College Freshman Wisdom

I’m back! Well, sort of. I’ve returned from my adventure and while I get back into my writing routine and tackle the piles of laundry I’ve asked a friend to contribute a guest post for me. Her name is Danielle Marcucci and she just completed her first year of college. I asked Danielle to write about her experience living away from home and managing all the responsibilities of a college student. She did a fabulous job! Thank you, Danielle!

Introducing Danielle Marcucci!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“College has given me the confidence I need to fail.
”
― Jarod Kintz, This Book Has No Title

A quote that I couldn’t agree with more after my first year of college is (finally!) in the bag. I have stories, advice, life experiences, pictures that may or may not ever surface to the light of day, and 31 credits to show for it. I wouldn’t trade a second of what I have learned in the process. I just hope I can share some ‘Ups’ and ‘Downs’ to help you or your future college attendee. 

First and for most is making that transition of flying the nest. When my family was finally about to leave me in my new apartment all I could do was try to joke about having a cage for them to live in my closet while fighting back the worst case of alligator tears I have ever had. I had a roommate but she hadn’t arrived yet so I just sat there wallowing in my loneliness. This is a point where you have to tell yourself “Hey, this is a new way of your life for a couple months. Go enjoy it! …And who are you kidding, your mom will probably drive back up to see you by the weekend.” And with that I found my first ‘Up’.

This ‘Up’ that I found was most useful; Explore. I moved from a somewhat inactive town (Cape Coral, FL) to the bustling city of Orlando. I was practically drooling over all of the savoring possibilities and opportunities about. I discovered new food, new music, new places to hangout with new friends, new volunteering cites, new jobs, new clubs! I even began going to a Buddhist temple! I was almost overwhelmed with all these new additions to my life but I learned oodles about myself in the process. So, do not be afraid to explore! This is one of a few years left you have to truly discover yourself. Your likes, your dislikes, what you’re looking for, what you can rid yourself of, dying your hair magenta for a week, it’s all up to you. With that I do want to also slide in how you have many great years ahead of you, so always, always explore safely with your smarts about you. 

A ‘Down’ I had gotten ahold of was almost being dropped out of a class thanks to tardiness from staying up the previous evenings because of lack of time management. I had lost track between six classes, my new job, a social life, and acting gigs. But there I was, my first semester of college and I was already a bum. I began to write schedules of things that needed to be done or events I was attending and added 15 minutes to every one of them so that way if they did run over time everything would not blow up in my face. And If I had an extra fifteen minutes between things, I’d go treat myself to a cup of coffee. I also realized how nice it felt not being the girl everyone stared at as she walked to her seat twenty minutes late. Now being a time management queen, I couldn’t suggest it more on completely bettering all ins and out of your life. It is possible for you to do it all. 

Two other possible ‘Downs’ I want to mention quickly is roommate(s) and being a broke college kid. I have never met a person that has ever not fought with their roommate. If there is such a person, let’s face it, they’re a pathological liar. You will have tifs with your roommate. End of story. What you have to do is take deep breaths, remind yourself ‘only seven more months’, and then remind yourself again that you will be living with them for the next seven months so don’t retaliate in some irrational way that will cause awkwardness for the remaining time spent living ten feet away from each other.

Being a poor college kid may be a ‘Down’ but you can fix it some amount by mixing it with my favorite ‘Up’; Utilize your school’s resources! There would be days that I would walk onto Valencia’s East Campus and a feast was lying before me and all I had to do was grab a flyer from the club president. Or another day they had a blow up water park with a mariachi band in the courtyard, just because. And the best part was, all of it was one hundred percent free. They had workshops about relationships, managing money, finding the perfect career for you, scholarships, etc! Being the freebie freak I am, I was on cloud nine! Keep in mind that exciting new things don’t always involve a price tag. 

Hopefully some of my words of college freshman wisdom have helped. This article is a small fraction of experiences and realizations. Have a great day and thanks for reading!

 -Danielle Marcucci

If you have any questions for Danielle you can leave a comment or email Kristarausin@earthlink.net and I will forward your question to her. Thanks! K.D. Rausin

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