Today, I make Bwog my personal diary. Tomorrow? Who knows.

I know you are scared. I know you hate your roommate and that you cried at Central Park. I know you’ve spent the last month in a strange daze, running from class to your dorm to the dining halls and back. That you use too much dish soap when you wash the dishes, that you try your hardest not to sing in the shower, that you still don’t know your alcohol tolerance.

But I promise you, it will be okay.

You will make friends and acquaintances. You will know so many names and so many will wave at you when you walk by. You will create one-sided beef with people that don’t know you. You will be obnoxious in dining halls and classes and parties, but soon everyone will forget.

You will also cry yourself to sleep. You will miss class because you are hungover. You will fall in and out of love, then in for good with someone who cares. You will read more pages a week than you ever thought possible. You will forget all about calculus.

You will change your major again and again. You will go to parties and concerts, freeze your hands in the winter and sweat your ass off in the summer. You will get into arguments about religion and politics. You will throw up in someone else’s apartment. You will find furniture on the street and spend hours at the Duane Reade.

You will learn how to cook. How to churn out a paper in 2 hours. How to decorate your room. You will go to Brooklyn. Take the subway in the wrong direction. Miss your sister more than you thought you would. You will pet dogs. Befriend your new roommate. Go upstate with the three people you love most in the world. You will get a job you love. Fail the bartending exam. Become an editor at Bwog. Learn to drink dirty chais. 

There is so much you don’t know yet. And there is so much you are going to find out. You have yet to meet all the people who will love you. You have yet to leave behind people that hurt you. You have so much growing up ahead of you, and I couldn’t be prouder of the person you will become.

Stay tender and caring. Don’t let people walk over you. Please go get a check-up and do some acupuncture. 

You will be alright!

Oh and, by the way, break up with your hometown boyfriend.

First-years being adorable since 1917 via Bwog Archives