I had a mix of good and bad experiences in college.
My first year was full of lots of fun with campus parties, joyrides through the city in friends’ cars, and a much larger dating pool than ever before.
But once I was a sophomore and I was seriously thinking about my future for once, reality started crashing in at tremendous force. My classes were intense from that point on, and I found myself studying for tests every week amid writing research papers. Thankfully, I had my own private room in an apartment style suite that I shared with two other students. Even though they were both friends of mine, things were occasionally rocky. I hated being woken at 2am to my friend having his loud buddies over to party while myself and my mother roommate slept. On top of that, the rooms didn’t have their own air conditioners or furnaces. There was a separate air handler for each suite with one thermostat only. Worst of all, the thermostat was locked to a predetermined temperature by the campus administration. It was always off no matter what season we were in. On hot days the a/c barely ran, necessitating the use of fans throughout to stay cool. When we were in winter, the furnace only turned on at extremely low temperatures. Most of my friends and I all had space heaters in our rooms to offset the cold indoor air. I liked a lot of things about college, but it’s easy for your mind to focus on the positives while forgetting all of the downsides.