My First Sixteen Days

It's been a long summer, but play time is over, and tens of millions of college students across the country are getting back on the grind.  In the past, I sent out a weekly email that kept up-to-date anyone who was interested; I've since done some thinking and have decided that that's what this blog will be for.  So for those who care: strap in!  And for those who don't: stuff it!

As you might expect, the beginning of the year is the busiest part of the year.  Move-in day was a success-- it took all of fifteen minutes to get my junk from the car to 106 Dupont (thanks, Dad), and all of three and a half collective hours to get my friend, Ciera, moved in and set up in her room.  Thanks to a John Casper and an Aunt Becky, my walls aren't nearly as bare as they were last year, and thanks to central air-conditioning and a phenomena that no one can explain, my room has become affectionately called "The Arctic."  That being said, the winter wonderland that Jonathan and I call "home" has its perks, providing refuge from the oppressive heat that plagues Williamsburg in September.

Fast forward a day, and Honor was driving those of us who had already arrived to Relevant, the church that we attended last year.  This was a big event because, last we had heard, the church was pastor-less, and we were curious to see how that situation had developed; to our excitement, an announcement was made that the following week, an interim pastor would preach his first message.  The afternoon was filled with the moving in of Ciera's and my roommates.  With just about all of my homies back at the college, things were starting to slow down.  The Caf started taking swipes, syllabuses were being posted on Blackboard, and textbooks were coming in the mail.

Cue the first day of classes!  As expected, many syllabuses were read that day, and my Modern Physics professor shattered my understanding of the world with his first lecture on general relativity.  With no surprises so far and no classes left to go in the day, the crew (Ciera, Mars, Jonathan, and myself) all met up to high-five the freshman class as they left Convocation.  Fifteen minutes and fifteen hundred freshman later, we met up with Cousin (Jeffrey) and peaced out to make sure that we got good seats at the a Capella showcase happening that evening.  Since I'm a super genius, and made everyone hurry over to the concert super early, we were the first ones there.  With our choice of seats, we plopped ourselves down front and center.  The concert was awesome, and afterwards, I registered to audition at 8:20 PM the next evening for One Accord-- an all-male, Christian a Capella group,  I also convinced Cousin to audition, so I wouldn't have to do it alone.

Thursday, my only class was Experimental Atomic, so I had lots of time to freak out about my audition that night.  I thought I was done with singing when I graduated from high school, but I decided at some point this past summer that God had me involved in choirs my whole life for a reason and that I would audition for a Christian a Capella group this year.  After a stressful three hours with my scary, Russian Experimental Atomic professor, a big dinner, and a hall meeting, I went to the Sunken Gardens to meet up with Cousin and head over to our auditions.  Long story short, his meeting ran a little later than expected, so we (literally) ran to Morton, clueless as to which room (or even floor) we were supposed to go to.  I stumbled into the waiting room three minutes past when my audition was supposed to start, out of breath from the trek over there.  Fortunately for me, they were running late, and a few minutes later, they called me in for my audition.  I sang "Danny Boy," air-balled on a few "find the third" exercises, and nailed the "match the pitch" portion.  Finally, it was over, and I went back to the dorm to play some Super Smash with Cousin before hitting the hay.

Friday was a big day.  After all of our classes were over, "Prof Cousin Ray" swung by Dupont and picked up Jeff, Jonathan, and me for a boating trip on the James River.  It was an awesome experience-- he brought along a tube and a skim board as well as dinner for all of us!  A few hours and a lot of bruises later, Prof Cousin Ray dropped us off at the dorm.  The three of us decided we should check the call back board for One Accord, so we went straight to Ewell Hall, and it turns out I got called back!  After staying up far too late with the homies, I got up around 8:00 the next morning to pick a song, practice, and get to my call back by 10:00.  I decided on "I Can Go the Distance" from Hercules, so after singing it a few times over to myself (and passing runners) in the forest, I went to Washington Hall for my audition.  It went reasonably well, but I decided to keep my expectations low.  After a quick phone conversation with Mommy, I met up with some friends at the Caf for our Saturday brunch Bible Study.  We're looking at Paul's epistles, taking them two chapters at a time.

Fast forward a few hours, and I'm preparing for the Smash Fest (an event where lots of people get together and play Super Smash Brothers) that Jeff and I were hosting that night in our lounge.  Once everything was squared away, I went to my room to wait for the "One Accordions" to come by and tell me if I made it.  After two hours of waiting, Cousin took a break from the Smash Fest to give me some updates.  About sixty people showed up to play!  I was sad that I missed it, but it was worth it when I heard the sound of nine guys singing outside my door-- I made the group!  They whisked me away for Buffalo Wild Wings, then eventually returned my to my dorm in time to get a good night's sleep before church the next morning.  The interim pastor, Bill, preached a pretty good message at Relevant, and our traditional Sunday brunch was as delicious as ever.  Cousin and I also attended RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) and IV (Inter Varsity) on Tuesday and Friday respectively, but otherwise, the week was pretty much classes as usual with occasional homework parties and mini Smash Fests in between.

I'm sure I missed a few things and said too much about others, but I hope this is enough to keep you all in the know!  Feel free to comment or email if there was anything you wanted to know more about!

