Tips for Incoming Freshman

My younger brother is starting high school this year.  He got a letter from the high school headed "Tips for Navigating High School."  Reading through the list, I almost laughed.  It was all so simple, so common sense.  "I know you're feeling overwhelmed," the principal wrote.  I thought about how easy high school had been, how little those kids had to be afraid of.

My college orientation was last week.  For two days we went to workshops, lectures, informing us how to best navigate college, quelling some rumors and verifying others.  College is different from high school, they said.  Don't be so complacent that you don't work.  I have to admit, I started feeling concerned.  Maybe college will be harder than I thought it would be.

But just like the transition from middle to high school, the transition into college will take some work, but will soon be as natural as high school became.  There's no need for anxiety; it will all become familiar.

To be honest, I loved the orientation.  I loved meeting my classmates and knowing we were all strangers to one another.  Everyone was friendly, everyone wanted to make friends.  We all sought something in one another that we held in common.  Major, hometown, books, movies. Everyone wanted to fit in with everyone else.

I loved the campus, small and cozy and isolated, with plush green lawns and picturesque trees and flowers.  Old brick buildings that all looked the same, all with Dutch names I still can't quite keep straight.  Fireflies glittering everywhere when the sun went down, like a fairy story.  Even winter is beginning to hold less fear, as I consider snuggling beneath blankets with steaming mugs of tea or hot chocolate, surrounded by friends in the snug little dorm rooms, wearing my softest, fluffiest pants and socks.  The more I look forward to college, the more I find to look forward to.  Classes, friends, camaraderie, coats and hot chocolate, comforters, weeping willows, study abroad...

I leave for Michigan in 25 days.  It feels interminable.  But then I remember that going to Michigan means leaving home.  Leaving my parents, my brothers.  Leaving my devoted cat.  Leaving my huge room with its view of the Intercostal.  Leaving the south where the summers are sweltering and the winters mild.  Leaving the beach I love so much.  Leaving sweet tea and grits and buttermilk biscuits in creamy gravy.  Bittersweet.  But worth it.

To the class of 2015, whether entering high school or college, we have a lot to look forward to, these next four years!