The first year of college is like a terrifying yet enlightening whirlwind where you feel as if you’ve learned a lot, but in ways haven’t learned anything at all. We come into college with this predetermined notion of how things should be and how we should behave, only to have the rug pulled out from under us.
Amidst all of this uncertainty, we tend to make decisions that don’t completely embody who we are as a person. We either repeat them or learn very quickly that there is a very distinct line between “having fun” and “yeah, that could probably get me arrested.”
First-year mistakes are a rite of passage, like graduating from high school or getting your first job. We asked a selection of students ranging from sophomore year to senior year what their first-year mistakes were and here's what we got:
"Not knowing whether or not to say thank you the second time when someone holds both doors of the library open for you....still unsure of this"
"My first class freshman year was an 8 a.m. in Graham Memorial. I used my map and accidentally went to Graham Dorm. I was 15 minutes late and it was a really small class and it was terrible."
"Forcing myself to fit into UNC stereotypes thinking it'd be the only way to have friends"
"Joining activities I didn’t actually like because I thought a guy would like me more"
"Staying together with my high school boyfriend who went to a different school"
"Staying together with my high school boyfriend who went to the same school"
"A mistake I made was not going to as many sporting events. I didn't realize how they help the Carolina community come together and show our passion for our school"
"Forgetting that the salad dressing at Rams is a lot better than Lenoir"
"Raising my hand to ask if I could go to the bathroom in a 300+ person lecture hall"
“If you use the wrong set of stairs in Phillips, you can’t make it to third floor.”
“I was trying to take the NU back to campus from Franklin Street to south campus but I got on the stop on the wrong side of the street and it took me to the PR lot.”
“Freshman year LDOC I got super drunk and puked on my bed and my friends washed my sheets for me but my phone was in them so my phone ended up in the washing machine.”
“I went on the Target trip.”
“I called "Dey" hall "Day" hall.”
“I once biked into a lamp. Not a lamppost, a straight up lamp someone was trying to throw away.”
“I went to a football game.”
“I thought college was all about meeting new people so I tried to force it.”
“I went to Wilson Library when I had a class in Wilson Hall.”
“I took all of my textbooks with me to every single class.”
“I bought a lanyard.”
“Thinking that I had to bring two girls for every guy for every frat party we went to the first few weeks.”
“I got too drunk and peed my pants at the only UNC football game I went to.”
“Bought all new books from Student stores before classes started.”
“I didn’t hang out with upperclassmen because I thought there was some sort of hierarchy. “
“I did poorly in one my classes that I didn't care about and I tried to do better instead of dropping the class. That was a huge mistake.”
“I jumped right into Spanish 203.”
“Not cheating on all LFIT quizzes.”
“I didn’t know who Roy Williams was and I went to Late Night with Roy and I was like ‘Who’s Roy?’”
Of course these testimonials can’t accurately represent every student at Carolina, but hopefully this list made you feel a little bit better about that one time you accidentally fell asleep on the couch at AEPi and your roommate called the police.
Cheers!
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