Top 10 Freshman Year Moments

My freshman year was one of the best years of my life so far and it makes me really sad that it’s already over.

But I can’t help but look back at some of my best, funniest and most embarrassing moments of my freshman year at IU! I hope that reading these will give you a sneak peek of some of the times that you could have on campus, especially at such an amazing place as Bloomington.

1. Meeting my roommate and her family for the first time

I had moved in pretty early on the Wednesday of Welcome Week. I had been there for a few hours and was putting my stuff away when I invited my boyrfriend over to see my room. When he got there, he had brought about 4 other guys from my high school. We were all hanging out when my roommate walked in with her sister and her brother in law.

The first time she came into the room and met me I already had five guys in the room. It was probably the most embarrassing thing and I felt so dumb. I introduced myself and said, “You know this doesn’t usually happen.”  Thankfully, that didn’t define our relationship for the rest of the year.

2. The first day of classes

My first college class started at 11:15. I set my alarm for 9:30 so that I would have plenty of time to get ready, make sure to eat a good breakfast and get to class early.

Of course that never happens in the life of Alison and I woke up at 11. I rushed to get ready and ran like some kind of crazed chipmunk to Ballantine Hall, making it just on time to class. I had a class right after the first one and didn’t get back to my dorm for a while.

It definitely wasn’t the way I wanted to spend my first day, but no worries I got through it.

3. My first time going to Anatolia with Liam

The first time I ever experienced the Turkish restaurant on Fourth Street was one of the best days I had at IU. My boyfriend and I had nothing to do on one of the first weekends of college, so on a random Saturday we decided to go and explore Kirkwood and the surrounding area. We happened to walk by a quaint little restaurant that was run out of an old house.

They had a menu outside and the food looked really good. We decided to go in and it was the best decision. We’ve been back so many times since then and simply can’t get enough! If you are ever on Fourth street, you have to go here!

4. My first coffee dates with Katie

For a pretty long while, I was a sad little freshman who hadn’t made too many friends yet outside of the people who I went to high school with.

Nothing made me happier than when the cousin of a friend of mine asked me to get coffee to talk about journalism because she was thinking about that major too and wanted to get some advice. We got coffee a few times and became pretty good friends. Katie was my first friend I made in college and she completely turned my experience around! I can never thank her enough and I’m so glad that I met her.

5. Halloween Weekend

One night during Halloween weekend, a few of my friends and I went to see Ender’s Game at the theater over by College Mall. The movie got out a little bit before 11. We went down to Third Street and were standing at the bus stop until someone checked the bus app and realized that the bus route stopped at 10:45.

We all realized that we were going to have to walk all the way back to campus from past the college mall. We started walking and then the bus drove right by us, heading to the next stop, which was a ways off. We all broke out into a run, but the person that ran the fastest was my friend Marco, who happened to be dressed in a Ricky Bobby jumpsuit for Halloween.

He ran all the way down that busy street with six of us sprinting behind him. Thankfully we made it to the bus and didn’t have to walk, although it probably would have been the same amount of energy after that long sprint.

6. Watching a guy play bag pipes in the quad

IU is quite a unique place. I was walking through Wright Quad one morning and passed by two kids who were standing together, one playing a set of bagpipes dressed in an Irish outfit.

My first thoughts were, “Why would you bring bagpipes to college?” and “Where does one even get bagpipes?”

His concert was pretty good, but he was eventually booed away by some angry students yelling from their windows. It was a Saturday morning after all.

7. My first front page story

On November 22, my first front-page story was published in the Indiana Daily Student. It was about a documentary called “Medora” that was showing at the IU Cinema. Medora is a small, desolate town in Indiana that is losing a lot of its population and is trying to hold on to its foundation through its high school basketball team.

There was no better feeling than having your story on the front page of the newspaper. To make it even better, my story was published on the last day before Thanksgiving break, which meant it was on stands for an entire week.

Definitely the highlight of my journalism career at that point.

8. Having my first roommate date

Eventually, I made friend’s with some of the people on the second floor who were friends with Katie. We had our first official “date” as we like to call it at Anatolia, the best restaurant in Bloomington. (Go there, everyone.)

I absolutely loved hanging out with Katie, Hannah and Sanya for the rest of the year and I’m even more excited to live with them next year.

We even had a little photo shoot to get some shots for next year’s apartment:

9. Covering Meryl Streep for the IDS

This was one of the coolest experiences I have had so far in my work as a journalist. I got to go to the IU Auditorium to cover Meryl Streep’s honorary degree, and I got to sit in the back of the front section all thanks to my press pass! I felt so cool walking around with that pass on my shirt. I felt way cooler than I was, but I felt so official and it was awesome having it as my second front page story on the next day’s IDS.

10. Finding out about my internship

When I got accepted into a summer internship program at the International Press Institute in Vienna, Austria I couldn’t have been more excited. It was definitely one of the most important things that has ever really happened to me.

Sometimes I still can’t believe it, but here I am in Austria! 

Get pumped for your freshman year of college. It will be a whirlwind that will go so fast, but it's one of the best years of your life.