Freshmen share stories from first week

By Megan Finnerty
Features Editor

For the class of 2005, last week was their first at college. For the 6,870 freshmen that walked on campus Monday, they did much more than start classes. They began their lives as adults. And here are the stories of four of those freshmen.

Jeff Peters is a freshman in the Schools of Engineering from Valparaiso, Ind. Beth Massura is a freshman in the School of Liberal Arts from Downers Grove, Ill. Melissa Brown and Michael Rose are freshmen in the School of Agriculture; Brown is from Ferdinand, Ind., and Rose is from Buffalo Grove, Ill.

Monday

Massura was late to two classes on her first day and she showed up to one of them with nothing to write with. She was unfazed by her inauspicious start, however.

"I'm not really nervous about classes like I know some people are," she said. "I did pretty well in high school and so I'm not really worried."

Brown had a bad first day. Her problems started in English class when her professor asked the class to write a few paragraphs on why their friends and family were important to them.

"I was homesick all day. It was awful," she said.

Then, when she walked into her biology class, she realized there were more than 400 students in the room.

"That's bigger than my whole high school," she said.

When Brown got home, she waited for a friend from Ferdinand, Ind., to call, but she left her room for a second.

"I waited all day for him to call and then when I left to go to the bathroom, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom closest to my room, so I had to go to another one, and in the meantime, he called. I was so upset."

Then her mom called and told her that her little brother wrecked her car.

"I'm just not used to it; I hope it gets better," she said. "The way I look at it, it can't get any worse…"

Tuesday

Peters, who works in the Cary Quadrangle kitchen, was also put off by the size of his classes early in the week. "It made me feel really small," he said. He combats his feelings of insignificance by smiling at people.

"If just one person meets my eye, they'll have a good attitude that day because someone smiled at them," he said.

Rose, who sleeps in Academy Park between classes was homesick, but found that talking to his friends and family made it better. Things also improved when he went to a Campus Crusade for Christ cookout.

"It was the best food, burgers and dogs," he said. "And whoever said there are a lot of hot chicks at those things, they were right."

Massura, who has a two and a half-year old relationship with her boyfriend from home, was doing well with members of the opposite sex as well.

She rode on the back of a motorcycle belonging to The Junior. The two met during Massura's first weekend at Purdue and have been hanging out ever since.

Wednesday

Brown has been studying and going out with the Animalia group, a social organization for freshmen majoring in pre-vet.

"I have a bunch of homework; that's not cool," she said. "I knew I was going to get a lot of homework, but reading 50 pages in a day is not what I expected."

Rose, who works out at the Recreational Sports Center often, visited the new pool at the Aquatic Center on Wednesday. He was tossing a tennis ball with his friends and said he was hassled by a lifeguard.

"Why are other people like the Water Polo Club allowed to throw around balls, but we're not?"

Thursday

Massura went to Phi Kappa Tau and listened to MP3s, while hanging out with friends Thursday night. She also stayed over at The Junior's house. Her boyfriend from home called one day while The Junior was visiting her room.

Her boyfriend was mad about how Massura wasn't giving him enough time. He wants Massura to call every night and come home on certain weekends, but she refuses to promise those things.

"I don't know what I'm going to be doing all the time so I can check in with him," she said. "I can do whatever I want here, I don't have to check in with my parents or have a curfew. I'm having so much fun."

For Peters, Thursday was the day he learned how to use the computer labs and the libraries. He can't believe his math class already has homework due.

Friday

Peters went to a Navigators' rally Friday night. Then he and others in the Christian group enjoyed Ben & Jerry's. He said he had a lot of fun.

Rose went to a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting on Friday night and said there were thousands of students there. Then he partied with the group until 2 a.m.

"Other than that," he said, "I've just been doing a lot of sweating in my room, and working out at the Co-Rec."

Saturday

Peters went to a fraternity party Saturday night and said it wasn't that great.

"But I met some new people and danced. I didn't get in until 2 a.m. and today I didn't get up until noon," he said Sunday.

"My first week was more fun than I expected," Peters said, echoing the sentiments of Brown, Rose and Massura. "I know the real work has yet to set in. But right now, I learned how to get around campus faster than I thought I would and I'm doing good."

 

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