Awkward occurrences are inevitable and unavoidable. College life is no exception. No matter how many “What to pack for college” videos you watch on Tiktok or university preparation pages you read, you cannot fully prepare for all the obstacles that college brings. Going to college provides a blissful entrance into adult life and offers immense excitement for young students. Say hello to independence, societies and romanticised study time. Au revoir to the mandated school curriculums and the irritating feel of uniforms and conformity! Excitement multiplied by anxiety equals the unrealistic expectation that the first week of college will be perfect. Excuse my realism, but awkward moments can serve as important growth opportunities rather than spelling impending doom.
College will involve some moments where you will feel overwhelmed. Simply attending class or doing assignments will sometimes fill you with dread. However, those awkward occurrences, which create the maroon sheen on your face and the belittling internal critiques, are to be expected. In adapting to your new routine you will make mistakes, fall down, and get back up again.
I once tripped over my own feet while at the Freshers Fair because I am that clumsy. Will you at some point start compulsively hiccuping in a lecture or a society event? It is highly plausible …
“Through learning to love your inner clumsy and awkward persona while at College, you will learn that everyone else has one too”
Experiencing the following scenarios will grant you the privilege of saying you have become a College student. Through learning to love your inner clumsy and awkward persona while at College, you will learn that everyone else has one too.
Walking into a lecture hall 30 minutes late
Visualise yourself running frantically through campus towards the Arts Building. You overslept, Dublin bus screwed you over, or you simply put too much trust into the Trinity Live map feature. Finally, you see the lecture hall. You pause and deliberate over whether or not you will actually open the door. Instead of taking the easy way out, you enter the lecture hall. Despite the nightmarish scene you foretold, the class did not go quiet. You briskly scramble down the stairs and find the nearest seat possible. Unfortunately for you, it is in the front row. Obviously, you receive some glances from your peers in the class, but then you notice someone else sneaking in five minutes later. Your embarrassment ebbs away once you realise that you are not the only student to arrive late that day.
You embarrass yourself at the Freshers’ Fair
Stepping into Front Square, you view an array of colourful stalls and an animated environment. Like a sweet shop, the Freshers Fair hosts a colourful selection of different societies from sports teams, hobby-based, and subject-based clubs. You immediately start touring around the stalls, snagging up any tote bags, pens, or samples of whatever goodies you come across. You stop at one particular society stand that peaks your interest. Excitedly, you start talking, but the nerves occupy your mind and you begin to stumble over your words in public. You realise you have forgotten the name of the person you were just talking to. A very easy mistake, but you don’t want to admit to it. Luckily, campus is smaller than you think; you see them again at a society event when you feel more composed. Surprise surprise, you did not make the bad first impression that you had previously assumed.
Freshers’ club nights
You buy a ticket for the highly anticipated club night of Freshers Week. You assemble a group of flatmates to go conquer the night with. Due to how enthusiastic you all are, and in your haste to avoid the risk of FOMO, you arrive at the club at exactly 8:00 p.m. Poor novices. Spend more time at the predrinks next time. The place appears devoid of people and you are left waiting with a pint in hand for the real night to begin. Is it a bit awkward being there so early, when they are still setting up the music system? A tad, but soon enough, waves of people enter and you simply take a mental note for next time. Punctuality disappears when it comes to club nights.
Daunting Dining Halls
Say you just left a lecture and you are dying to go get some lunch. You choose a place that serves the most convenience; the Buttery, or even the Dining Hall, if you prefer an antique setting. After paying, you find yourself in pursuit of a table and in a rush to beat those behind you in the line, you quicken your pace. We all have those moments where you become exceptionally uncoordinated, where the universe aspires to keep us humble. You trip slightly and lose your balance, spilling your drink on your food, or worse, dropping your food.
Learning Library Etiquette: The Hard Way.
You head over to visit the library for the first time and a sequence of unfortunate events happen. Firstly, your water bottle falls off the table like an invisible force pushed it over. Naturally, this breaks the hypnotic composure of your fellow students, making you wish the ground would open up and swallow you whole. Secondly, you decide to listen to some music while you read. For the amusement of some twisted god, your headphones don’t fully connect to your phone or laptop. These distractions are made even worse by the fact that you like to listen to music at a higher sound than normal listeners. Sadly, you don’t realise the disruption you’ve caused until your peer beside you brings it to your attention that the loudest song on your playlist was playing for at least a minute for the entire library to hear.
What begins as an embarrassing moment, though, eventually becomes a shared experience that makes the perfect story to break the ice at prinks. A healthy dose of awkwardness does help to create funny little anecdotes; trust me as I am a seasoned expert! Nobody survives college without experiencing a couple of awkward and anxiety inducing moments. Mistakes happen, the mighty fall, but they get back up again to fight the more important battles, like deadlines and sleep deprivation.
