Congratulations.
If you are reading this post, I am assuming you made it to Jindal and are all geared up for college. If you are a senior, still, congratulations. You have found ways to survive the harder years. (Teach me how?)
First year will be the most tumultuous year of college as you adapt to millions of changes, right from leaving home to accepting the fact that Nutella is an adequate meal that you can count as salad if you eat it with carrot sticks. Here are the Top 3 things you should not do, but you probably will anyway (believe me) to make the most out of first year:
#1 – Binge watch every show you possibly can
You put hundreds of college students who don’t believe in sleep in one place and soon finding your classmates weeping over the latest GoT death or hearing your girlfriend swoon over Chandler, will become normal. If you find your roommate crying then chances are your first guess, of her sulking over her dismal midterm marks, will turn out to be wrong. Make “Did your favorite character die?” your next guess. Trust me.
All the promises you will make before coming here about maintaining your 8 hours of sleep will go out of the window, just like the opened milk carton you will inevitably forget about.
Sleep is for the weak, they say. Well, what do you do when you’ve had a long day of classes, a couple of meetings, and you have a 9 am class the next day?
You start a new season of Suits, of course.
#2 – Volunteer for every fest and event
A lot of people would say: “Volunteer if you want to be sleep-deprived, utterly exhausted, hungry and frustrated for 72 hours straight”
But I love it. Volunteering gives you an indescribable joy: Doing everything from carrying cartons to set up a registration desk at 7am, handling backstage, ensuring the guest college teams reach their performance/match on time and then gorging on the last burger of the night from the food truck, all while making wonderful friends from all over the country as well as getting to know your own college people better and being part of something huge.
So what if you miss out on a few meals and hours of sleep? What is the point of the Sociology class if not to catch up on your sleep?
Pitfalls: Having nightmares about clashing fixtures (True story)
#3 – Wake up at 8.45 am for a 9 am class
Your timetable will certainly have at least one morning class per week. The change from your school routine will be drastic: In school, did you leave out enough time to iron your uniform in the morning or test different hairstyles? Here you will fight with every ounce of energy in your body to have that extra 10 minutes (read: 30 minutes) of sleep, and in the end pajamas and a slightly wrinkled t-shirt won’t seem like a bad option anymore.
Waking up 15 minutes before your class has numerous advantages: Your morning routine becomes refined, where every second counts. Most of all, and this for the lazy people out there, you will get your morning exercise as you race against the clock to make it on time.
The run that you do from your hostel room to the classroom will be timed to perfection by the end of a month, almost to the extent that you will start enjoying it.
Bonus Tip (#4)– Be ready to treat every surface on campus as a potential bed- whether it is the ant infested lawn, two chairs in your classroom that can be lined together to make a resting place, the carpet outside the Reading Room or even the staircase in the Audi.
If you really want to sleep, nobody can stop you except your utopian concept of a bed with clean bed sheets and fluffy pillows!