Heed My Advice, Figlets

To be honest, the first few weeks that I was at Mizzou, I was utterly convinced that there was not a single cool person here. I missed the familiarity of home, and people whose sense of humor I understood, and the big city feel of Dallas, Texas. So my first piece of advice to you would be to not have preconceived notions about anything or anyone. It totally killed my first weeks here, and let me tell you, your first weeks are extremely valuable for making friends and exploring what sorts of organizations you might be interested in. Be optimistic, and be proactively friendly. If you want to make friendships and connections that will last, you have to actively go out and ask people to go and hang out with you places. Make a plan to stay actively involved in things like clubs and going to the rec 3 times a week and stuff, because if you don't set goals like that in stone, you won't do them after a few weeks of feeling swamped in school and making excuses to sleep in or stay on facebook for hours. 

School takes studying. Well, you may take a few blowoff courses that require no effort outside of class, but in your gen ed classes, if you don't study, you won't pass. The great thing about the academic side of college is that it really is true that it is relevant to your life, much more than the monotonous crap they fed you in high school. And with all of the studying you will be doing, you will suddenly find yourself actually remembering the things that you learned in class all semester, not just until the test. Having knowledge stick is a nice feeling. 

Dorm life is always interesting. Keep your room clean so that your roommate does not hate you, and keep personal boundaries. You do not want to make enemies on your dorm floor, because you cannot avoid them. 

Case and point, your first semester in college will be an awesome experience if you don't slack off of your goals and you are optimistic about the outcome. 

Don't Judge.

So, a semester has come and almost gone, and I have learned a great deal. It was more than I expected, and fantabulous. Advice, right, that is what we are supposed to write about, lessons learned, etc.

Here's my advice: don't judge. I came to MU a tad bit scared of what I was getting into. I had no idea who my room mate was (Trupti) and at the beginning we didn't exactly hit it off very well. We didn't fight or anything, but we weren't best friends or anything like that. Band camp went by, I spent little time in the room, as school started and the first couple weeks nothing changed, all the people on my floor hung out, everyone seemed to like each other and had settled into their cliques, and I felt like the oddball out. Then we went to Sparky's Ice Cream. (Recommendation, and each time you go in ask for Peanut Butter and Jelly and Chocolate Chip Sandwich flavored. They haven't made it yet, but you never know.) We talked and stuff. And we sorta started over, we just got to know each other a little bit more and realized that we weren't as different as we thought we were. We got back and the girl across the hall came in and pretended to yell at us because we were hanging out and didn't invite her - "I liked you better when you hated each other!" and we just cracked up laughing. And from then on we have been friends. It's great. So, don't judge. Things change. And you have to act for them to change - we had to invite each other to do stuff at first, try to get to know each other. It doesn't just fall into your lap magically, but if you try then it probably will work. The end.

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I'm feeling especially unmotivated as I write this blog. Being unmotivated to do work is something freshman should get used too. At least until they get through gen ed's. But anyway...

College is pretty much what its cracked up to be. Staying up till 3 in the morning is the norm. Whether that is because of homework, video games, or thirsty thursdays, no matter what, you'll be staying up late. Just get used to it. You'll eat a lot of food. Make a lot of friends, that is if you don't act like a complete ass. You'll see/hear things you'd never expect to hear, but those are things you'll only get to experience living in the dorm. Gillet is pretty dingy but its still a place to live and its created many awesome memories for me already. Spell check should become your friend if it isn't already. Spark notes are still useful but reading the actual book is more helpful. Study in groups. Not only do you meet people but you'll learn the material better. Try and find a place where you can get your studies done and not be distracted. 

Please treat your computers/other technological gear with great respect. You're going to need it to last you. Plus i'll hunt you down if you mistreat an Apple computer. 

But the most important thing coming into your freshman year is to just be yourself. Don't worry about people judging you. Find people who have similar interests to you and be yourself. Be kind, generous, and happy. 

P.S Also cheer very very loudly for the Tigers football team. They're going to need the love next year.

My First Semester Experience.

My experience this first semester at Mizzou was the last thing I expected. While I was home, I had grow accustomed to the way things were and to be honest, I wasn't that excited about coming here. The idea of being away from my friends and more-so my family, wasn't a favorite of mine. However, I was very happy to find out that Mizzou was much better then expected and was a place that I would grow to be very fond over the next semester. While I still keep in contact with my old friends, I've made new friends here that I know I'll have the rest of my life. Living in the dorms has been the best part of the whole experience because it's given me an opportunity to meet people from different places and make new friends. Another big reason that I was a bit nervous about coming to Mizzou was the classes. I'm not exactly the brightest person you'll meet and I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to do the work. However, again I was proven wrong as my classes have been enjoyable, but challenging at the same time. I've found that I'm learning more in these classes than any other I've taken. I'm actually doing better in my Spanish class here than the one I took at high school, which is saying something. Overall, Mizzou has been a big surprise and a very pleasant one as well.

One semester down, seven to go

I expected college to be the time of my life and everything to just fall into place and be perfect.

What I didn’t expect from college is that it would be difficult and some of the teachers barely speak English. I’ve enjoyed being in a FIG because it allowed me to meet a lot of people and develop many friendships. Whether we are studying for psychology or venting about biology, I am positive that we all enjoy the sense of community that the FIG environment provides.

The biggest piece of advice I can give to incoming freshman and future figlets would be to get involved, but also to know your limits. I was involved in everything in high school and my grades suffered because I never quit any activity. But in college, the second (or maybe a few seconds) after I realized I was in way over my head with commitments to organizations I had joined, I began to eliminate some of my commitments. I’ve never been a quitter and had previously looked down on quitting, but I realized that I wouldn’t be able to achieve my full potential if I was weighed down with so many commitments outside of the classroom.

