I’ve successfully completed two whole weeks of class, yet my parents don’t believe I’m in college—no matter how many times I send them pictures of my dorm room. They make jokes like: “We know you’re not actually a student; we know you got a -12 on the SAT.” I just ignore them. I still have a lot to learn about college, and in this column, I like to write about all the new things I’m picking up as a freshman. So each week, I ask my fellow freshmen to submit questions and comments about the freshman experience.
This week our question comes from Marisa Merino, who asks, “I have so many early classes. How do I get out of bed in the morning?”
Beats me, Marisa. I’ll get back to you after I ask my therapist.
Today, I want to talk about something that’s really been on my mind: the UMass Boston dining hall. It’s a dangerous place. I walk in and my senses are immediately hit with a world of temptations: cheesy pizza, swirly ice cream cones, cute little cupcakes calling my name … I was thinking about the dangers of temptation last night at dinner, when suddenly I fell to the ground in pain. The doctors woke me hours later and told me I had needed my stomach pumped after consuming 74 slices of pizza.
College, huh: It’s a big adjustment to go from eating only when I got A’s to suddenly being confronted with all this food 24/7. On the first night in the dorms I had to be talked down from hooking up a tube that went directly from the ice cream machine to my mouth. The dining hall staff said “it wouldn’t be fair to the other kids.” I would’ve responded, but I was too busy stuffing my face with quesadillas. The point I’m trying to make is this: As new freshmen, we have to be careful about what we’re eating so we don’t fall into unhealthy habits. And I plan on following my own advice. I may have already gained the freshman 15,000—I mean, the freshman 15—but I fully intend on running it off. Running to the pizza section.
Thanks for the question Marisa Merino, I hope I’ve helped!