Listen up all you incoming college freshmen! 

As you are getting ready to embark on your college journey you are probably feeling all the feelings. Excitement, nervousness, anxiety, anticipation and more. While the adjustment to college life can be difficult, all you freshmen are in it together. While there are some things that might seem oh so awkward, I’m here to remind you not to get in your head about how you are acting on campus. 

Inspired by a TikTok (made by @madisonsnoy), here are 10 very typical actions that college freshmen might find embarrassing as they adjust to campus life. 

1. Waiting outside of a dorm building that isn’t yours

One of my least favorite activities. Oftentimes, my friends are too lazy and refuse to leave their rooms to let me in their buildings. Since our key cards only scan us into our own residence halls, it is all a game of timing when it comes to trying to hangout with our friends. Picture yourself in this position right now: standing there awkwardly by the door, hoping, praying, that someone walks in or out of the building so you can awkwardly follow at a close proximity behind them or say “hold it please.” 

2. Carrying around a reusable food box

I know that some colleges do this but not all. At Wake Forest University, we have reusable green boxes that we can use to transport food from our dining hall. There is something about the bright green color that just draws unnecessary and unwarranted attention to this plastic container that makes it so embarrassing to carry. It may be the fact that everybody knows that you are going to the dining hall or leaving the dining hall and eating out of a container that hundreds of kids have eaten out of before you.

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3. Walking through campus with grocery bags

Everyone gets groceries, but there is something about holding two paper bags full of groceries that feels illegal when you walk through campus. I always feel so out of place when I get dropped off at one of my friend’s dorms and have to walk back to my own with heavy bags in my hands.

4. Running because you are in a rush

There is a difference between running for exercise and running because you are late for something. Running to class, running to meet a friend or running to an Uber are nightmare inspiring activities. The amount of stares.

5. Checking out a station at the dining hall station and then not getting anything from it

What can I say, I like to browse my options. When I go up to a station without a line to look at what they have to offer, every single time without fail, the dining hall servers stare at me and get out a plate. Then, I have to awkwardly say “no thank you” or “just looking” and walk away. It makes me feel so guilty because I feel like I am dissing their station.

6.  Tanning by yourself

Sometimes I just want to catch some rays, but it’s not as simple as walking outside in my bikini or sports bra and shorts and laying out outside my dorm. It is a whole production; I have to beg all of my friends to join me and hope that at least one of them is available to do absolutely nothing with me. Otherwise, I have to deal with stares of disapproval from passersbys. 

7.  Walking through campus in a going out top

I have endless piles of sweatshirts in each of my friends’ dorm rooms because I have to hide my crop top or, more accurately, bralettes under random jackets. The amount of shame that I feel when I forget or don’t wear a sweatshirt is insane, especially when I see other people in pajamas or with backpacks on, who are obviously choosing to spend the night in.

8.  Cutting through grass

It feels illegal. I will walk an extra five minutes to go around the grass on the quad when it could’ve been a one minute straight shot.

9.  Going to the dining hall alone or sitting alone in the dining hall

I have found getting food on campus by myself is a struggle for me, as well as a lot of my friends. God forbid, somebody I know sees me eating food alone! That would be disastrous – because eating is such an uncommon thing! In the end, this is something we all need to normalize. 

10.  Walking around with an umbrella

Torrential downpour? Catch me inside the whole day or letting it soak me completely – there is no in between. No chance will you see me carrying around an umbrella.

At the end of the day, sorry to break it to you, but you aren’t a campus celebrity so honestly nobody is paying that much attention to what you are doing – everyone is focused on themselves. 

So get out there! Eat food alone in the dining hall, tan outside on a nice sunny day and walk through campus in whatever damn outfit you want!

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