Freshmen at Large - Cristine

Apparently tutoring is the next big thing. I went to my first tutoring session tonight and could not believe all the people that lined up to listen to another lecture for another three hours. I’ve somehow made it through the first part of the semester without this seemingly important success tool. But now, with three days before my test, I figured it was getting close to freak-out time, and I might as well give this organized tutoring thing a shot. So there I stood among my fellow classmates, who were reaching their own respective freak-out stages, as we handed out tickets and paraded our way into yet another classroom. The smell was that of old eggs and the atmosphere rang high with uncertainty. Everyone was wondering the same thing: “Is this going to help me get an A, a B, a C? Will it even help me pass? Or am I going to sleep through this too?” I thought 90-minute classes were long in high school, but three hours? That’s just difficult. But alas, those 180 minutes could be what makes or breaks my feelings toward economics for the rest of my life. Now, the more I think about it, the more I have to ask myself: does everyone who goes to tutoring also go to every single class? Or am I just the loser that never misses class and goes to tutoring, just for reassurance? I’m banking on the second, but the first would make me feel much better. Who knows? I’m really just looking forward to hanging out at tutoring for seven more hours before this test.

Freshment at Large - Stephanie

This Thanksgiving was my first as a college student. I expected it to be like any other. I would come home, my mom and I would make pies and casseroles, and then on Wednesday, we’d pack up and go to my grandparents’ house. However, the minor detail that I was no longer living at home made all the difference in the world.
I had imagined walking into our living room wearing a sweater with pearls, breathing in the sweet autumn aroma from the Glade “cinnamon spice” air fresheners with a smile on my face that said, “I love my life.” Not so. Traffic was ridiculous coming back. I had to take off my new sweater due to the burning rays of light coming through my sunroof, windows and windshield. By the time I got home, I didn’t care about the spirit of fall or baking fall food in the kitchen, and my face definitely did not show signs of loving life.
My mom then informed me that I would no longer need to make my ever-so-famous pineapple ham casserole because I’m the only one who likes it. I did notice that every Thanksgiving I made it there were plenty of leftovers for me, but that was OK, because I ate a portion about every 30 minutes, so it lasted me a good week. Oh well. I’ll make it for Christmas.
We arrived at my grandparents’ house the next day, and I was anxious to begin the traditional family events, including cousin Monopoly games and pillow fights. However, my brother was spending Thanksgiving with his wife’s family, and one of my cousins is out of state, so that left me, my little brother and one cousin, who didn’t come until late that night.
I was always the little one, asking the others if I could watch them play Nintendo, and now I was the oldest. This is also the first year that my grandpa isn’t living at home. He came to eat with us, but after Thanksgiving, he went back to the nursing home. We weren’t even able to watch the A&M game on Friday together. Being away at college had made me reminisce, but things had changed. I looked around and realized that I was growing up, and that things were never going to be the same. I couldn’t be the little kid anymore, who only cares about eating cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole. I can’t just sit back; I need to stand up so that when things start to change and our family begins to be pulled apart, I can pull with the others to bring us even closer together.

Freshmen at Large - Cristine

So, New Student Conference was probably the most stressful three days of my life, mainly due to the less than one hour that I spent registering for classes on the last day. Or should I say, scrounging for any class that wasn’t Engineering 550. You sit at your little seat with “MyRecord” open, just waiting for someone to yell, “I got in!” By the way people start rushing, you’d think it’s Christmas or something. With your selected parent peering over your shoulder, it’s the best you can do to stay calm amidst all the mass hysteria. And of course, you always have that one class — that one class that there’s just ONE seat left in that you immediately go to first. For me, it was economics. I had my schedule picked out perfectly. I knew if I could just get into this one section I would be able to take the philosophy class I wanted. But nope, maybe 10 seconds into the whole ordeal, the seat was already filled. No philosophy for me this semester. So, I resorted to the most generic of generic classes. A great way to start off college, taking all the classes you thought you’d never have to take outside of high school. I had an 8 a.m. every day, and let me tell you, I was pumped. Thankfully, by the start of classes, one of my early bird classes was changed to a time later in the afternoon. So I now only had two days of waking up too early. After that experience, I dreaded signing up for classes, but this time, it was a breeze. I casually left Fish Fest, headed home, grabbed the schedule I made earlier that day, and signed up for every class I wanted. Nice. Now I just need to figure out what major all these classes are going to count toward and then I’ll really be on the right track.

