​6 things that I learned during my first year that have nothing to do with academics

I may or may not have learned a lot from the 30 college credit hours that I took during my first year at UNC, but I definitely learned a lot from the hours that I spent outside of the classroom this year.

Walking is a real form of exercise

As a high school cross country runner, I had no respect for people who went on walks for exercise. After making the freshman trek from South Campus an innumerable amount of times, I have found a new respect for walking. It’s hard, man. 

Sometimes there are stairs. And hills. Sometimes it’s raining. Sometimes your backpack is heavy and gives you chronic back pain. On hotter days, it is impossible to arrive to class without having a thin layer of sweat covering your back. So, to all the walkers out there: I get it. Keep doing you. Walking is hard work.  

Homework is a blessing

Never before did I think that I would be hoping for a homework assignment. College is a weird place. We have so few grades and those few grades tend to be lower than we’d like. So we hope for homework grades to give us a boost. Yes, we ask for extra work. I am still learning to accept this.

Sleeping in public is 100 percent acceptable

This is one of the best parts of college. We are all incredibly sleep-deprived. Therefore, it is acceptable to sleep in any location. The library, the Union, the dining hall, you name it. 

As a previously established nap enthusiast, I have been so happy to find that one of my favorite activities is widely accepted across campus. Some people even bring blankets and pillows with them to the library. Shout out to those rock stars. 

Breakfast is a myth

In high school, there was no time for breakfast because classes started before the sun came up in the morning and no one’s digestive system was awake yet. Coming in to college, I was looking forward to eating breakfast and enjoying relaxing mornings before class. 

Since then I have come to the conclusion that breakfast is not a real meal. It is a mythical idea that does not exist in the real world. No matter what time of day you wake up, eating breakfast will not happen. You either wake up just early enough to make it in class on time or you wake up late in the day and make it to the dining hall in time for lunch. 

My first year has cut off all belief that I ever had in the “most important meal of the day.”

24 hours is not enough time to get things done

Every day of college goes by faster than the last one. And every day of college adds more items on to your to-do list. It’s a stressful combination. You are busy from the moment that you wake up in the morning until the moment that your eyelids force themselves closed at night. 

You begin each day with a list of things that you want to accomplish and you finish each day having only accomplished one or two of those things. 

College kids need more than 24 hours in day. Someone help us.

It is possible to get sore from studying

This realization is a sad one. If you study for a long enough period of time, it will take a physical toll on you. Your back hurts. Your bottom hurts. Your eyes hurt. The headache will find its way to the front of your brain eventually. 

It’s quite unpleasant, I don’t really want to talk about this.