What was your first day like?

Student Lounge College Life
21

<ol>
<li><p>I moved in on Sunday, when pretty much no one else moved in until Tuesday; I was there early for some journalism stuff. I went to some meetings that afternoon while my family brought all my stuff into my room, then that night I went out with them to buy some groceries. They left that night, and I started unpacking my stuff, pretty lonely and kinda homesick (What really made it bad was the fact I was alone - my mom had originally planned to stay in my room with me until Tuesday, then somewhere else nearby the rest of the week for orientation stuff. But my dad woke up that morning in really bad pain from a kidney stone, and ended up not being able to come with us to the school, so then my mom had to go back home that night to bring my sisters back and be with dad). My RAs and SLA (Spiritual Leader Advisor) were already moved into the dorm, and came by a couple times to say hi, and invite me to hang out with them in their rooms, but I declined because at the time I was working on unpacking everything and didn't quite feel like socializing (looking back I kind of wish I'd gone with them). Monday passed slowly, but I actually met my roommate then. She was out driving with some friends, and they got lost, and ended up near the school, so came by to see me and our room. We actually picked each other to room with (our school had set up a website where you could talk to other freshman and find and request a roommate), and talked a lot online during the summer. I think the initial meeting was a little akward, but overall we got along really well. I can't really remember many specifics after people started arriving, we had a lot of orientation sessions to go to, I tried to stick with my roommate when I could.</p></li>
<li><p>My first class was Intro to Jounalism. There were maybe 15 of us in there, and as the other students came in and talked to each other, I got the feeling I was the only freshman in there (which was later confirmed). I'm more of an introvert as well, I only introduced myself when someone else would initiate it. I felt really out of place in the first class, but I felt more comfortable as time passed. My only other class that day was a huge lecture class. I recognized the girl who sat next to me from the journalism stuff from the previous week, so we talked just a little bit. I also said hi to the guy next to me, but nothing besides that.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>My big lecture class was the only one with assigned seating, but in pretty much all of my classes people sat in the same seat every day (though all my other classes were much smaller, one had maybe 30 students at most, the rest were around half that). If not the same seat, near it.</p>

22

<ol>
<li><p>My first day at Stanford still ranks as one of the best days of my life. I had flown in the night before with a friend from high school, and we shared a hotel room that night. In the morning, we took various buses and trains to campus, where we split up and went to our separate dorms. I unpacked all my stuff, then had a really strange "what now?" feeling that I can't really describe. It was like I had managed to get to campus with all my stuff intact, and that's where the planning ended. I don't remember exactly what I did then. Eventually, I headed to lunch with another high school friend and met a bunch of other people from my dorm, all of whom later ended up being my good friends. I picked up my bike from the bike shop, then went to frosh convocation, which was basically a bunch of boring speeches that we listened to while wondering if it was going to start raining again. I met my roommate and his family at some point in the afternoon. The dorm staff had stuff planned for us in the evening, with getting to know each other and stuff.</p></li>
<li><p>I only had two classes my first day of class. I don't really remember a whole lot being special about them.</p></li>
</ol>

23

<p>First day of class was not very fun.</p>

<p>Lecture 1: Sat on the floor.
Lecture 2: Sat on the stairs.
Lecture 3: Stood next to the door.</p>

<p>That sucked. Nothing like going into lecture halls with classes that have a 100+ person waitlist who all show up and then sitting on the floor.</p>

24

<p>Move-in day: I left with 2 parents and 2 cars full of my stuff 2 hours later than planned. We got stuck in traffics and arrived about 1 1/2 hours later than planned. My parents helped me take stuff from the car to my dorm, took me to Walmart for last-minute stuff, gave me some money, and left. I spent the next 4 hours unpacking while my roommate and I talked and got to know each other. After I unpacked I went to find some friends that I met at June orientation. We had dinner and hung out until some time after midnight. The next day I picked up my books and just hung out with random new people. </p>

<p>1st day of classes: I don't remember too much of it actually. I got lost on the way to spanish, but my professor let it slide the first day. I had 3 classes that day; the first 2 were at 9 and 10, and then the next one wasn't until 4:30. During that huge gap, I felt like I wasn't doing something to being somewhere that I was supposed to be, but that feeling is common and goes away after a while. Eventually you fill that time doing work that you've put off until the last minute. When I wasn't in class that first day I was just meeting new people.</p>

<p>The first days of college are a blur for the most part. Unless you are like eponyous and you wind up in the hospital or something, then it won't be a particularly memorable milestone.</p>

25

<p>Move-in day was probably the most disenfranchising experience of my college career yet. Trying to set up a common room for a suite of 8 people is a hopeless task, especially if people keep dumping their stuff everywhere like its Staten Island. </p>

