Sexclamations

By Brittany DeVries

I walked by Jefferson Hall earlier, the lawn strewn with Target and Pottery Barn belongings. Collecting newspaper interviews, I watched anxious parents and excited freshmen as they moved in to the residence hall with no air conditioning, no stoves, and, amazingly enough, no parents.

Four years earlier, it was my belongings lying on the sidewalk outside Jefferson’s entrance.

That isn’t the only memory.

Sitting here as I type in my air-conditioned, wireless, downtown apartment, I recall my dorm room feeling as unbearably stuffy as the outdoor Virginia air I had never before encountered. I remember trying to cook in a microwave, and the consequent sounds of many fire alarms.
Then there are the late night memories (or perhaps, loss of some) and early morning memories. This is how I first bonded with one of my closest friends.

Early in the morning, I walked into the bathroom and saw her with mussed makeup, a rat nest in her hair and the same clothes she had been wearing last night when we were watching a movie in the guys’ room on the first floor.

I certainly never judged her for that incident, since I myself don’t have an infallible record. However, it isn’t always a best friend who walks in on you the following morning. The media worsens this situation, with television shows like “Greek” and movies like “American Pie” that exhibit college as a rowdy, fun-loving life with no consequences.

With this media infiltration, many students enroll with the assumption that college life is about sex and partying and no responsibility for your actions.

But when you have sex with the girl or guy down the hall, or you drank so much that you don’t remember how you got home from the party on Wolfe Street, Dandridge Street or College Avenue, people almost always find out.

Entering college, and in effect dropping off your parents at the door, is very free and exhilarating. Imagine the luxury of staying up all night, going to parties, buying beer with your “fake” and having friends over whenever you want (Just don’t get caught.). With this new freedom, though, you are entirely responsible for your own actions. When you do something stupid, you have to see and live with these same people every day.

The television shows are enticing, but they just aren’t real. When you are arriving as a new freshman at the University of Mary Washington, enjoy the liberties that you find. It is fun, and you should have a great time.

College is not, however, just a party. You are molding the person, academically, physically and socially, that you will be for yourself and others for the next four years. Not every person who walks in on your mistakes becomes your closest friend.