- A lot of people think that the first week of college,
you're finally an adult
and you have everything under control,
but the reality is first week of college can be a mess.
(upbeat music)
- I thought college was going to be like
the Miley Cyrus movie "LOL"
and so I just thought it was sororities all the time,
having fun, having houses, and partying all the time.
- Moving to New York,
I thought college was gonna be like the movies
where you're going out with your girlfriends every night,
you're getting drinks,
you're meeting new people,
but definitely being a freshman is much different.
Obviously I did not have a lot of money
so it was a lot of ramen noodles,
a lot of just buckling down in the beginning
before you really find your footing in the city.
- Another aspect of getting comfortable with college
is dorm life.
It was a big transition
going from a small room at home by myself to sharing rooms.
But I didn't really expect
for what we call the great bone flood to happen.
One night after I hit the gym,
I came home and I came and the entire building was raining
and I was very confused to why it was raining inside.
Found out on the 13th floor of my building,
somebody clogged a toilet
where it led to an explosion of the pipes in the building.
From floor 13 down,
everybody's stuff was kind of ruined.
This was kind of scary.
I was like, this is crazy.
'Cause it was like a lot of water.
They rushed us to grab all our belongings,
meaning I had to run 14 floors.
'Cause I lived in the 14th floor
through poop water to grab my stuff
and my roommate and dash out the building.
It was kind of like a sour smell.
Like what you would expect.
I would say New York city subway-esque smell.
- The first day of college can be a little hectic.
That's when you move into your dorm,
you get to meet your new roommates,
your RA, and the people in your dorm building.
You may have to do a few orientation activities
like icebreakers and getting to know new people.
But once the nighttime hits, that's when the fun begins.
There's usually different parties you can go to
to celebrate your first day of college
and you get to make new friends.
- Second day is pretty more relaxed.
You get to do whatever you want.
Classes haven't started yet
so walk to the dining halls,
if there's multiple dining halls,
if you go to a bigger campus,
maybe find some foods that you like,
if there's food that you like
in college campus dining halls.
- On your third day of college,
you're going to start making friends
with people in your dorm, people in your suite,
and you're going to see if you guys connect
and you're going to want to like go to Dunkin,
grab some coffee,
or you're going to maybe
like want to go to a cute brunch spot
and like get to know each other,
talk about classes that you share.
You're going to be brushing off those social skills,
learning how to make friends again
in a different environment.
Take it day by day.
- So your fourth day is when you get a chance
to buy any other materials you'll need for the next week.
For example, you can buy different school supplies
like your backpacks, your notebooks,
and to make sure you're prepared
with any textbooks you may need for class next week.
- On day five, AKA the end of the week,
you might have felt comfortable,
might be branching out,
going to some organizations to sign up
and whatever your interest is.
You might have class, you might not class,
just depending on what schedule you have.
You'll probably sit in class
and be a little anxious to meet friends
and meet people who you could probably connect with
to study later on.
These are the days that most parties happen.
Sadly, my school was not a very party heavy campus.
They had parties,
but I didn't really know about them at the time.
- An important aspect of college
is getting to know your roommates.
I definitely got to know mine a little more
during my first week of college.
I lived with three roommates.
We were all getting to know each other
the first week.
My roommates and I,
we went out the night before,
we're having a great time.
I assumed everyone was tucked in their beds the next day.
Everyone's fine, It was the weekend.
Around like three in the afternoon,
I hear this knock on the door and it sounds quite urgent.
And I just assume it's one of my roommates
who got locked out.
I'm like, okay, I'll get up.
I'll be the one that has to get up and open the door.
I opened the door,
there's three cops already outside my door.
I see two more down the hallway.
And I see like the red lights flashing outside.
The farther I look, there's more haling in.
So I'm like, okay, what's going on?
And so they asked me,
they're like, "Oh hey, do you know this person?"
naming one of my roommates,
and I'm like, "Yeah, I do know them. Why, what's up?"
They're asking me, "Oh, have you seen them with a weapon?
"Any weapons inside the apartment?"
And I'm like, "No, not that I know of.
"I haven't seen anything with my own two eyeballs."
And they're like, "Yeah, we need to talk to them.
"We need to talk to them right now."
And so my sister and I,
we go outside and we're waiting.
My heart is pounding.
You know, I just moved to New York City for the first time,
I have no idea what's going on,
I'm like, is this normal?
Is this the normal Saturday afternoon in New York City?
Eventually, they're done talking to our roommate.
So I'm like, great,
please let me back inside my apartment.
I ask my roommate, I'm like,
"Okay, what was that?
"What was going on there?"
My roommate proceeds to tell me their mom
called the cops on them
because she thought they stole something from her.
I don't know why they needed that many cops though
for such a very small thing,
but I guess it was super intense
and they were totally calm about it.
Didn't blink an eye.
And I'm like, okay I guess this is, normal day in your life.
Safe to say our roommate dinner that week was quite awkward.
- Another important aspect of college are the parties.
My first week of college,
my housemates and I decided to throw a house party.
We just wanted to have a small party,
but this party went nothing like planned.
Some drunk girls thought it'd be a great idea
to throw some glass bottles into our washing machine
and run the machine.
And so when we tried to track them down,
they got lost throughout the house.
This wasn't our only problem,
some frat guys from the college down the street
broke into our house,
pulled out some random mattress from our basement,
and jumped off our roof.
Afterwards, they ran through the back and broke our fence.
My housemates and I started freaking out
because we'd have to pay for that fence
and one of my housemates got so angry,
he picked up a baseball bat and decided to go after them.
At that point, everyone at the party
pulls out their cell phones and starts recording
because they were ready to see a fight.
My housemate gets angry and turns around
and almost swings the bat at one of them
until I catch the baseball bat
and take it away from him.
At that point,
we all decide it's time for the party to be over.
So we send everyone home early.
And that was my first rager in my first week of college.
- You know, sometimes in college
you might meet new friends
or get your stuff ruined by dirty sewage water,
but it's college and it's all about the experience.
You know?
- So, your first week of college
may not be what you expected,
but I would not change those experiences for the world.
I cherish those and I would not be who I am today
without those experiences.
- College can be a really crazy experience.
People may jump off your roof
and destroy your college house.
But at the end of the day, it was a great experience.
It's something that I'll always look at fondly
and it's truly the best years of your life.
I wouldn't change a thing.
(upbeat music)