<p>My first day of class was very hectic. The chemistry building at Princeton is huge, and I overshot where I was supposed to enter by an entire block, and as a result spent 20 minutes of my gen. chem lecture wandering around the corridors in the basement floor with no one to give directions except for an emergency exit sign.</p>

<p>Then I went to the wrong calculus lecture entirely because I misread my schedule (my lecture was an hour later), and ended up sitting in on two calculus lectures (oh joy).</p>

<p>The best part of my day was lunch. Its just as delicious at 3:30 in the afternoon.</p>

<p>Then later in the week things got under control, I had my Tuesday/Thursday lectures which are always fascinating, and my trip leaders from my frosh trip helped me set up a party for all of my friends and acquaintance-friends (as I liked to call them) to celebrate my enormous common room. </p>

<p>Thats what college is folks, the bad stuff never comes without some good stuff too.</p>

26

<p>Colleges now seem to all have fun activities for freshmen to get to know each other & the campus. Plus most students have visited the campus at least once before they arrive.</p>

<p>Back in MY day, most of us ran around the first couple of days with a map of campus in hand. You could always tell the freshmen. :)<br>
And I remember placement tests & auditions but I don't remember anything fun being planned for us. :( </p>

<p>And it was uphill both ways. :D</p>

27

<ol>
<li><p>The first day was amazing! After I seemed to unload my entire life into my new room, I said goodbye to my family and was on my own. I all but instantly started to get to know the awesome people that happened to be living on my floor and we all went out for a night on the town that night. Wouldn't change the beginning for anything - it was better than I even thought possible.</p></li>
<li><p>I'm definitely an open person, so I was sure to at least say hello to the new faces sitting near me on the first day of class - and am I glad I did! I met some people that became good friends very quickly that day. Oh and classes were actually interesting too - good combo!</p></li>
</ol>

28

<p>Wow - that's a really great question!</p>

<p>thanks OP!</p>

29

<p>ah what a great question!</p>

<p>just reading everyone's responses gets me sooo excited for college.. i wanna go so bad!!</p>

30

<ol>
<li>Hmm...I'm not sure I ever completely settled down on move in day. Actually, I probably didn't settle down until the end of the first week of classes. But anyway... On move in day, we got all our stuff in our room, and rearranged it so the bed wasn't blocking the door. That's right - my roommates bed was originally close enough to the door that you couldn't open it all the way. Not so fun when you're coming in with tons of stuff. Who's idea was that, anyway? But we got it all figured out, checked in, got our ID cards activated (they're also our keys), etc. Meeting my roommate was a little awkward. We'd talked online some, but not much at all. And when we met in real life, there was stuff all over and our parents were still around. Plus, we were both really busy getting settled in. Anyway, after I got completely moved in, my parents took me shopping to Walmart to get all the stuff I needed but couldn't bring on the airplane (storage containers, food, school supplies, etc.). And then they took me out to dinner, and then dropped me back off at the school.</li>
</ol>

<p>That night, "Welcome Week" began, and the school put all the freshmen in groups of like 20, based on where you lived. Most people's first friends came from those groups, because we spent the entire weekend doing stuff with them, and then met once a week for like 6 weeks. I'm still pretty good friends with two of the girls who were in my welcome week group. We did some get to know you activities, then a couple of us who had met online ditched the rest to go hang out. After awhile, we left back to our dorms. It was around 10 or so by then. Anyway, then I started trying to find other people I had met first online. I found one girl who had been in the same musical as me (not together, just the same show in different places). I met her and her roommate in real life, and we talked for several hours, which was fun. I still hang out with her a lot.</p>

<p>That was Wednesday. The rest of the week and weekend felt a lot like summer camp. They had stuff planned for us to do almost every hour of the day, and though most of it was optional, I still went to a lot of it (though I decided to sleep in Saturday morning, instead of going to a community service event). Through it all, I met plenty of new people. I never really hung out with my roommate, though, since we were in different welcome week groups and thus had different groups of friends right from the beginning. It was always kind of awkward between myself and my roommate, and she finally moved to a different room in October (that's kind of a long story). Anyway, overall, it was pretty fun. When school started the following Monday, it felt really weird, because it hadn't hit me yet that I was at college.</p>

