From Condoms to Cookies: Everything that will surprise freshmen Hoyas

My high school always boasted about their students’ college preparedness. They bragged about their students’ average standardized test scores, the number of AP classes offered, and the college counseling system.

Understandably, I thought I was completely ready for my first day at Georgetown. Little did I know I was entirely unprepared for the surprises that come with Georgetown’s unique campus culture.

Everyone is new

I was initially pretty jealous of most of my high school friends who went to nearby state schools. On the first day, they could count on already knowing dozens of people from high school. I was uncomfortable with the idea of going to a college where I knew no one, as I thought lots of new Hoyas would know tons of people right away. To my amazement, however, it was clear during New Student Orientation that most other freshmen were just as lost as I was in the flood of people in Leo’s. I was unbelievably happy when it turns out I wasn’t alone at all, nearly everyone was in the same boat. 

You’ll have to do your laundry at weird times

The ratio of students to dorm amenities will shock you. Freshman year, I lived in Harbin, a building so old that Bill Clinton lived there before he could legally drink. The only “high rise” building on campus boasts eight floors worth of students, with about fifty students on each floor. Yet, there are only sixteen washers and sixteen dryers in the laundry room. You’ll need two washers just for your own clothes and towels, so you can see the obvious problem here.

In addition to the dilemma of five hundred students sharing sixteen washers, it’s pretty much a given that at least two machines will be broken at any given time. If you dream of finishing your laundry in less than two hours, use the laundry room Sunday mornings before 11am. Most people will be hung over, so the laundry room is typically pretty quiet. The other perfect opportunities are at random points during the weekdays — like 1pm on a Thursday when lots of people are in class. Whatever you do, never even attempt laundry on a Sunday evening.

MacGuire Hall is not a building

You may look at your schedule and see that you have a class in the mysterious MacGuire Hall. Rather than being a “hall,” meaning a building on campus, (e.g. Harbin Hall, Darnall Hall) it is literally just a set of hallways inside of another building. It’s just a few classrooms and meeting rooms. Most people don’t know that it’s actually inside Healy Hall, on the left side of the building, opposite the entrance for Gaston. Good luck, it’s a jungle out there.

Maintenance can be tricky

During your first floor meeting, you’ll learn how to make maintenance requests online so you don’t get charged for anything your room’s previous occupants broke. It seems promising, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. While the maintenance staff at Georgetown work incredibly hard, especially when they worked through the blizzard last year, there are definitely response time issues in the maintenance system.

The major gripes are generally the inability to set appointment times and the disregard for minor issues. Talk to your RA about a problem, and they can pull some strings. To the next resident of Harbin 327, I’m sorry the closet handles are still broken. I promise, I tried to get them fixed.

Get creative with your meal options

The Car Barn Einstein’s changed my diet, and life, last spring. Obviously, I am a loyal customer of the Einstein’s Grab and Go in Regents Hall. Their salads, bagels, muffins, and fruit have been a truly important part of my Georgetown experience. I initially assumed the Einstein’s in Car Barn, though much farther away, would be set up the exact same way. The Einstein’s in Car Barn (an actual restaurant) makes warm bagel sandwiches definitely worth the short hike up Prospect Street. It can be really warm in there, but you can get enough food for two meals with a single meal swipe.

Leo’s food is not bad either, but it definitely gets mediocre if you don’t get creative. Mix and match foods from different sections and different floors to keep things fresh while you’re seemingly eternally bound to your meal plan.

Chocolate Chip Cookies at Wisey’s are hands down the best cookies you’ll ever eat, and they’re only a dollar. My roommate and I used them as a reward system on Fridays for making it through the week.

Most people think Canada Goose coats are a huge deal

I did not own a winter coat before coming to Georgetown, because where I’m from, any snow melted before lunch. I bought an on-sale North Face down coat online in November, after my Nebraskan roommate lectured me that I was going to freeze in my fleece jackets alone. I kept hearing everyone talk about how cool Canada Goose coats were and who had one (or more than one), but I had never heard of them before that point. Who knew that culture shock could include winter wear? Though they’re not a necessity by any means, you’ll nonetheless be bombarded with them around campus by November.

Everyone goes to class, even if it’s a big lecture

Attendance has a profound effect on your final grade in a class. I had always heard that no one ever attends classes in college. While this might be the case at other universities, this is not true at Georgetown.

Your dorm room is smaller than it sounds

196 square feet is a much smaller space than I imagined. I’m really grateful that my roommate and I got along, because our un-bunked beds were exactly thirteen inches apart. Also, when you opened the door to our room, it would slam into my closet, where I was often standing. The open space in our room, we learned, was exactly the size of a queen-sized air mattress, where our guests would sleep. Lesson is, be nice to your roommate, it’s not a big space.

H*yas for Choice hands out free condoms and lube  

Even though I grew up Catholic (in an area known as the Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt), I think H*yas for Choice is one of the most ingenious student groups on campus. It is unaffiliated with the university, but it nonetheless successfully fills a huge void: access to contraception and sexual health education. Georgetown, due to its Jesuit affiliation, can’t sell condoms on campus, and CVS is about a ten to fifteen minute walk.

H*yas for Choice sets up a table in the campus free speech zones, most notably Red Square, and chills out next to buckets of free condoms and lube. They sit peacefully next to a table for Georgetown Right to Life, and I think that’s a beautiful sight.

Clubs are pretty exclusive

I get that a school like Georgetown doesn’t need 200 tour guides and 500 Corp employees. However, it’s pretty disheartening as a new student to get a handful of rejection emails from the clubs you’ve applied to, after everyone had told you all summer that clubs were the best way to make friends on campus. Not only are you getting rejected from extracurricular activities, but you were forced to apply to them in the first place.

While the students in the Corp and Blue and Gray are great, the clubs without applications — like GIVES, which performs random acts of kindness on campus — should also be treasured, so explore clubs you’re unfamiliar with.

Opportunities are everywhere

In my first year at Georgetown, I was able to see the Pope speak at the Capitol, make an amazing group of friends, intern for a Congressman, visit all kinds of famous national monuments and historic sites, wait (unsuccessfully) in line to see Bernie Sanders, learn from amazing professors, hear former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speak, walk past Secretary Kerry’s Secret Service detail on my way home from M Street, and study abroad in Georgetown’s Villa Le Balze in Florence.