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Show A3 ORIENTATION ISSUE Trust me, I'm a freshman Advice for the young and scared from the young and slightly less scared By Haley Madison Assistant Designer @haleyshantelle The day after my high school graduation I jumped headfirst into the UVU life. Being the lone freshman on the Review staff was nothing short of terrifying. I'm surrounded by people who all seem to know what they're doing. Some are married and have kids while I just barely outgrew the title "kid," but I've grown accustomed to the age difference. The culture shock of going top dog as a senior in high school back to the bottom as a freshman in college is manageable, and you'll get comfortable faster than you think. Now, if the thought of roaming the halls with people more cynical and with less years left to live than you still almost scares you enough to run back to Mom and Dad's, don't worry. A month of grueling training and irreplaceable experience later, I can help. First, learn as much as you can about the 90s. From the best albums to hit movies. The upper classmen will try to use the generation gap to humiliate you, so study up. Here's a head start: if you, like me, were born the year after he died, Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana. Next, I've found that if you act like you know what you're doing, no one will question you. Keep your head up and walk with purpose until you can discreetly look at a map or you miraculously end up where you are sup- posed to be. I do it all the time. Soon you'll learn to perfect the art of speed walking without looking like an idiot and know the buildings like the back of your hand. My calves are getting toned and I'm learning the campus by muscle memory. My plan is to stay as quiet as possible in my classes. Remember that pre-pre-pubescent kid who piped up on the first day and it felt like he would never stop talking? Don't be him. Find a comfortable groove instead of plowing your own. If you're from Utah County and are planning to stay at home, I suggest you think about moving out. That's partly because you'll get the full blown "college experience" that everyone is always raving about, but mostly because I need friends. Game night at my place? Fantastic. The time between classes is great for people watching. Get a Jamba Juice and enjoy the show or find a couch and sneak in a nap and people will watch you. Don't bring a blanket, though. That's going a bit too far. You'll see a great mix of people walking the halls, from scooter gangs and monster-like gloves to personal displays of affection and the people counting the carpet squares as they go. People come in all flavors. Enjoy it. Obviously, the purpose of college is to further your education, but it's also a great way to meet people and gain new experiences. Make this the best time of your life. Try new things, be adventurous, write for the paper, make new friends, and call me in the morning. LAURA FOX/UVU REVIEW Haley Madison and Alex Sousa give their insites on college life to incoming freshman. Trust me, I'm a senior The things I've learned in this crazy little thing called life By Alex Sousa Managing Editor @TwoFistedSousa When I enrolled at UVU, it wasn't UVU yet. The national debt was only $8.5 trillion, the iPhone didn't exist, and "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" had just won an Oscar. I had a soul patch, I still remembered the name of my first kiss, and I had planned to buy a motorcycle and drive to Santa Cruz where I would live on the beach while I wrote the next great American novel, instead of going to college. I started here with less than a clue of what I was doing and where I was going. And lucky me, I had to learn everything the hard way. And so, let me impart some of the wisdom I've learned in this crazy little thing called life. First of all, this place will never remember you. You are a needle in a stack of 30 thousand other needles. Your professors will try all semester to learn your name, unless you're in a big class—in that case, they won't try were a hot shot because you really at all. And by the next semester, they excelled at something, but now, every probably will have forgotten you. other person who excelled at that same And don't expect your councilor to thing has been funneled into the same remember you either. Until she brings program as you. You are now statisup your transcript, she's not going to tically average. All those big dreams remember who you are or what you you had, well, everybody else in your need. And don't expect them to coun- class had them too. cil you unless prompted to do so. It's Once this place breaks down those not their job to make your plan and dreams, it will try to crush you with track your progress, that's all on you. long hours and little sign of reward. You can ask them a direct question College is a war of attrition. This and they will answer it, but that's it. place doesn't care if you're sick, or if If you want somebody to hold your you're tired, or if you're working two hand, find a giving roommate. jobs—the big wheels of higher educaAlso, try to make a friend in every tion keep on turning with or without one of your classes. That person will you. This place is not your friend—it help you survive everything that is is trying to kill you. Every semester thrown at you. But, once that class is you're stuck here is another semesover you should never expect to see ter of tuition. More than anything, a that person again. This will happen degree proves that you have what it a lot, it's just how we survive. And takes to get through this battlefield. at the end of the semester, there's no The only way to win is to actually need to say goodbye. It's weird if you get something out of this experience. do. Don't expect them to remember And trust me, you will get out of it exyou the next semester either. But, if actly what you put in. So get involved anybody does remember you, don't somehow. Find a club, go on a study act surprised about it. abroad, run for student government, Secondly, this place will try to kill do something — getting your hands your dreams and then it will try to kill into something is the only way you're you. Maybe back in high school you going to win this thing. If you try to sail by under the radar, you're going to lose. Sure, you can survive that way. You can put in the minimum effort and escape this place with the exact same degree as the next person. But you'll miss out on something. You'll lose out on the things that really make college worth it. If you get in this place's face, it'll back down. Do that and you might even be remembered for it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. That can be hard to remember with mountains of homework, piles of debt, loads of textbooks, hours of homework, and miles of walking. It seems a herculean task to make it out of this academic ash pile alive, but there is an end game. When you first start, it is very far away, but if you can duck your head, take your licks and keep moving forward, you will get there eventually. At the end of the day, if you get out of here with a shred of dignity, a glimmer of hope, and touch of smarts, then you're doing all right. Nothing is as important as it seems, and nothing is permanent. This school will always be here, for better or worse, so make it work for you. |