<ol>
<li>My first two days of class went well. I ran around with my schedule and a map in hand, but I didn't get lost, which was a great relief! The school felt so big then, as I didn't know where anything at all was. When I first got to my classes, I introduced myself to a few people in some classes, but sometimes it was just awkward. Once the class started, in most of my classes, the professor just handed out the syllabus, and talked about it. In some of my smaller classes, we also went around and introduced ourselves. We got out early in many of the classes, as there really wasn't much to do. Oh, and some classes assign seats, but in most, you don't have to sit in the same seat everyday. Actually, I don't think I had assigned seats in any of my classes. One of my professors said he was going to give us assigned seats, as it made taking roll easier, but then he ended up just passing around the roll sheet everyday.</li>
</ol>

<p>It's really easy to meet people at first, whether its in your classes, at meals, or just around the dorms. Barely anyone knows anyone, so everyone is eager to meet new people. As the semester goes on, that lessens a little, though, as people start to form groups.</p>

31

<p>It was the most exciting day of my life.</p>

<p>OK, not really.</p>

<p>Since I was in the marching band, I was there a week early for the camp.This gave me a chance to find were all my classes were. My parents and my brother helped me unpack and dropped me off at the music building. Since I'm a nervous person by nature, getting settled in my room and entering the music building gave me a few gray hairs. I think I had more stuff compared to the cheerleader next door to me. And I'm a guy.</p>

<p>When classes actually did start, I really didn't have any problems finding my classrooms. Like most freshmen, I was nervous and scared, but I got use to my surroundings rather quickly. One thing I can't stand about college: doing laundry. My clothes feel different here.</p>

32

<ol>
<li>My first day was...long. My parents and I got to the dorm as soon as it was opened to students for move-in. It wasn't until much later that day...about 10pm that I finally got everything settled in.</li>
</ol>

<p>I hated move in day. Trying to get my belongings in their proper place, coming to grips with the fact that it would be months until I next saw my family, and trying to figure out where everything was on campus made my attempts to appear happy and friendly very difficult. By the end of the day I was exhausted. Add to that the fact that my roommate loved to talk about anything (and I mean ANYTHING- she could go on for hours about a piece of dust on the floor or some obscure/random belt she once wanted to buy from some unknown store in the middle of nowhere) and I was not a happy camper. </p>

<p>My floor had a little meeting at about 11pm about nothing important. In fact, our RAs didn't even bother to give us any ice breaker games to help us...well break the ice and give us all a reason to become friendly. Frankly, the first day of school could have been planned a lot better than it was.</p>

<p>I remember as I lying in my bed that first night trying to fall asleep and casually looking over to my sleeping roommate and think "what have I gotten myself into"</p>

<p>To anyone who is reading this in anticipation of their first night at college, just know that my first moments on campus were less than appealing only because I did not like my roommate. I have since gotten a new roommate and my entire perspective on my college has changed. Lately, school has been going really well- much much better than those first few days, or even the first semester. </p>

<p>2- as for my first class, all I can think is that I dressed up real preppy for class all for nothing because it was raining outside and my outfit looked more hobo-chic than cute co-ed by the end of the day. No one talked in my class; we weren't really given a chance to, although in my next class everyone introduced themselves. Something I found interesting was that everyone always greets each other by shaking hands- a bit of a shock since no one ever did that in high school. Then again everyone already knew each other.</p>

33

<p>i spent a summer of 3 months at a college where i took classes and stuff. im starting real college this fall in philadelphia so im hoping this september will be somewhat similar to that june. </p>

<p>lets see... my first day was move-in and my dad was getting pretty anal about all the regulations we had to follow for getting stuff in and getting my ID card and keys, etc. so i was already a little annoyed. they helped me move in and i met my bunkmate and her parents. this was awkward as we're both minorities whose parents both speak very little english. 2 of my roommates' parents were getting really anal (wat is with anal parents) about where their kids' stuff would go and i had bad first impressions of them. but later, it turns out the girls were much more accomodating and we rearranged everything as soon as they left. my parents took me to wal-mart and out for lunch and when they left me in my room that evening, i just kinda sat on my bed, looked out my window and wondered when id see them again. (my moms my best friend so i couldnt help but shed a tear or two at the thought of her alone at home with my dad) I sat there for a good hour, soaking in the solitude and new surroundings. I rearranged my stuff then, started decorating my walls and bedding, looked through the fridge and stuff - i was already homesick but extremely excited about meeting new people. my roommates came back then and we talked to each other about where we were coming from and what each of our schedules looked like. although SUPER awkward at first, we managed to bond over the fact that we were all new and confused. our RA called a floor meeting at 11 that night so after pizza, i sat with my roommates during the meeting. they had a small intro session where each girl talked - and it turned out i'd seen some of them before. i talked mostly with the other indians on the floor though - they turned out to be great family but not such great friends (if that makes sense) and i learned to intro myself to people that werent just of my ethnicity. after the meeting, my roommates and i talked for quite a few hours about how we were used to living our days and we decided on showering schedules and breakfast for the next morning.
as the days went on, as we met new people and new things kept happening to us, my roommates and i became incredibly close and our room 404 was known for its solidarity. i did begin to dislike one of them but i avoided her towards the end. the other 2 were great - we stayed together whenever possible in new situations during the summer. my bunk mate was the one who stayed awake with me during my first meeting with the Porcelain God, and fed me fried food & water to get the alcohol outta my system. I still keep in touch with her. </p>

