weekend, is fun? That's what I did that first year, because everyone else thought it was fun. Then I woke up and realized watching a movie at home in my PJs sipping cocoa is more enjoyable for me.

 

[Hamtaro]

You're nto from texas tho

 

[J.]

Ugh. *sigh* Dreamlord. Haha, it doesn't surprise me you had fun in your frat.


"Moving into an apartment is nice, but you run the risk of becoming introverted and anti-social. Not necessarily bad things, but fuck man, have some fun in college."

What if you don't think drinking yourself into oblivion, hooking up with a stranger, then puking your guts out the next morning, weekend after weekend after weekend, is fun? That's what I did that first year, because everyone else thought it was fun. Then I woke up and realized watching a movie at home in my PJs sipping cocoa is more enjoyable for me.

Well, I have an overall view. I lived in the dorms for two years. I lived in an apartment for one year. And I lived in the fraternity house for about 9 months.

My first year in college was spent in Oklahoma, and I lived in a duplex.

I didn't even join a fraternity until I was 21 years old, so actually more of my college life was spent outside of Greek life. And I had fun no matter who I hung out with. No one can accuse me of joining a fraternity because everyone else was doing it, because to be honest, none of my friends did it. I pledged without knowing a single soul. I just felt it was time to try something different, that I would never have the opportunity to try again. And that whole non-Greek argument of "joining frats is buying your friends" is complete BS. That's something jealous people say. I joined and I absolutely hated some of those guys. Given, many of them are spoiled brats that will go to mommy and daddy when confronted with a problem.

When I lived in my apartment, it was just hard to get motivated to do anything. I'd come home, but on some comfortable clothes and end up watching TV all night. That's fine for some, but I could have done that whiel living with my parents and attending a college closer to home.