I graduated two years ago at the ripe age of 26. I should have graduated with the rest of my friends in 2007, but I had a little too much fun. Getting to know people and having fun is the easy part. Those first couple years of college were the best years of my life (other than meeting my fiance 7 years ago, whom I met at UConn). My freshman year we won the 2004 National Championship and my floor at Towers was just awesome. When we beat Duke in the final four our whole floor erupted in a frenzy in the hallway and we all sprinted to Fairfield way to celebrate. On weekends, we would take the long walk to the frat houses for cheap kegs and went to random house parties in Celeron. I joined intermural basketball, that was a blast. Spring break that year I went with 3 of my floormates to Montreal for Spring Break, the same week UConn won the 2004 Big East Championship. I had my first serious relationship with a sophomore girl I met in my class. Then my sophomore year I studied abroad for a semester in Greece. I have to admit when I came back the second semester of my sophomore year to campus there was a bit of a disconnect with my former floormates. Probably because I missed out on things when I was gone, but I would do it over again if I could. But they introduced me to this new thing called Facebook at the time and we communicated over seas that way. Who would have ever known Facebook would become what it is now. I could write a book about my experiences, way too long for this post.
Now my advice to you: Go with the flow, have fun, and try new things. You will never get these years back and they go by very fast. Most importantly you need to balance your social life with your academics, and that is the hardest thing you will have to do. I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH, GO TO CLASS!!! It is very tempting to go hang out with your friends all the time. But if you don't get the grades, you won't be there very long. If you just go to every class, participate, study, and show interest to your professors you will do just fine. Make studying a social event, that always makes it funner. And if you are still undecided on a major, don't worry because you have until the end of your Sophomore year to make a solid choice, and for now you are taking general ed classes most schools in the university require anyways. Just follow your passion and what you enjoy. It OK to change your mind. Your career may not even be directly related to your major after college anyways, so I would not stress about it. Don't plan too far ahead and take baby steps. These will be the most confusing, exciting, and gratifying years of your life, and you will make life long connections. You will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows the next few years, but you will love every minute of it. In my opinion, this when we your life truly begins and you discover who you are and what you are capable of. It is much more than just getting a fancy paper in a leather case when you are all done.
. But you are so right about the small dining halls. Living in Hollister (West) was the best time of my college experience. We had a floor party almost every weekend and I had special order breakfast 5 days a week (we couldn't call down but we could get whatever we wanted and it was ready for us once we got coffee and prepared the toast. Every other semester, I ate in either Whitney, McMahon, or Putnam.