<p>our first day of classes was incredibly awkward as well. i introduced myself to the people around me at little instances. like when someone dropped a pen and i picked it up for them, or they asked to borrow my map, or if someone opened a door for me/pulled out a chair for me while i had books in my arms. stuff like that helped us get acquainted. so did exploring the city around us - we went in big groups and looked around. any little thing that we had in common, we took advantage of it to strike up a conversation. 'dont u live in reilly too?' or 'where'd u buy ur book for chem?' I'll admit im a big extrovert so i had no problem introducing myself to people but i did have an issue wondering what people thought of me. in the end, i found a great bunch of people to eat and hang out with but i studied on my own so i had a lot of time for myself. </p>

<p>one piece of advice: if someone invites u somewhere in the beginning, GO. its much easier to connect with people when everyones awkward at first than after the first meeting when relationships have already been formed and you're the only awkward one. and help ppl out whenever you feel you can - theyll return the favor, guaranteed.</p>

34

<p>i like these. anyone else?</p>

35

<p>
[quote]
Lets see...
Walk in front door, get yelled at for not having my top button buttoned, turn in paperwork, issued clothes, a bearings book and assigned a company. Walk outside, in the rain, wait for someone else to yell at me, wait outside a door, issued a room, stand outside door for hours on end having people yell at me for moving my eyes and not standing perfectly still, make my bed, have it torn apart, make it again, do pushups, eat lunch, stand outside door, learn to march, get yelled at somemore, break, learn my roommates name, stand outside the door somemore, take a 30 second shower with 20 guys I've never met, get yelled at, get into my bed, told "CONGRATULATIONS, you just made it through day 0!, Thats right, This day doesn't even count" and fall asleep, to be waken at 0530 the next morning, where the hard stuff began.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That rocks! What was your second day like? Are you still there? Have you done ANYTHING fun?</p>

36

<p>second day... you know, that entire two weeks is like a blur in my memory, counting the days by which meal I was at... we weren't allowed to have watches. I am pretty sure it included a lot of push ups, marching, yelling, running and possibly a lecture on honor or something to that effect. We may have done something on the water, like rowing those old whaling boats (monomoys) or doing some sailing.</p>

<p>And yes, I am still here, a year and a half later, after traveling around the world (literally, AROUND) and about to get on some more ships, most likely going to Hawaii and maybe the Med. Gotta say though, while it is incredibly hard getting through it day by day, it is worth it and I am enjoying it.</p>

37

<p>First day of class was while dual enrolling as a senior in HS. I was really worried about not being able to get an override into the class I wanted to take, but the professor had no problem with it.</p>

<p>First day living in the dorms was summer before freshmen year was working as a residence counselor at a math and science camp. I moved in the day before the kids showed up, and nobody told me what time I needed to start my shift doing airport runs to pick up campers. I wake up at 6, check the lobby, nobody there. Check at 7, check at 8...eventually I get a cell phone call, and it's some girl's dad yelling at me because her daughter has been at the airport for some amount of time and hasn't been picked up. I later found out it wasn't actually my fault (they had only planned for 2 people to do the real early morning runs), but still not a good way to start of first day of work/living in the dorms.</p>

