Freshman Year: Declassified (what I learned)

I recently finished my first year at Brigham Young University and it was more fun and rewarding than I could have ever imagined. And I definitely imagined. I always wanted to go to BYU, from the time I learned what college was, and I anticipated the day when I would finally be able to apply. By senior year I faced the reality that I should probably consider other schools as well. I really got into the application process and applied to tons of schools that I could see myself attending. But in the end I stayed true to the wishes of my ten-year-old self and chose to make my way out west in August of 2011. There was no way I could have guessed what life at the Y would actually be like.

Helaman Halls 

Brigham Square 

So here I've decided to highlight some of the things I learned over the course of my freshman year. These are in no way the things I expected to learn or the things I thought would be important. But oh are they important....

1: There is no such thing as "going hungry" in college. Well at least this is true if you live in Helaman Halls. When I pictured college life, I pictured myself with a bowl of canned soup in hand, heated in the microwave. Maybe even the Ramen that everyone counsels you to invest in. What I didn't expect is what my actual food situation was. As long as I had my student ID equipped with my magical "Dining Plus"meal plan it was never possible to worry over food. It was all swipe and go. Whether it was at the Cannon Center, the Cougareat, or the hundreds of vending machines around campus, I always had food. Which is obviously important right?

A little trip to the "vendies" was a nightly occurrence. 

2: It's possible to fall asleep anywhere. The fact is, this is probably true only because sleep was on the bottom of the list of things to do. There always seemed to be something more important (more fun) to do and if there was time left over at the end of the night I would find somewhere to curl up- usually in my bed, or sometimes the floor or the end of a roommate's bed. So the result of this constant sleep deprivation was the uncontrollable urge to slouch in those ridiculously comfortable lecture hall chairs and nap through class. And then of course falling asleep while studying was inevitable. 

Falling asleep makes for perfect picture opportunities.

Physical Science reviews. 

3: Leaving our door unlocked made life easier. It also made it easier for others to pull pranks. Pranks can be creative or not. Either way, somehow it was always funny. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that added humor to every situation. 

McCall, my roommate, and I came home probably around 3AM to find this.

We still aren't very sure what type of prank this was... Fun nonetheless 

4: You can never take too many photo booth pictures. Heather and I discovered the free photo booth every Tuesday and became what we like to think of as the owner's best customers. I am definitely grateful to have learned that such a thing as "unlimited photo booth access" exists. 

One of the many faces of photo boothers. 

A Prints Charming original 

5: There is no way I could have gone to school anywhere else. If I had I would never have met my two favorite people! Hanging out with Hope and Charity once a week was the highlight of my freshman year. Our days included pretending Jonathan was a monster, flying kites, dying eggs, riding bikes, sidewalk chalk, planting flowers, and even falling in the duck pond. 

Jonathan and I loved every minute with these twins. (that's Hope)

Last Sunday dinner at the Hung's  

6: Venturing off campus can be complicated. I learned something the day some friends and I decided to drive to another city: five people squeezed into one Bug can be cramped, hot, and frustrating (especially when traffic is backed up for miles). I also learned that a simple solution to any problem is to walk into a mob of thousands of people and allow them to throw colored dust on you. The ride home was much less tense. 

Festival of Colors

7: Friends become family. Living on a hall with 39 other girls sounds crazy. But when we all became friends, and eventually more like sisters, the craziness factor didn't really matter. When else would I ever get the chance to spend every minute with my friends? Simply spending every day with the same people- going to classes together, eating all meals together, going to church together, studying together, hanging out on the weekends- turned us into a family. 

109th Ward

Jeff, Caroline (me), Heather, and Connor at the last bonfire of the year

Legends for dinner!

8: There is no such thing as too many pictures. I came to accept the fact that we had to take pictures of each and every event. I'm glad we did for obvious reasons! 

Night skiing with a few great people

McCall's surprise birthday part- a Fiesta! 

iPod dance party anyone??

Okay, those are just a few things I learned in college. I realized as I was listing everything that none of this actually had anything to do with the academic life I had at BYU (unless you count the sleeping/studying). I definitely learned a lot in each of my classes but I couldn't think of anyone who would want to read about my struggles with PS100 or the many papers on literary criticism that I had to write this year. Even more so than that, I guess it's almost a given that one would learn in the classroom. What I learned from my friends and from living in the dorms seems more unique to the freshman experience that I'm so grateful to have had. 

- Caroline