Tomorrow at 10 AM I will officially have been here at TCU for one month. How crazy is that? I feel like I’ve been here for so much longer.

The title of this blog post is “What is College Really Like?” I chose this because despite everyone having different experiences at different schools, there is a lot we probably have in common. And for some of that stuff, I want everyone to know that you really aren’t alone in how you feel.

College can be crazy. I have gotten texts from my sorority to go to someone’s house for dinner and there is a giant water slide in the backyard. Sometimes that waterslide is in the campus commons, along with a petting zoo filled with pigs. Sometimes the frat parties have animals, like puppies (Roger from Sigma Nu is in my Twitter Avi) or the Delts have a monkey named Harambe in attendance. Sometimes you are heading to the bathroom at 2:00 am with your iPad and your friends see you and tell you to come adventure around campus with them; so you go in your pajamas, juicy couture slippers, and of course, your iPad. Other times, you are in the study room with your froomie and friends (S/O to Emily, Maddy, and Jordan) making boys into chemical and biological formulas and reenacting the final song to Pitch Perfect at 3:00 am. You are generally up late in college.

College can be hard. This week I have four exams, two on Thursday and two on Friday. Did I mention that I failed my first chemistry quiz? It’s long days in the library and lots of notes. Online quizzes are a nightly activity, and my poor roommate has to listen to me reading my Spanish out loud each night as I do online assignments.

College can be involved. I have joined a sorority (yay AOII), as well as applied for student government positions, joined spiritual clubs as well as medical clubs. I plan to start shadowing doctors at some point in October or November, going to Spanish club, and volunteering through the Honors College. My cheer team from last year is probably not surprised.

College is relaxed. When filling out an application, I chilled in my room with Emily and D-Rob watching Mean Girls. Instead of going out on a Saturday night, Abby, Jackson, and I watched Legally Blonde 2 and ate Domino’s. The three of us also went to BDubs this week for dinner, and our waiter believed that we were freshman in high school. After a crushing loss to the Hogs (ew) this past weekend, my friends and I went to IHOP to cope with the loss (and ate bacon as a way to protest).

College is lonely too. At first, I was always in a happy mood, not really missing home. But 4 weeks in, and I am definitely feeling the homesickness. Sometimes you just need to face time your parents or talk on the phone with friends, but other times you can sit through an entire lecture of biology and not catch a single word because you wish you could see all your friends and family soon (don’t worry though, my professor records her lectures). As someone said at Young Life tonight, “You can be surrounded by a bunch of people, even some friendly faces, and feel absolutely alone.”

College is confusing. Not having the same schedule every day is kind of offputting. There are also people that you see that you know you’ve met and you know that they’ve told you their name, but you cannot remember it. There’s also the fact that despite being here, I am constantly wondering what I’m going to do with my life. Thought I was supposed to figure that out when I committed here, but guess not.

Overall, college is an experience. Whether it’s good or bad, football games or study sessions, you are bound to learn something, even if you skip class (but you shouldn’t). You meet so many new people who have such diverse life stories, but still you will have something in common with them. I have made a friend from Colorado who loves Chris Evans and Captain America just as much as I do (yeah, I didn’t know it was possible either) and have become friends with a guy who lives 17 minutes away from me back home on a good traffic day.

For me, college is fun. I’ve met some pretty awesome people here at TCU. Sometimes we just chill and wait for plans to arise. Other times the whole half of my wing is in my room with my windows open as we hoot and holler at the fraternity pledges who are having a shirtless volleyball competition. Based on how much we sing here, I am looking forward to a karaoke night. Did I mention that somehow we always end up singing “Allstar” from Shrek? Wait till Halloween, we have a brilliant video idea in mind. There are moments like today, when I pulled our funny quote board out of the trash after it was mistakenly thrown out, and Emily cleared it of all the gross trash on it. We put it back up on the wall and febreezed it with what is supposed to be Mediterranean Lavender but it really smells like axe. We are officially heroes to the wing.

Hope everyone else is having a great time wherever you are, and just know that whatever happens is meant to happen.

~Kendall