Freshman year: a year of wide-eyed wonder filled with non-stop new experiences. Truly, an overwhelming time for many students who are living on their own for the first time. It’s nice to have a little help during the fledgling year of the college experience.
So, from a semi-jaded senior to all you innocent young freshmen, here is some advice to help you out these next four years.
Explore the land
As a freshman, you most certainly are not confined to the Bradley campus. Laura Bradley Park, across the street from the Renaissance Coliseum, is a wonderful park complete with tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a frisbee golf course, basketball hoops and tons of beautiful landmarks (both natural and manmade) just waiting to be discovered.
If you go past Fredonia and take a walk down Moss you can find some of the most beautiful homes you will ever see; there is even a Frank Lloyd Wright house that will rock your architectural socks off.
Of course, you aren’t only limited to where your feet can take you. There is a bus stop right outside of Harper that travels to the mall and other shopping centers, which is especially helpful if you don’t know anyone that has a car.
Your dorm room and the library aren’t the only quiet places to study
Bradley University is chock full of secluded areas that are perfect for quiet studying alone or with friends. The Student Center basement is full of study rooms.
The Alumni Center is almost always empty and has some of the comfiest chairs on campus. Unfortunately, it closes at 6 p.m., so you won’t be able to pull any all-nighters there.
The newly renovated Westlake Hall is not only gorgeous on the inside, but it is also the perfect place to get some work done, especially with the abundance of whiteboard walls.
Off-campus coffee shops like Starbucks or Leaves n’ Beans are great places to get some work done with easy access to quality caffeinated drinks and tasty snacks.
Bacci’s serves more than just pizza
This may come as a shock to some of you, but yes, a slice of pizza the size of JoJo’s hair isn’t your only choice of sustenance after a long night of getting down and dirty on Frat row (Bacci’s chicken parmesan sandwich is an amazing lining for your stomach at 2 a.m.).
The tasty food doesn’t stop there. Campustown is full of fantastic restaurants, and if you walk past the always scrumptious World of Wings, you’ll find one of the best falafel sandwiches you’ll ever have at Haddad’s.
Just be sure not to limit yourself to campus food; you can only hear “WELOME TO MOE’S” so many times before you go insane.
Most importantly: have fun
This is definitely the cheesiest of all of the advice giving, but college is “the best four years of your life maaaaan..”. A few people on your floor invite you to play scrabble with them at Perkins at 1 a.m. on a Tuesday night? Go for it, those floormates might just end up being your best friends.
Those serendipitous moments nearly always lead to a memorable time. Just don’t make a habit of doing things like that. Take it from a senior, going to bed at 4 a.m. for three weeks straight does not reflect well on your 9 a.m. class grade.
