What to Expect From Your First Semester of College

I'm always flattered when people ask me for makeup advice, and ever since my videos for young teens came out I've been showered with different questions. But the other day I was asked by the lovely Kassibabii44 what they should expect from their first year of college. Well I'm getting ready to start my second year, I'm freshly moved into my new house and I'm honored and will be more than happy to answer your question :]

1. Dorms are awesome for first year students. I stayed in the typical dorms last year, one where you share a tiny room that's barely big enough for one person, let alone two. I shared six toilets and six showers with 22 other girls. While my ceiling was made out of asbestos mixed with a little bit of glitter (so you got happy cancer), I loved every second of it. I made a ton of really good friends, and honestly, the people who live in your dorms are like your family. Now being how I am I wasn't particularly close to the girls who lived in my hall, but rather the boys who lived down stairs. These boys became like family to me. We ate dinner together, we played board games together, we were like a little family. Most of those guys are like big brothers to me. (Even though I had not so big brother relations with them :] ) But I
really really suggest you live in the dorms for your first year, because you make life long friends and you build your little family away from home. Plus you can all complain about how bad the cafeteria food is, and run to Del Taco at three in the morning from Taco Tuesday!

A few of my friends from my dorm at a Bonfire we had

2. Now, while I'm a huge fan of the dorms, I'll be honest. Roommates aren't all what they're cracked up to be. I was initially assigned to what I fondly refer to as "The roommate from hell." I know sometimes I may be a little difficult to live with, but honestly, when I tell you that I can't fall asleep with the radio on, and offer you a pair of headphones, that means: DON'T FRIGGEN TURN THE RADIO ON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP. Urgh, every time she did it, my reaction to a clock radio was that it's 'time to get up' and I had such a hard time falling asleep. Oh, not to mention the constant smell of butt and cheese that constantly radiated from her side of the room. But I wasn't always such a downer on roommates. Before my first semester I had such high hopes of finding my new best friend. But I was sadly mistaken. Lucky for me, my mom shelled out the extra $300 and I was transferred to a single room. So I didn't have to live with a roommate for more than thee weeks. However, I do have a few suggestions if you do have a roommate. Set guidelines right away. Be upfront with what you're cool with and what you're not. Compromises can always be reached. So just talk, and if you absolutely HATE your roommate, that's what roommate change requests were invented for. So hopefully you won't be stuck with a horrible person for too long.

3. I was told all throughout in high school that in college the teachers don't care if you come to class, you can eat, show up in your pajamas, there's no homework, and everything is based off a test. FALSE. FALSE. FALSE! I only had one class out of the 33 credits I've taken so far where they teacher did not take attendance. Other than that all my other classes attendance was part of the grade. Now, that may be because I attend a smaller university, but I've heard the same from a few of my other friends. You still can show up in your pajamas, but get ready for some funny looks if you show up rocking the fuzzy bunny slippers. Although my ex-boyfriend often went to breakfast in in slippers. Oh and there's homework. Don't let teachers mislead you. There is homework, it is graded, and teachers don't seem to realize that you're taking other classes than just theirs. So they don't coordinate with the rest of the school and it seems as if all the major assignments are due the exact same time. Now this whole based off a test thing, well some classes might have four tests a year and that's your grade, but most classes I've taken use the weight system. So don't slack on the studying throughout the year, because unless you have a photographic memory, you're gonna hate yourself when it comes to finals.

4. Sports are such a big deal in college. Now.... I could quite frankly care less about sports. To be honest if they all just disappeared I most likely wouldn't notice. But go check them out for yourself! Also a great way to get involved is to make an inter-mural team and play some of your favorite sports. All the fun of the game, without the major commitment to a school team! My ex-boyfriend and some of the boys that I hung out with were on a inter-mural basketball team, and even just watching their games was super fun.

My boys after winning their game
Watching the homecoming football game
Watching my boys play basketball (We made them jerseys,
for their team "Da Quackas" and we were "Da Quacka Sistas")

5. Sometimes the only reason people come to college is for the Greek experience. Now depending on your school, decides how big your Greek system is going to be. Again, I go to a fairly small school, so our Greek system is relatively small. But at the start of the fall my freshman year I decided to rush for a sorority. I rushed Alpha Phi, now I think around 100 girls rushed at 23 got in. I was one of those 23, and I feel that it's the best decision I've made so far in college. I've made a ton of new friends and there is a lot of benefits to going Greek. So go out and rush! Even if you don't make it, you're bound to meet a ton of people. Oh and 9 times out of 10, there's generally feel food.

Every Thursday, my sorority gets together
for atleast an hour where we have some sort of an
activity. For Halloween we carved pumpkins!

There's a lot of social events, this was our Alumni Tea
which is held every year after the homecoming game.
It's really neat because we get to meet members of Alpha Phi who
have graduated and moved on to the rest of their life.

This is a picture from our bid day party. All these girls
were given bids from the 100 who initially rushed. I was one of them!

6. Finally, the most important thing you can expect: the opportunity to try new things. You're in college for such a short amount of time. Take that time and make new friends, and meet new people. Go out and try new things. You never know what you'll learn, who you'll meet, and new things you'll end up loving! So make sure you keep and open mind! Now remember, school does come first, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun too!

I found out I love love love rock climbing

I actually caught a fish!

I went hiking in Zion, I even did Angel's landing

I started a revolution with my friends

Epic fort

Painting my boys for the breast cancer game

Dancing in rings of fire at bonfires

Setting tires on fire and then rolling them down a hill into an
abandoned mine full of water

Halloween with my "twin brother"

Really bad drawing of us

My first adventure in the snow!

Horseback riding!

I really hope that your first year was as awesome as mine. :] Don't forget to take a ton of pictures because these are the times you'll never wanna forget!

xoxo
Chelsea