An honest account of my first semester away at college

In response to everyone asking, ‘So, how’s college going?’

I’ve been trying to put it off as much as possible, but as I move under my bed covers and the bread crumbs – or chips? – scratch my leg, I know it’s time to change my sheets.

My closet door is barely open but it’s open enough to expose the overflowing hamper of clothes – yep, I gotta do laundry.

I know my alarm clock is going to ring in a few minutes and I know I have an 8.30 in an hour. But it’s cold outside, it’s Friday, and my pillow feels too good. So I ignore the fact that I am in college now and have responsibilities, and dig my face deeper in my covers.

The dried up peanut butter from last night’s all-nighter binge that brushes against my cheek though reminds me that my thighs definitely did not touch that much a few months ago, that the freshmen 15 is very real, and that in addition to laundry and homework, I also have to go to the gym. ASAP.

Yes, college is overwhelming and stressful and suffocating – but I love it. There’s something about knowing that you’re in control of everything that is so exciting. Take the bus and go to West for your 8.30 on a cold Friday morning, or STINF all three classes you have today and stay in your PJs watching Criminal Minds on Netflix.

And yes, I haven’t slept for more than five hours per night in months, and yes I lost my ID and dorm key in the first week, and yep, I definitely got a 26 percent on my first ECON 101 test, but don’t worry it’s all part of the plan.

I love how much one semester of college can teach you. I’m not necessarily talking about academics, (because I’m currently failing 3 out of my 4 classes) but about things like: North Carolina is actually very southern and people here square dance in night clubs (please send help, where am I?).

I’m talking about the fact that leaves here turn red and fall sometime between October and  November. That you’re bound to ram into a British kid while you’re walking because they always walk on the wrong side of the street or go up the wrong side of the stairs. You eventually get used to taking showers with shoes on. You never get used to your roommate’s alarm ringing three hours before yours, though. The kid always walking around campus with a cigarette between his lips? European. Stop kidding yourself, you’re not going to be productive in the library. So I might not yet know how to conjugate simple verbs in Spanish, but I now know for sure that if you don’t buy shampoo before you run out, you’ll find yourself in the shower one morning trying to figure out what to wash your hair with.

And as for my grades, it’s not my fault that the books we have been reading are not on Sparknotes. I didn’t know pop quizzes weren’t just a high school thing, but apparently extra credit was. What do you mean attending class is optional? And since when is a 4-5 page essay considered a “short” paper?

In a perfect world right now, my freshly cleaned clothes would be folded neatly in my closet. I would have vacuumed my floor, changed my sheets, and gone for a jog before noon. After a great shower, I would be perfecting my 10 page paper with freshly brewed coffee in my hand.

Instead, I’m in the laundry room trying to start my essay while my clothes are getting washed, eating out of a peanut butter jar because I overslept and skipped breakfast. My essay does not make any sense, I haven’t worked out in years, my roommate is calling me because she got locked outside the room, and I forgot to put Tide pods in the washing machine so my clothes have been washing with just water for the past twenty minutes.

But I smile because “Cs get degrees,” because it’s Friday and we’re going out tonight, and because I am in college.

@pinelopimargeti

More
Duke University all nighter dorm duke duke university first year freshman national-us