The Eckerd Guide To Freshman Year

By Sally Burnette on August 27, 2012

As the school year is beginning everywhere except Eckerd, there has been a plethora of articles directed toward freshmen, advising them of the dangers of college and teaching them how to make friends and such. I feel like Eckerd should have a specific one, as it’s a pretty specific place, especially when it comes to the freshman experience.

Freshman experience = cigarettes and beer and hipster pics

So you’re in Autumn Term now, either learning a lot of cool stuff without doing a lot or being miserable because you got stuck in one of the five or so classes that is work-intensive. It’s a dry campus, you have to do CPS events about money and drugs and that one with the “cool” guy who talks frankly about sex and tells the same jokes every time. You’ve made a couple of friends (hopefully one with a car), but you’re still really awkward. You still eat at the caf. You finally know where the library is, how to print stuff, how to open your mailbox (I’m still working on that one), and can only imagine the exciting world of Eckerd that blossoms as the upperclassmen return from their drab summers of office work or exciting abroad adventures.

Upperclassmen = cats on leashes on beaches.

You will take Western Heritage, and you will hate it.

No matter what your field of study or how much of a loser you are, you will not like Western Heritage. You will be stuck with a professor who probably hates it too (unless you’re very lucky) and who is being forced to teach it. None of your peers can form complete sentences, but they can get very angry about the Tao Te Ching and the Bible and Gilgamesh and everything else. You might have to write papers, but they won’t be very good. You will study for the final for hours, memorizing every painting and artist ever, because you never even took the plastic off of your $100 art book. There will be maximum three painting identifications on the exam. You will ramble about books you absentmindedly read, and you will get an A, but you probably didn’t deserve it.

Western Heritage = Flamingo poop

You will get really drunk and do something stupid.

If you live in a hole in Iota, this may not apply to you. But to everyone else, just accept it. Lots of people do it every weekend. Sometimes it’s fun stupid things, sometimes it’s awful stupid things.

Sometimes, cat looking at bottle.

You will study abroad…

…and it will change your life. I’ve been abroad three times (2 Winter Terms and 1 Spring into Summer) through Eckerd, and I plan on going for a fourth time in the spring(semester). Each of those experiences was distinctly amazing, and I definitely recommend it. As you will find out, Eckerd’s professors are incredible, and once you find the ones you connect with most, going abroad with them is a must.

Buddhist temple in Malaysia

You will come out of your shell.

You’ll take all sorts of weird classes and learn a lot. You’ll try everything and anything: new majors, new beers, new hair, yoga, smoking, paddleboarding, weight lifting, glass blowing, and song writing. You’ll wear whatever you want and read whatever you want and say whatever you want. Eckerd is the best place in the world to discover yourself and to let your freak flag fly (I hate that phrase, but it works, I guess), because no matter who you are, there will be many people who love you.