Behind Freshman Eyes

BEHIND FRESHMAN EYES
By Tim Saxson

It’s been a few days since I arrived at UND. I was excited to come after I received my accepted letter in the mail. I was ready to meet new people, live with a roommate I’ve never met before and of course, get that college education I have been looking forward to since I started preparing for college in the 9th grade.

With my parents at the helm of the vehicle, we drove the 3 hours from my home, to come to Grand Forks. I stepped out of our car to catch a whiff of something truly upsetting. It took a few minutes and my lunch to get use to the smell, as I helped my parents unload my belongings from our car. We walked up the numerous flights of stairs, because the elevator was broken, and walked into my dorm. My parent’s helped with my belongings and gave their farewell. It was tough seeing them go, but I had a feeling I was going to be all right.

That night I went out with a my roommate, who seems like a nice guy, but has a habit of going to the bathroom a lot and coming back out super jazzed up. He took me to a frat party on University Dr. where we let loose. It was quite the extravaganza. There were lots of girls running around in more than questionable clothing and guys who look like they just came from the tanning/waxing salon. I don’t think I’m going to join a fraternity, but that isn’t stopping them from ambushing me in the streets.

The first day of class was horrible. I had three classes that I was positive, were actually going to take credits away from me. The general requirement classes, I swear, were exactly like my high school classes, in that everyone slept through the class and had a general distain to the outer world after. I never felt such a level of boredom. I didn’t even study for 3 hours like I did in high school; I just sat in my room and watched TV.

It’s been a tough few days, especially if you don’t know anyone here, from your previous school. It seems like no one really wants to make new friends or meet new people. I mean the girls are beautiful as if they came straight out of Playboy or Hustler for some of older students. I would ask one out, but I have a strong connection to my soul and don’t really enjoy it being sucked on. I can’t help but the think the sororities aren’t a contributing factor to their stunningly angry disposition to men that didn’t go Greek. If one of the girls weren’t a blonde the other blondes would absorb her like a rebel force. It’s quite frightening.

Overall I am quite disappointed from my vision of what college was going to be like. They call it college, but it’s really just high school. You would think when people graduate high school they leave that behind them and move on. That is hardly the case. I have heard more people talking about their old high schools more than I did when I was in high school. Apparently high school was the greatest thing that ever happened to these people and when they come to college, they do as much as they can to replicate that atmosphere. I thought coming to college meant leaving behind all the clicks and mundane arguments about what’s her face saying something about so and so. I thought coming here; I would have meaningful conversations about politics, social issues and climate change, while all of course sipping coffee at Tabula. Because, frankly, that’s what college kids are suppose to do.