TEEN CENTER :: COLLEGE CENTER :: FRESHMAN JOURNAL

September 2002

'Big Kid
Sleep-Away Camp'

First Days on Campus Offer Equal Doses of Fun, Reality

By Caitlin Noris
Special to The Wall Street Journal

Let me save the discussion of how going to college means doing real work for a little later. Instead, let's realize what else college is. As my roommate and I like to call it, the university experience is simply 'big kid sleep-away camp' -- with more responsibilities. We wake up on our own time, we go to class if we want, we eat whatever we can find and we stay out as late as we desire. I spent the first week making friends with the girls on my floor, decorating my tiny room, and going out all night.

It is for these reasons that I have come to view college as a reward for getting through high school. I have the freedom I always desired (and earned). I have the chance to get a great education. I have the opportunity to become whatever kind of person I would like to be. I met people who are completely different from me -- people I might never have spoken with in high school -- and have had great discussions with these people. I made some great new friends with my floormates, and spent my first weekend dancing and making memories with them.

Of course, it's not all fun. On the second Monday, I had to go to classes. What a difference from high school! First of all, you have to pay for your books, which can cost anywhere from $250 to $500. Second, teachers do not lay it out for you like they did in high school. You figure out what you have to read for class. and by when. I was surprised to learn most of my grades are determined by four or five test scores. Also, my math class has 100 people in it, and my psychology class has close to 300. In classes that are not basic general education requirements, I have fewer classmates but I have to participate more. There is no hiding behind someone else anymore.

Overall, college is amazing. Sure, classes get in the way of having fun. But realizing the importance of classes helps me balance it out. I have spent hours studying in the library. It is the only real escape from all the excitement and fun that happens in the dorm rooms. Somehow, I am finding a happy medium -- and having the time of my life doing it.

Caitlin Noris, originally from Miami, Fla., is a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh. Her Freshman Journal will be updated periodically on the Classroom Edition Web site.