GEORGIA MORTILLARO
Special to The Leader
Around this time last year, I was starting my senior year of high school.
I was preparing my college essay, learning how to navigate the Common App and begging my teachers to write letters of recommendation. I was preparing for the college life that felt so far away, but as every day that ticked by, I felt more and more nervous on what to actually expect. I walked onto campus, settled in my room, started my classes and it felt different from what I thought. Not a good or a bad feeling, but just different from what I thought.
Now that’s not the fault of anyone in particular.
Ever since the age of 10 I was pushed to college. Whatever career interested me that week, whether it was astronaut, teacher or mermaid, I would need to go to college. They would tell us how college was different from high school and how you’d make amazing friends who you’ll love forever and have crazy adventures with.
Media also took a small part of the blame with shows and movies like “Scream Queens,” “Community” and “Pitch Perfect”. It is similar to the effect high school musicals had on kids and teenagers. Growing up and watching all of these shows and movies, I only knew what not to expect.
As I talked to my new friends, we all spoke about what was different from what we expected.
Healthwise
When I came to college I expected to almost be on my own when it came to my health. I’m an adult who has to make my own big girl decisions and take my health into my own hands. In high school, we would only have a single underpaid nurse who’d slap an ice pack on a broken arm. But for the most part, unless I had a serious medical event or needed some sort of hearing or sight testing, it was something I was on my own for.
The only college show I could think of that even includes a nurse is “Scream Queens,” and in that one, the nurse is just a woman looking to get revenge. When I went on my accepted student tour, I was shown LoGrasso Hall, a place you can go to if you need medical advice and therapist appointments. There’s a staff of qualified doctors and therapists, and there’s things like pads, tampons, condoms, lube, deodorant and soap — things that most college students could and would need.
Classes
When you’re in middle school/high school and you make silly or crude jokes, the first thing the teacher says is “Now, your college professors won’t take that.”
When I walked into my first class, I expected a tough and strict professor.
TV definitely had a big impact with this one, you would see maybe the one off teacher who had lost their minds or was just looking to get a check. Or like in Pitch Perfect, they were barely in class at all! But instead of that absent or mean professor, I met a lovely one who was excited to teach us about rocks. It wasn’t just the teachers, it was the freedom I got with my classes. If I didn’t want to go, I didn’t have to.
I was happy about the freedom that I got when it came to building my schedule; the add-drop process really shocked me. You mean I can just drop a class and add what I want? The thing I least expected was how I’m treated like an adult: I’m able to get up and use the bathroom without asking, I’m expected to remember my homework and turn it in myself and I’m not getting quizzed on if I read the book. There isn’t a second bell or passes to detention if I’m late. It’s all on me. It’s freeing but also a little scary.
People/Friends
One of the main reasons I chose Fredonia is because I knew it was a smaller college and the people were nice.
My naive self expected to find happy-go-lucky people who would say, “Hi!” as you walked by and smiled. Don’t get me wrong, there’s people like that and I appreciate every single one of them. But in reality, not everyone is nice.
You meet people your first week and expect to be best friends, but in reality, you very well might find out that the only thing you have in common is that you’re freshmen. My friends and I had a few experiences like that. It can be hard to make friends when you come in as a freshman, and not a small group of freshmen, the largest class of freshmen in 3 years. Then, on the other side, you meet people who are a lot nicer than you thought they would be.
The sorority girls and frat guys are usually portrayed as bitchy and mean people. With shows like “Scream Queens” and movies like “Neighbors,” you don’t really know what to expect. And again, I’m sure there are frats and sororities actually like that, but I have yet to meet one. At Activities Night, I met genuinely nice people, and even if I wasn’t interested in joining a club, they were still nice and genuine.
Everyone has their own expectations and thoughts when it comes to new experiences and places. I’ve found that the best way to deal with those expectations is to experience it yourself and compare them. It helps me prepare for new things and also create stories out of them.