I’ve been trying to think about the most knowledgable anecdotes I could pass on to you, but I’ve got nothing that doesn’t sound exceedingly preachy or really lame. So, I’ve decided to throw my memories and insight into a blender and this is what I came up with. The following are in no specific order and are good to remember only if you want to remember them. If you want the full effect, play each of the songs before the informational tidbits with your speakers up really loud. They’re from my personal collection of summer songs that I think set the mood pretty nicely.
#1: Sleepyhead- Passion Pit
I signed up for a class with an 8 AM section. I know I’m not a morning person, but one of the side effects of becoming a college student is an inherent sense of invincibility. Given that, I would stay up really late the night before, talking myself into believing that waking up wouldn’t be difficult especially with Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” as an alarm. No. I was either twenty minutes late for class or I would miss it altogether. Even though sleeping in is such a guilty pleasure, missing class is horrible. It’s not the actual missing of class that sucks—it’s the talk you have to have with your TA next time you see him explaining why you missed class, it’s the material you have to catch up on, it’s the additional work you have to do because sleep got in the way.
So if you’re a morning person, by all means, take all the 8 AM classes you want. But if you’re like me and mornings are not your specialty, consider starting your class planning at the 9 o’ clock mark.
#2: Throw It In the Bag- Fabolous f. The Dream (hahahahahaha)
Use your meal points wisely. I’m saying this because during the last couple weeks of spring quarter, there were one too many times I ate peanut butter on a spoon for lunch and ramen for dinner. Since the very beginning starting sometime during Welcome Week, I bought everything my card-swiping hands could get a hold of. Bottles of water, Reese’s Sticks, a Brita, Chapstick, Apples, Synergy drinks, blah, blah, blah. I spent so much money my first quarter that I had to monitor my meal points for the next two quarters and that absolutely sucked.
If you pace yourself and allow yourself to splurge occasionally instead of all at once like I did, you won’t struggle and have to mooch off your friends to swipe you for food.
#3: Let’s Dance to Joy Division- The Wombats
Take pictures. That’s one of the things I did right from the very beginning. Even though moving in doesn’t seem like a big deal and neither does taking pictures with potential new friends, document it. You’ll want to see these photos later. Whipping out a camera and snapping a picture takes a few seconds, but memories last a lifetime…..errrrrrr, cheesy. But really, I really recommend that you take photos from the very beginning so you can remember your very first year of college. It’s great. It’s a win-win because you’ll have these awesome pictures to skim through when you’re supposed to be studying for finals and you’ll totally score brownie points with your parents for e-mailing photos.
Yeah, take pictures. Lots of them.
#4: Song For No One- Miike Snow (Or alternatively: Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd, sub “Alabama” for “Warren College”)
Start calling UCSD your home as soon as you can. For those of you who were stoked to finally move out of your house and be on your own, this won’t be hard. But for those of you who are a little more attached to your lives back at home-home, hear me out. Home is where the heart is. I get it, how will UCSD ever trump a place where all your family and friends are? Sooner or later, UCSD (Warren more specifically) will become your home base, where your friends, food, bed, and independence are. The sooner you discover this, the more you can relax and shine in whatever you do. I can’t stress how important it is to create a life for yourself here in San Diego and become comfortable instead of wanting to run home every chance you get. I remember the first time I said, “Dude, I’m so tired. I want to go home” and I meant UCSD. It was the nicest feeling ever and I want you to have this feeling as soon as possible.
UCSD + You = Home. You + UCSD = Home. (For all you math majors, commutative property, heyo!)
#5: Secrets- One Republic
Eat with friends. Grab lunch or din-din with your friends whenever you can. Even when it feels like you may not have a lot of time when it gets closer to midterms and finals, you have to eat. Each meal is an opportunity to hang out with old pals and new acquaintances. Food is such a good thing to bond over, also. If you’re an awkward person who doesn’t like talking much, this is one of those times where sitting in silence and eating your pot roast is totally normal. And if you have friends who talk way too much, eating meals with them is nice also because they have to at least shut up when they’re chewing. This will also give you some down time to think about how good your pot roast is. A lot of times last year, I was so caught up with maintaining a class-eat-class-class-study schedule that I skipped out on opportunities to hang out with my friends during meals.
Learn from my mistake and get your grub on with your friends. A little food makes conversation go a long way.
Boom. There you have it. The first five pieces of advice I could think of. Plus now, you have five more songs you can add to your “OMG I LOVE FRESHMEN YEAR” iTunes playlist. Peace and blessings, Warrenites. E-mail me if you have any questions, I’ll respond pretty promptly. See you in the fall! Valentino, out.
-Jessica Valentino, Freshmen Orientation Leader
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