Megan Irving’s Unsolicited and Heartfelt Freshman Advice
Hello dear reader. It’s been too long. I hope you’re doing well and I’m sure we’ll get the chance to catch up in a few more days. But this post has a very specific intended audience, and that is the Wagner College class of 2017.
Hello freshman. My name is Megan and I’m a HawkTalk blogger who wants to give you a bunch of unsolicited advice. It was about one year ago I was in your shoes, counting the days down 'till I became a part of Wagner. I was a scared 18 year old, and now that I’m a slightly less scared 19 year old I feel the need to tell you all a few tips I wish I had known going into my freshman year. So get your pens ready, because you’re going to want to take some notes.
1. Play Icebreakers.
Perhaps it’s just my inner theater kid, but I have a deep love for icebreakers. However, few share my passion. But when you’re thrown into a room full of strangers, it’s kinda nice to have an excuse to let people know the things about you that you like. You might just meet your best friend right there.
Or at least find out whether the cute guy in your LC is worth the effort of flirting with.
2. Drink Responsibly.
I know you want to party. I get that this is college and that you are so excited to reenact the best scenes of Animal House. But this is your first week. Technically you shouldn’t be drinking at all because like… laws and stuff. But, do you really want your first impression to be you slurring your words and quoting the same line from movies over and over again? No, be cool, calm and collected and at least sober enough to get yourself safely home.
3. Let Yourself Be Homesick.
For most of you, this will be the first time being away from home. Some of you are 10 miles from home and some are 1000. I remember the moment it really hit me that I was 800 miles away from the only home I had ever known. And if we’re being honest, there might have been some light sobbing. And some heavy sobbing. It’s okay to be homesick, because everyone is. Sooner than later, you’ll have a group of friends you call your family in a place you now call home. But if anyone from the Chicago area (or Midwest in general) wants to miss home with me, please feel free to come hang out with your favorite HawkTalk blogger.
4. Try Something New.
Okay, I know that everyone and their brother is saying this to you. But if they’re all saying it, it has to have a ring of truth to it, right? College is a chance for you to be whoever you want to be. Let’s say you were a star football player in high school with the lifelong dream of being a dancer. Bro, go sign up for a dance class and dance like nobody is watching. Then second semester start a club for dancers who love football or vice versa. You have the opportunity to be whoever you want to be, and that chance doesn’t come around as often as we’d like. But, on that note…
5. Be Yourself.
There is absolutely nothing dumber than trying to be something you’re not. Let’s say for example you’re a star football player who wants to meet women and you hear a lot of ladies like to dance. So you sign up for a dance class and end up making a fool of yourself attempting to leap across the floor. Some parts of ourselves are concrete, and often, those are are best features. Embrace the concrete parts of yourself and most likely others will too.
6. Expect the Unexpected.
Remember how you went off to high school and you thought it would be like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off combined? But then you got to high school, and the closest you got to Judd Nelson was the creepy kid in your freshman PE class who was too cool to listen to the anti-smoking lecture. College isn’t going to be Animal House or The Freshman. I know, I was disappointed too. But remember how after a couple years of high school it was amazing and wonderful in a way you never expected it to be? College will be too. You need to roll with the punches, go with the flow and try new things. The Deltas have nothing on your real life, except maybe some sweet toga parties and dance moves.
Well kiddos, that’s all I got. I guess keep it down as I’ll be on the top floor of Harborview and I need my beauty sleep. You’re on your own now, but don’t worry, you got this. Brace yourselves and take a deep breath. The great work begins.
P.S. Your mother was right, you did overpack.