Freshman, you’re currently walking into your whole life completely changing. I get it.

Once you’re free from your parents, you have no clue what to do. Like puppies, some of you will run around in circles until you’re dizzy.

There’s a big, wide open world at your fingertips — you’re at college. You’ve seen the movies and talked to friends older than you to contrive what you think college will be.

And, no matter what you think life at Syracuse will look like, I’m here to tell you this: You’re wrong. I’m here to clear up some of those myths, or … bust them, if you will. Just think of me as a Syracuse myth-buster.

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For example: What’s the biggest thing that freshmen are excited to do, right when they get to college?

Obviously, going out. You think your first night of college is going to be a blur, the perfect amount of fun with all of your new friendships that will obviously last a lifetime. Yeah, sure.

I’ve seen this the previous three years I’ve been at Syracuse. Heck, I’m not even on campus this fall, and I know the one thing that will happen your first night. What’ll happen is this: You and a group of people on your floor will cluster together and follow someone’s friend who knows where “DJ’s on the Hill” is, and you’ll pay $20 a cover — because, obviously, you’re excited to see if your fake finally works, and return home by midnight at the latest and play “Cards Against Humanity” in your lounge.

Also, those “friends for life” that you make in the first week of college — the ones you spend all your time with only because you’re living together and are forced to see each other — count yourself lucky if you still know two of them by senior year. I’m honestly not even sure who lived on my floor other than like the three rooms next to me at this point.

Making friends isn’t easy — it’s nerve-wracking and weird to create a relationship with a stranger — but don’t expect your training wheel friends of college to stay with you forever.

Another thing that freshmen are expecting is to go out every night. There are some freshmen who do that, but if you’re reading the school newspaper during the first week, then I can assure you that you’re not one of them.

It’s super important for you to strike up that balance of going out and studying (you won’t). I mean, academics has always been important to you, but you’re here to have fun.

I’m here to tell you that you will not find that balance, ever. You’ll be at Club Bird much more than the actual club.

Another thing you may be excited about is going to all of the sports games. Whether or not you’re a die-hard Cuse fan, you know you will be dressing up in orange every single game day and screaming for Dino Babers and Jim Boeheim. Both of those things will be true, but chances are you will not make it to most of the games. You will either sleep through them or leave before halftime for almost every single game throughout your entire college career.

There are so many things going through your head when you’re about to begin your freshman year. There’s going out, making friends and living life on your own. It’s all on the horizon, and that’s exciting but also nerve-wracking.

It can feel lonely in that anxiety. But I’m here to tell you, again, why you’re wrong: you’re wrong because you’re not the only one who is feeling that way. You’re being thrown into a completely new part of your life, and you’re on your own. But, you’re also not alone.

That girl introducing herself to every single person on your floor, the dude who already has a Syracuse jersey and knows how to get into a frat and every person that doesn’t look nervous, is too.

It’s OK to be clueless. Actually, I say, enjoy it. Embrace it. Go out in herds of freshmen and get lost for two hours, help a friend who is way too drunk, drop a class, get rejected from a club. We’ve all done it, because that’s the college experience.

Just don’t expect the upperclassmen not to make fun of you.

Josh Feinblatt is a senior television, radio, film major currently studying in Los Angeles (because he’s better than you). His favorite part of being an RA was watching the freshmen get confused on the first night and wander around the lobby. He can be reached on twitter @joshfeinblatt or by email at jfeinbla@syr.edu with all of your freshman stories.

Published on August 22, 2018 at 5:08 pm