Advice for Rising Freshman at the College of William and Mary

Below are fourteen things I wish someone would have told me before my freshman year at college.  I hope you'll find some of this advice useful!

1. Find a good group of friends and stick with them... all the time.

                At first, everyone will be your friend, but the honeymoon phase won't last for long; eventually, your differences will catch up with you, and every day becomes every week becomes once a month.  Try to seek out people early on in the semester who share common interests and ideals, so you won't be left high and dry later on.

2. Learn to "Let it Go."

                "Let it Go" from Frozen became the anthem of many over the past year.  Despite how stale this Disney hit might be growing, it does serve as an important reminder not to be bothered by things you can't control.  Failed a test?  Lost your keys?  Got woken up at 2:00 in the morning the day of your Physics exam because some idiot decided he likes his popcorn on fire?  Whatever the case, let it go. 

3. Establish routines, but break them every so often.

                Routines are crucial; they'll get you to class on time, ensure that your homework gets done, keep your belly full, and secure a reasonable number of hours to sleep, but feel free to stray from them on occasion.  We're all creatures of habit, but, once in a while, it feels good to stay up late talking or skip a meal to Skype someone you care about.

4. Bring shower shoes.

                There isn't much to say about this.  When more than twenty guys share four showers, you want the water to be the only thing in that bathroom that touches your skin.

5. Don't be a moron.

                This tip was originally entitled "Don't drink," but I know you won't listen to that.  If you're going to make the mistake of paying too much money to break the law, act like an idiot, and make a mess that your best friend will inevitably find himself cleaning up, that's your prerogative, but use the brain that got you here.  My advice: don't drink, but if you're absolutely convinced that you need your "social lubricant" to have a good time, then keep the door shut and the noise down.  I did not enjoy finding vomit in our water fountain because someone couldn't make it to the bathroom.  I did not enjoy calling 911 for a friend who was begging to go the hospital.  I did not enjoy being kept up on Thursday nights because Friday and Saturday aren't enough.  Think not only about how your choices will affect you but about how they will affect the people around you.

6. Check Ratemy.

                Ratemyprofessor is an important tool when signing up for classes.  A professor can make or break a class, and, though the majority of instructors at this college are outstanding, some are easier, more lenient, and more informative than others.  Decide what you're looking for in a professor and register for classes accordingly.

7. Don't eat at Sadler.

                Next year, we're getting "different dining options," but if the following year is anything like the last one, forego the horrible layout and subpar food that you'll find at the Sadler Center and head over to the Caf for every meal you use a swipe on.

8. Do homework with friends, but study alone.

                This practice will get you far.  Homework is the classwork that you'll never do.  That is to say: in high school, you were probably allotted time in class to do practice problems, write essays, read articles, etc...  In college, you come in, sit down, take notes on the lecture, and leave.  Homework is rarely graded, and classwork is never assigned.  For these reasons, I suggest that you treat your homework like classwork and struggle through it with a friend, then, when it comes time to prepare for an exam, tackle the material yourself with the knowledge and perspective that you gained from working with a friend already under your belt.

9.Get a Spotify.

                Spotify playlists will make your studying more bearable, your homework more doable, and your hanging out more enjoyable.

10. Balance your schedule.

                Don't take four literature classes.  They're time sinks.  Don't take four math classes.  Their tests will crush you.  Don't take four science classes.  The homework will break you.  Balance your schedule using the following general rules as your guide: English classes eat up your time by forcing you to read lots and lots of stuff that you're never truly tested on but have to know;  math classes often don't suck up very much time outside of class unless you're a complete homework Nazi (I'm looking at you, Ciera), but the tests require more preparation than any other field; science classes have the most difficult homework assignments because they usually count towards your grade, so you have to do well on them; general education classes just suck, but you have to take them, so find the easiest ones you can for each requirement.

11. Bring a mattress topper.

                I don't know why I was the only person at college who didn't have one of these, but it was definitely a mistake.  Bring something to drape over the rock that the housing department calls a bed.

12. Don't do things you don't want to do.

                This is not high school.  You don't have to join a bunch of stupid clubs for your college application.  This is college; it's a time to "find yourself," or whatever, so don't do a bunch of stuff that you don't want to.  Try stuff out, but, if you hate it, quit.  There's no sense being miserable for no reason.

13. Don't waste your time.

                This is similar to the previous idea, but it's less about not being miserable and more about not being stupid.  Don't sleep all day.  Don't skip your classes.  Don't waste your time.  It's okay to invest in things that you enjoy outside of class, but it's not okay to forsake your classes to invest in those things.  Get up, get your classes out of the way, do your homework, then kill some time doing whatever it is that you like to do.

14. Check your email.

                I should have made this number one, but I don't want to change the numbers on everything.  College staff, professors, and classmates will all reach out to you through email; everyone has one and it's accessible twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week at the touch of a button.  You don't want to miss out on opportunities because you "didn't get that email."

                I hope there was some useful information in this blog.  Feel free to email me, Facebook me, or post a comment if you have any questions about the campus, college life, or anything at all.  Welcome to the Tribe, and enjoy your summer.