38

<ol>
<li><p>This is my second semester of college. I live in a learning community and was apart of a Freshman Interest Group. We moved in about a week before classes began, which was great because we got used to being at school, but it was weird to have so much downtime. They had a lot of planned activities - cheesy icebreakers and get-to-know-yous. Interestingly, I met a lot of people in my FIG that lived in my dorm, but all the people I ended up being friends with were from my floor. I would definitely leave your door open and say hi to people on your floor because you will be spending the most time with them out of anyone. It was a little awkward when I first met my roommate. I felt like she was very different than me - she was rushing a sorority and really preppy. For the first few days, we were overly polite but we slowly became very good friends. We are sharing an apartment sophomore year! I would recommend not spending every waking moment with your roommate because you don't want them to feel stifled, but make conversation when you are together. Don't try too hard to be nice - my roommate and I hit it off when we started being more comfortable with each other.</p></li>
<li><p>It really depends on the college you go to. At Mizzou, there are about 20,000 undergraduates and the freshman classes are usually either A) a lecture of about 300-400 people taught by a professor who would rather be doing something else or B) a lab/discussion type class of 20-30 people taught by a frequently clueless TA who would also rather be doing something else. Of course, at smaller or more elite colleges this may be different, but pretty much anywhere you can expect that your professor doesn't want to be teaching freshman. I would advise against hanging around for 10 minutes after class sucking up, or raising your hand 15 times during a lecture to make pointless comments to try to look smart. They usually aren't impressed, but rather annoyed. Instead, come up with a feasible question you have from class, email your professor to make an appointment for their office hours and go talk to them about it - not just rambling, but actually working on a problem. That's the best way to make a good impression on your professor. As far as meeting people in class, I have never turned to the person next to me and introduced myself. Most people are not in a very social mood when they are in class - they are either tired and want to get out of there, or focused on the class itself. But I have made acquaintances in my classes, particularly smaller ones, by making casual conversation. Just like high school, don't force it - it will come naturally most times, but don't expect to make your close friends in class. You will meet them in your dorm or at parties.</p></li>
</ol>

39

<p>First day... =_= sigh.</p>

<p>I came in around at 12 or 1 because my plane from Korea was lagging a little bit. Luckily I knew somebody so he gave me a ride to school....</p>

<p>SOOO I'm at school and apparently something was wrong with my dorm assignment. They said they were switching my room around back and forth (first from the third floor and then to the fifth floor.. and then back to the third floor) and some other girl was in my room. They couldn't find the girl which meant they couldn't kick her out so i couldn't leave my luggage any where.</p>

<p>SOOO the guy who gave me a ride to school took my luggage and said he'll be back @ 7 or so. I kept my back pack because it had all the important stuff in it and started searching around for a building because I was already late for a meeting.</p>

<p>I FINALLY found the building 30 minutes later because I was hopelessly lost.</p>

<p>I entered the office and the lady told me to come back in 30 minutes because she was in a meeting with somebody else. SOOO I ONCE AGAIN headed back to the dorm with a back pack that I've been carrying for like.. 30-40 minutes.</p>

<p>And finally i got to my room but then my roommate told me she's been in the room since morning, so she didn't know what i was talking about. Oh the RA also ran out of welcome to dorm packages.. sigh</p>

<p>After I dropped my stuff off at my dorm i went back to the office and got my schedule and stuff. After that I had dinner with my roommate (it was rather quiet because we didn't know each other all that well, lol)</p>

<p>The guy who was suppose to come back @ 7 didn't come back.
I called him @ 9 and he didn't come back.
He finally came back @ 11 because he was busy @ work.</p>

<p>Well the thing is, my car wasn't here yet (which had all my stuff like computer) so my room was rather bare for a week or two... I didn't have bed sheets or comforters (numerous blankets in my car) or a pillow. I borrowed them from my roommate and hallmates. I just read alot of books during that time because I had nothing to do...</p>

<p>that was my first day. It wasn't all that pleasant but not that bad.</p>

<p>oh about not living with your family and all that... I haven't lived with my family 2 years beforehand anyway so it wasn't anything new. I was just glad I would have my OWN side of the room that I would have diction over. It was awkward with my roommate at first but now we get along fine. </p>

<p>The first day of class is no big deal especially because it's not usually just freshman classes. There's usually always an upperclass men in your classes, or there were alot in my case. In some classes we introduced ourselves but that's rare.</p>

<p>I made friends after several weeks though, much more fun. ^_^</p>

40

<p>Orientation week was a mess for me. I'd switched from UT-San Antonio to Texas A&M at the 11th hour, so by the time Id made my choice, housing wasnt even available on campus. I was planning on living off campus, but a couple days before I moved down to like #2 on the waitlist. So they put em in a study carrol until inevitably someone didnt show up. The carrol was hot and wouldnt get dark at night, and to boot I was sick as hell.</p>

<p>Luckily though, my small group leader from fish camp was awesome about organizing activities for our group to do during the week. We ate, did bowling, movies, sporting events, etc. I enjoyed it except for the being sick part. By the time classes started I got moved to a regular dorm room. my rommmate and I got along well. We dont hang out much outside the room, but we are still friends. I continued hanging out with my fish camp friends, but we eventually drifted a part because the girl I spent the most time with lived off campus and spent most her time there. Now i feel disadvantaged that i missed that first week in my dorm where everyone got to know each other and bonded. Ive since gotten to know some of them pretty well and have made some friends from an organization i joined, but next year im going to make a point to be healthy and active during orientation week.</p>