While entering Freshman year can be nerve wracking and terrifying, you soon learn that it isn’t all that bad. Once you become comfortable with your surroundings and the atmosphere of college, you feel as though you can conquer the world. You’re so comfortable that 15 little things in your present life are the most relatable things ever now. Here’s how to spot incoming Freshman at Penn State.
Hungry, thirsty, sick or just bored. The East Market is the place to go. From the wide variety of options, anything and everything you need is in these 4 aisles. Low and behold, the East Market is like your own personal treasure chest. Sober or not, a trip to the market is always worthwhile.
Speaking of the market, your trip isn’t complete unless you have an encounter with Pam. As she takes your student ID, she looks right into your eyes and says, “Nice to see you again Ms. Knightly. You have a good day now.” This little act of kindness, even if you don’t want to admit it, makes your day.
You’ve heard horror stories of getting on the wrong bus and ending up by the Walmart off campus. So, what should you do? Learning the bus routes is something new to you, since you’re used to driving yourself around every day for the last two years. Public transportation is a foreign thing to most of us, but it’s something we all should learn because we no longer have full access to the car in our driveway.
On the Penn State campus, you’re surrounded by 40,000 others who share the same love for this school as you do. It’s no wonder that every day you head to class, you’re bound to see a new face. This can seem overwhelming at times, however, it’s introducing you into a new world full of exploring and adventure. That’s the beauty of being an incoming Freshman at Penn State.
Before the weather drops below freezing, you find yourself walking to class every day. Although it may not seem like that much, the constant back and worth trudge to East Halls adds up. On average, you probably walk about 4-5 miles a day without even realizing it. It’s the best way to avoid that traumatizing “freshman 15” and a great excuse for avoiding the gym.
The online life savior, known as Canvas, is your survival guide to passing all your classes and remembering the overload of due dates. It’s filled with information and helpful tips to make sure you don’t drown yourself in work and anxiety, which is another thing high school never helped with.
While the bus can help you out with this one, you still find yourself walking in a pair of shoes that you hate wearing, but you just do it anyway because they match your outfit. The cold, dark, late-night walks to these fraternity parties is always worth it in the end though, we all know that.
You try to convince yourself every day to get a salad and eat healthier, but once you head upstairs to the dining hall and see how many people are on the same page as you, you lose all motivation. Getting a piece of pizza or a burger from “Flipps” would take much less time, and it’s a lot more enjoyable than lettuce.
With the small, confined space you’re forced to share with someone, cleaning becomes a huge wake-up call. Most of us are used to our moms tiding up our room while we’re at school, but now that we’re on our own, we experience first-hand just how quickly the dirt and dust can build up, to a point where we can no longer take it anymore. You start to dedicate your days and times to making sure your room is spotless, and this is usually what Sunday’s are for.
While most of us didn’t used to care what happened in the sports world, it’s hard to ignore it now. With the endless chanting and cheering throughout campus, you’ll always be aware of what’s going on for the Nittany Lions due to the overflowing loyalty of their fans. You now find yourself constantly attending sporting events, or checking the score of away games, just so you can stay up-to-date with your team; a tell all sign you are an incoming Freshman at Penn State.
Once you get engaged with your new life of sports, you start to develop a mental rival against other schools. You follow the crowd and build up an everlasting hatred inside of you for opposing universities, specifically Ohio State. Whether they’re good or not, you know they’re nothing compared to Penn State.
You watch them enjoy their large study rooms and they’re private bathrooms, as well as newly carpeted floors and upgraded beds, while you’re stuck in the same dorms that have been here since the 1800’s. Not to mention, you wonder what you did to deserve this, but at the end of the day, you only get to live dorm life once, so may as well do it the old-fashioned way and enjoy every bit of it. As an incoming Freshman at Penn State it’s hard not to envy Earle Hall residence.
For some of us taller people, we’re forced to crouch in these tiny shower stalls, so we don’t get accused of watching someone else shower. The horrid smell and the dirty tinted floors aren’t exactly the most welcoming thing, but it’s all we’ve got (unless you live in Earle, of course.) It’s also a shame that most of the time 4 out of the 5 bathrooms stalls are usually clogged or out of order, so you may as well just head to Earle again.
While the chicken fingers, french fries and mac bites taste amazing in the moment, it’s the 20 minutes later that kills you from within. The grease and oil that settles in your stomach starts to make you feel as though you’ve had the stomach bug for weeks, and the only thing you can do to fix it is promise yourself you’ll never order from Flipps again, which we both know you won’t do.
While people describe Penn State as being a cult, you don’t take it to offense, rather as a compliment. They just don’t understand. While, of course, it isn’t a cult, it’s more of a place of acceptance that is shared among the students and faculty. The love and admiration for this school is spread across campus and at the end of the way, you couldn’t and wouldn’t picture yourself anywhere else. You’re truly an incoming Freshman at Penn State when you fall in love with the place!
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