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie

Thanksgiving is only a few days away, and I can hardly stand it. Why? Is it because I am dying to get home to hang out with old high school friends, sleep in my own bed or take advantage of the “Day After Thanksgiving” sales? No way. I am incredibly psyched because for the first time since August 18th, I am going to be able to enjoy an endless home-cooked meal along with several choice (not to mention homemade) desserts. Heck yes. No more greasy pizza, store-bought french fries or 3-day old salad bars. I’m going to have turkey, not a deep-fried piece of steak or an undercooked hamburger. I am going to have sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and pecans on top.
Being a freshman pretty much guarantees sub-par dining. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sbisa and the Underground, but first of all, I live off-campus, so eating there is not a common event. I live in an off-campus dorm, and to be honest, we do have an awesome little café, but one little café can satisfy you for only so long. I would go to Sbisa occasionally, if it weren’t for the fact that every time I eat there I have to refuel my Aggie Bucks account. I might as well just go to an actual restaurant if I’m spending that kind of money. Usually I wind up just going to Pita Pit, which is my absolute favorite restaurant in College Station. However, as deceptive as the name “Pita Pit” may be, it’s a pretty expensive place. But come on, I’m paying for quality.
On nights when my friends and I are out late, places like Whataburger, Taco Cabana and The Kettle are popular places to end the evening. What wraps up a night of intense dancing like a 2 a.m. taquito? Gross. Every time I give into the temptation, I want to gag myself. Did I actually just inhale a fast food specialty at a completely ridiculous hour of the night? What am I doing to myself? It is during these times that I look at my food consumption in disgust. Did I really eat pizza twice today? Not only do I need some nutrition, I need some variety.
So this Thanksgiving, I know what I’m thankful for: the home-cooked, non-greasy, semi-nutritious, variety-abounding, flavor-explosive, indigestion-inducing Thanksgiving meal that I will be devouring in full at my grandparents’ house. What a beautiful holiday.

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie Hodges

I’m so confused. Do I want to be a journalist, a physical therapist or a 1st grade teacher? I know everyone tells freshmen not to worry about their major because the average student changes their major at least five times, but I’m up to about 10. I keep going back and forth. I’ve had to realize that I need to resist the urge to go to A&M’s website to discover other majors. Aside from Facebook, scrolling through course descriptions and degree plans takes up a majority of my online time. I promise I’m not just some nerdy girl who runs home, switches on the computer and spends her entire night discovering potential careers. I just get so insecure about my major/majors that I can’t make up my mind.
I’ve always loved to write, and forever I wanted to write for a health and fitness magazine. But do I love health and fitness more than writing? Would I rather instruct people in fitness than write about it? Could I be a doctor? A children’s doctor? Well, kids are fun, but it would be sad to do surgery on little kids, so maybe I should be a teacher. This cycle continues from biomedical science to Spanish, psychology to business. I’m glad of one thing though. I am definitely not a math person, so as I’m browsing through these potential majors, I never think to myself, “Oh my gosh, I love electrical engineering,” because I don’t. Physics was my first C in high school, and I worked to get it.
Most of the time, the decision I make to switch majors is spontaneous. I will be somewhere, for example, my “Diseases of the World” class, and in the middle of Dr. Tizard’s lecture on the invention of the smallpox vaccine, it hits me. I want to be a virologist. How amazing would that be? I’d get to wear one of those sweet blue body suits and go through 10 biohazard levels to get in and out. I could be like Dustin Hoffman in “Outbreak” and save an entire Californian community from a deadly virus. Or, I could be like Richard Preston and write a book on Ebola, which later would be made into a film that I could direct. Of course, then I’d have to major in English, minor in film studies and have a fairly decent amount of knowledge of infectious diseases.
Oh well, whether it’s agricultural science or Russian that I decide on, I still have one more semester to figure it out. If not, victory laps are pretty sweet.

Freshmen at Large - Cristine Mayer

All I’ve ever heard is how much harder college is than high school. Do well in high school so you can do better in college.
In college you don’t have cushion grades. Extra credit is a thing of the past, and don’t even think about getting all A’s.
Well, the first round of tests came and went. Fearing that I would fail miserably and thus be kicked out of college, I spent more than a few hours each day studying. And you know what? The tests weren’t that bad… not that bad at all.
So what’s the big fuss? Why does everyone always make it seem like college is this huge academic adjustment? Who knows? However, I guess I should credit in part, the fact that I graduated from a school on block scheduling, making the transition to 75-minute classes much easier.
Then the semester really started to get rollin’. And I finally experienced “the class,” the class everyone tells you not to take — after you’ve already registered. The class where everyone likes the professor but the tests are impossible… and lets just say economics was never my thing.
Slowly, my motivation began to get drained as the classes got more challenging. Soon, I found myself spending hours on end at Evans Library trying to make friends with my not-so-inviting textbook.
Lo and behold the second test wasn’t very pretty, and that 4.0 just doesn’t seem as reachable as it did before. But now I believe people who said that you study and you study hard, once you get to college. Cramming the night before may work for some tests, but for the most part, if you don’t start studying weeks in advance, just forget that A.
But, all in all, the academic experience thankfully hasn’t been anywhere near as scary as expected. Then again, it’s only the fall semester of my freshman year, lets see how I feel in the future.

