Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

College Life and the Joy of New Beginnings

BLOGSPOT.COM Beca from "Pitch Perfect" may have been skeptical at the start of her college experience, but she is soon won over.
BLOGSPOT.COM
Beca from “Pitch Perfect” may have been skeptical at the start of her college experience, but she is soon won over.

I grew up dreading the start of high school and middle school. As I held on to the final weeks of long nights and late mornings, the days of endless homework and 6 a.m. alarms frighteningly crept forward. But, for freshmen arriving on campus for the first time, everyone is excited; the atmosphere is electric. Their excitement is for the unknown, for the stories told by parents and older siblings, for the parties seen in movies.

For returning students, the excitement is not necessarily more or less than that of freshmen, but it is not for the same reasons. Our excitement is for what we know we can expect from life on the Hilltop. We know that Epicurean is open at all hours selling stupidly delicious sandwiches, and there aren’t any curfews to keep us in. We know that basketball season isn’t too far off and as long as you’re there early enough, you can be sitting courtside, watching the same team that you saw earlier that day eating at Leo’s.

Seeing someone who has already moved back in now inspires jealously, whereas before the last ones back to school were the luckiest. I have been counting down the days until move in and they cannot pass quickly enough. Even for those who were more cynical about freshman year, like Beca from “Pitch Perfect,” the prospect of returning to college life eventually becomes something to look forward to, knowing that you have the familiar aspects to continue with, and a whole range of new possibilities to discover.

A student only has one freshman year, which is what makes it so memorable. Yet, in some ways sophomore year offers a second chance. Every club can still be joined, every party can still be attended and every class is still waiting to be taken. The relationships you cultivated the past two semesters are going to be waiting for you when you arrive, and the best part is that even more are just waiting to be forged.

As an incoming freshman I didn’t know about our legendary a cappella groups, but as a sophomore, I know they could easily have been featured in “Pitch Perfect.” I didn’t realize that inside the dreariness of Lau, there exists a bustling social scene on the second floor. It took me an entire semester to rent a bike from outside the gates and discover that a few dollars can be the key to the entire city – and some exercise while you’re at it.

It was the little mistakes that made freshman year the adventure that it was. But more importantly, it is the things I learned that make me so eager to begin a whole new year.

Justin Kotwicki is a rising sophomore in the College. This is the final appearance of Getting Talks. 

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