First Person Singular:
Checking out college life

By Cynthia Hager
Poca High School

It seems like college life on television or in the movies is either absolutely perfect or totally terrible. But have you ever wondered what it’s really like? I recently visited Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio and experienced first-hand what really goes on on a college campus.

I arrived on a Friday evening, nervous out of my mind. I kept imagining me, a high school sophomore, being made fun of by a bunch of college freshmen. As it turns out, I was worried for nothing.

I was assigned to room with a freshman named Carol. She was going to show me the ropes.

When people hear the word “dorm,” they typically think of small, disgusting rooms, but that wasn’t the case at all at Mount Vernon. Carol’s room had carpet, brand new-looking beds and desks and a mini fridge. The only disappointing thing was the size of the closet.

The bathrooms in her dormitory were exceptionally clean. The only problem I had was that my shower head was extremely low and very inconvenient. Other than that, the community bathroom wasn’t nearly as bad as stories make it out to be.

After showering, Carol and I went to the cafeteria. In high school, we sometimes don’t eat lunch because, well, let’s face it, we can’t decide what it is. Here, that wasn’t the case.

There was a huge buffet filled with all types of foods, and students could even eat Subway sandwiches for free if they wanted. After eating the main course, I hit the dessert buffet. It was absolute heaven!

When we finished eating, Carol and a few of her friends decided that we should go out and have some fun. Now, when you think of how college students have fun, movies, bowling or shopping might come to mind - not for these girls. Instead, we decided to go mudding!

After showering again, we logged on to a college social network called Facebook, which is a lot like MySpace but only for college kids. According to Carol, this is how most students in college communicate with each other.

Once we logged off, we decided to have a scary movie marathon.

Carol also told me all about her classes. She had six classes that semester, none of which were on Wednesdays. She said that a few of them were easy but others were not, and she normally studied for two hours a day.

And yes, the rumors about college professors are true - you should always be prepared for anything to happen. I’m talking about pop quizzes almost every day, people!

So, are the stereotypes of college life true? Yes and no. Yes, I was told to avoid the seniors as a freshman, but no the bathrooms aren’t as scary as they’re made out to be. It’s true that dorm rooms aren’t fit for a prince or princess, but they’re really not that bad.

After visiting college for a weekend, I am now extremely excited about my own college years even though they’re still two years away!