Freshmen at Large - Cristine Mayer

You know, it seems that before you go to college, people continually seem to remind you to “get involved” and “find your thing.” I figured I’d find one thing and that would be it. I assumed it would be Theta, and then everyone starting talking about FLOs. I had no idea what on earth they were speaking of. But I decided to go out and apply to two. Thankfully, I got into the FLO I wanted: Fish Council. Being linked to Class Councils, I have been able to get involved with traditions such as Maroon Out and E-Walk — activities that I never thought I’d be involved with until I was at least a junior. I’ve even met some of my greatest friends through Fish Council.
Camping out with over 1,000 bicyclists can definitely lead to some bonding. From volleyball games, to yelling at people in the breezeway to buy Maroon Out shirts, to watching Aggie football games together and trying to guess the shapes made by the OU band, I definitely think I’ve made some of my longtime friends. And the older kids in Class Councils are pretty awesome too. What I’m trying to say is that I’m basically obsessed with Fish Council and everybody in it. I’ve found my place in Class Councils and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie Hodges

Being a freshman is literally the best thing in the world. You can get away with not knowing how to get anywhere, you don’t have any underclassmen to worry about, and walking through campus everyday is still semi-exciting. However, being a freshman gives everyone around you a perfectly acceptable reason to laugh and make fun of you wherever you go. This is the reason I try to conceal my 2010 identity by not wearing “Fish Camp 2010” shirts or wearing high heels to class. Instead of begging an upperclassman to humiliate me by asking how to get to Evans Library, I ask a semi-responsible looking adult to direct me. When surrounded by juniors or seniors at a game, I drop the whole wildcat thing and just silently “AAAAAA” to myself. However, being the outgoing girl that I am, I let it slip every once in a while. For all you freshmen and curious upperclassmen, here are a few things I have learned from my recent freshman experiences.
1. Saying “hullabaloo caneck caneck” more than twice in a conversation may give you away.
2. Telling someone “Hey guess what. I saw James the yell leader today,” is one thing you may want to avoid.
3. Don’t ask your teacher to go to the bathroom. Your teacher will be confused, and when you get back, the two Corps guys in your class will be laughing at you. Don’t do it.
4. When you ask your prof a question, don’t address her as “teacher.” I have never done this, but I think it would be pretty embarrassing.
5. Don’t get overly excited when you find the C-store in the Commons, especially when wearing your sorority shirt. That’s when people start to stereotype.
6. Whatever you do, make sure you’re not featured weekly in the college newspaper under a column entitled “Freshman at Large.” That’s kind of a give-away.

Freshmen at Large - Stephanie Hodges

So I went to Baylor this weekend. Big Deal. So did everyone and their moms. What caused this mass exodus of marooned-out patrons? We went up to Waco to make sure our Ags beat the hell outta Baylor. First of all, Baylor has gotten this cute idea that they are somehow our rivals. It’s really adorable actually, to think that these kids who are paying $30,000 a year just to go to school want to compete with us. All around the campus, kids were sporting their “Beat A&M” shirts and giving evil looks to anyone in maroon. I guess being someone’s rival gives you the right to be blatantly rude and pretend that your school is actually decent in athletics. However, we are not, nor will we ever be, their rival.
Walking into Baylor’s stadium was the best feeling in the world. Maroon literally filled about half the stadium, which is pathetically small to begin with. Come on, one deck? What a joke. Sure, it looks like millions were put into it, but hey, here at A&M, we’re all about the spirit. Then, after an intense game including ridiculous calls and unbelievably rude remarks from Baylor fans, our Ags pulled through. Sic that, Baylor.

Freshmen at Large - Cristine Mayer

In the past couple of weeks it seems like all of a sudden there is a “huge rivalry” between A&M and Baylor. OK, wait, let me rephrase: Baylor seems to think there is a huge rivalry between A&M and Baylor. Countless anti-A&M Facebook groups have been started by Baylor students on the basis that A&M isn’t a real school because we never win anything. First off, I think our soccer and basketball teams alone can prove those accusations wrong. Second, Baylor is telling us we don’t win anything? Right, ridiculous. I thought the people in Austin were unfriendly, but Waco is even worse. A lot of them were just downright cold to Aggies. Then again, if I lived in Waco, I’d probably act the same way. I never thought I would miss College Station as much as I did last weekend while I visited Waco. It’s just too bad that Baylor fans are trying to create such a hostile relationship between the two schools when it isn’t even a traditional rivalry. All in all, (begin cheesy Aggie pride line) it made me realize you just can’t bring down the Aggie spirit (end cheesy Aggie pride line).