The thing I enjoy most about college is the variety of new and interesting things available for me. For instance, you can go watch a ballet at Jesse Auditorium or you can go downtown and experience new and exciting thinks like Lollicup and Sparky's.

Not only are the there many opportunities to try new things, but by living in close proximity to so many people, you learn new concepts and ways of viewing them, which I find incredibly fascinating.

At the end of your first semester of college, you’ll look back on your experiences and realize how much you have grown as an individual and you will be truly amazed.

[generic retrospective title]

First semester of freshman year is probably the most looked forward to thing in the entire world except maybe a trip to Amsterdam or the moon or something like that. For the most part, college (at least at a NCAA D1 school) lives up to all the hype. The dorms smell like dudes, every room has at least 3 open packages of food and 2 sweaters on the floor, people draw pictures of dicks on the message boards and throw up on the elevator, etc.

Class work hasn't been overwhelming, but for me the course load here is slightly easier than high school. Then again, I ended up taking 13 credit hours and having classes that aren't exactly work intensive. The work we do here is less of the insipid busy work that made high school so much fun. Academic success lies entirely upon how much work you are willing to do. If you want to skip a ton of classes, feel free. But you'll probably manage to miss getting into the j-school and have to switch majors, appeal for credit, or a host of other things you really don't want to do.

Make sure to enroll early for your classes you want next semester, and have a good idea what you want to be when you grow up before the end of your first semester. If you won a scholarship, prepare to be run all around campus and subjected to academic check ups that you run on yourself. It's just as stupid as it sounds, but the money is just too good to pass up.

Residential life is pretty much all it is cracked up to be. The food will make you sick, the PAs and CAs will be buzzkills, the halls will occasionally smell like a locker room, people will come up from other floors to smoke on your balcony/vomit on your toilets. People will go out and drink on Wednesday night, and if you are really lucky, one night you might hear a sorority girl throwing up at 3:30 on a Tuesday night.

Rooming is fine, being forward with about rules is pretty important, because they will probably all be disregarded within 10 hours of meeting your new roomie. As many people on the floor will tell you, the worst can and will happen. Food will rot, milk will go bad, clothes will go unlaundered, and a seething hatred for all things related to the person who shares your 9 x 9 will develop if you let it. To be successful room mates, you don't have to be friends. Just take care of your things, keep your room tidy, and don't show a flagrant disregard for all rules of social conduct.

Social life is much more prickly pear that you'll really have to crash your own way into. My advice is to be as welcoming and as friendly as possible, grab up as many acquaintances you can, and try to maintain at least 50% of those relationships. Knowing people will help you get out and about and an extensive list of contacts is an asset for any freshman.

Anyway, that's my advice for you incoming freshmen, and if you didn't read any of that:

Take care of yourself, do your work, shower daily, and make friends and things will be fine. Also, you're a college student, which means you get to do pretty much whatever you want, so do your best not to screw that one up.

Nothing's black and white...or even black and gold.

So. I've been through my first semester at college. If you listen to what the media tells you (generally a mistake) you probably picture me as a more or less lazy guy that puts more emphasis on enjoying himself than anything else, and treats his academics like an annoying afterthought, to be taken care of after more important things, like gaming and hanging out with friends, have been taken care of. You more than likely envision piles of unwashed laundry in my room, and never-been-opened textbooks on the shelf gathering dust. If you knew me a bit better, you might anticipate the massive stack of fantasy novels next to those textbooks that have been read and re-read. You, dear reader, fresh from high school graduation and chomping at the cliched bit to spread your wings and fly free of your parents' houses and get out on your own, are likely drooling in anticipation of this slacker's lifestyle. 

The script says that this is the point where I tell you that this is all wrong and that I am actually a hard working, dutiful collegiate learner, and that you will be in for a big shock if you come here looking to spend more than a fraction of your time enjoying yourself.

I hate scripts, and I hate lying even more. Almost as much as I hated doing my parents' dishes, in fact.

To be clear, the things you will hear at Summer Welcome (you are planning on going to Summer Welcome, aren't you?) are completely true. Time management is a must if you don't want to waste all the money you spent on your first and only semester, it is perfectly simple to have fun without drinking, and not doing your homework is the single best way to flunk out. 

That said, there are many other things that are also true. The adjustment from living at home to living in a dorm isn't that much of a shock, unless you had a maid at home, or don't know how to do laundry. Horror stories about roommates driving each other crazy are simply that: horror stories. There's a very good chance your coursework first semester will be of equal or lesser difficulty than the courses you took in high school. That includes tests. It's not hard to get around campus without a car, and there are few places to park it if you do bring one. You will be able to spend quite a lot of time having fun without causing your grades to crash, as long as you know when the appropriate time to have fun is. Two o'clock Monday morning is not the appropriate time to have fun when you have a test at eight.

In short, with simple application of common sense and work ethic, your first semester will not be hard to get through. The thorn among the lilies, however, is that this easy ride won't last. Come second semester, and the other three years of your career, some serious work will be required. This first semester is easy because it's designed to be a transition period from high school to collegiate life. So master the needed skills of time management and so on in your first semester, because you'll need them later. At least, that's my theory. If I'm wrong, I really don't know why everyone says college is so hard.

One last thing, for those of you who like your advice in pill form: Believe the university staff that say they want to help you. They do, and the things they tell you will. I mean, if I had all the answers for you, I wouldn't be an undergrad. I'd be a professional essay writer.