Freshman expectations: College brings surprises

The school year has finally started. The freshmen went through orientation and have started their journey as an adult; but is this journey what they expected it to be?

Television shows, movies and magazines make college sound like something that it usually isn’t. They get teenagers’ hopes up on what the college experience is going to be like, and let them down on some occasions when they actually arrive to school. Some expectations are attain- able though; there are wild weekend parties, the professors that everyone dislikes, and the classes that are very hard to pass. But did Ottawa in particular bring expectations to incoming freshman that weren’t met? Freshman Jordan Calderwood has

actually been having a better time in college than she expected she would.

“I expected the living situation to be just how it is, with the community showers and living with a roommate I didn’t know,” Calderwood said. “I did not expect to make so many new friends and become so close with a lot of the girls so quickly.”

Coming to a school where you don’t know anyone can be scary, and making friends quickly just makes the experience that much better.

“I also did not expect for everyone to be so overly friendly and always say ‘hi’ when I walked by them on my way to class,” Calderwood said.

With the friends Calderwood has made, she said her favorite part about college would be always hanging out in each other’s rooms and doing activities together. But there is a downside to Calderwood’s experience so far.

“My least favorite part is probably waking up for (cross country) practice, but I do appreciate my naps,” Calderwood said.

Hanging out together and always being close is a great thing for some people, but not every freshman feels so strongly about being so tight knit. Freshman Elyssa Esposito explains that college has been interesting so far.

“I was dreading living in Brown, but it’s really not that bad,” Esposito said. “Until I have to use the community showers, then it’s bad.”

Esposito has had a similar experience to Calderwood when it comes to the friendliness of the people on campus.

“Everyone has been super nice and helpful and I have made friends with so many people that I didn’t think I would be friends with,” Esposito said.

Esposito compares college to summer camp; she thinks that it is weird sleeping at the same place she wakes up and goes to school.

The people have been great to Esposito, but she explained that her favorite part, besides the friends, is definitely golf.

“I was not expecting to be working out at 6:30 a.m. for golf, but it’s okay, I kind of enjoy it; the workouts make me appreciate golfing that much

more,” Esposito said.

Many student athletes do have different workout routines from high school, now that they are in college. But, not all students at OU are athletes, like freshman Rebecca Housman.

“I expected college to be a chance to get away from home and grow as a person,” Housman said.

She believed it would be a harder transition to go from high school to college, but has actually found it quite simple.12