Dear Incoming FSU student,
As someone who just finished up the best four years of his
life at this wonderful University we call home, I feel most compelled, and dare
I say qualified, to give you an idea of what to expect as you begin your
experience at Florida State.
____________
First of all, you’ll become yourself. High school is great,
but nobody’s really fully developed into who they’re going to be for the rest
of their life. That happens in college.
You’ll get to soak in the [sometimes] beautiful Tallahassee
weather on a scenic and constantly improving campus. Seriously, it keeps
getting better, which is incredible.
You’ll get to be a part of Seminole game day. Doak, the
Tucker Center, and Howser will be home to some of your most thrilling moments
at Florida State. There’s nothing like screaming your lungs out as you’re
united with 80,000 people you don’t know. While hopefully we’re beyond storming
the court in basketball, you know the big wins aren’t going anywhere. And
Sunday afternoons with the Animals is a great way to finish up weekends in the
spring.
You’ll be fortunate enough to use some state of the art
technology in buildings that are older than your parents.
You’ll probably eat it at least once walking to class with
like 50 people around.
You’ll live with crazy roommates in dumpy places, and miss
them both a few months into your new place.
You’ll listen to songs that will take you back to the exact
places and times you first listened to them and they’ll remind you of how your
life was when that song was all over the radio.
You’ll go to the leach and silently judge everyone in there
while pretending to be so different from them.
You’ll spend more time waiting to meet with your advisor
than you will doing anything in the
student union, even though you keep telling your friends “we should totally go
bowling sometime, isn’t it free?” (I still don’t know the answer to that
question). And then after all that waiting you’ll find out that not all
advisors are equally helpful, but each year you gain a little more respect for
them.
You’ll probably see 4 National Championships, but then again
I’m an optimist. It might take you an extra semester to graduate, so you could
be there for a fifth. Jimbo!
You’ll experience a Presidential election, and everyone’s
reaction to it.
You’ll love your major. Then you’ll hate it. By the time you
graduate, you’ll just appreciate it.
Each year you’ll pick up the new study abroad program just
to see if the prices went down like 10 grand since last year—and because this year you’re going to find a way to
make it happen. Then you’ll graduate debt free and argue with your friends that
actually went about which one of you made the right decision.
You'll take road trips to concerts and away games that will provide you with dozens of great stories.
You’ll learn many things. Most importantly, whether you like
it or not, you’ll experience a paradigm shift. The things you think about, and
the way you think about them grows as you’re forced to take classes that
challenge you. That’s what your diploma really means.
You’ll solve problems, write papers, and pass tests that
simply amaze you. Sincerely, it’s not cliché, you really are capable of far
more than you realize, and when you finally make it to that glorious finish
line, you’ll realize that. And then you’ll look back and wish you could start
it all over and do it again because the ride was so thrilling.
You’ll probably have better parking, which is awesome
because trips to Strozier were always a nightmare.
You’ll take those trips to Stroz for the dreaded group
projects everyone puts off till the night before. But you’ll stay up all night
and somehow figure out a way to make it happen. And you and your partner will
be so proud of what you made together, even though it’s a pretty sad
production.
You’ll read books, watch movies, and discover standup
comedians that change the way you think about everything, and lead to
conversations you didn’t know could even exist.
Of course, best of all, you’ll meet some of the most
incredible people a body could ever come across. Fellow students, teachers, TAs
(which are really a combination of the two, but they feel like neither to you),
coworkers, landlords, cops, athletes, parents, acquaintances, bartenders, and
tons of others will make some impact on your college experience. You’ll share
moments, hours, nights, laughs, cigarettes, answers, and spots on those wobbly
bleachers at Doak with all these crazy folks who have so little and yet so much
in common with you. They’ll come and go over the years. Some you’ll see around,
others you won’t. And one day you’ll look back, remember them, and just be
truly grateful for how they were a small part of your life. You’ll wonder if
they ever think about you, but regardless, you’re just glad they have that
unique place in your memory.
But then again, maybe you won’t. Your experience will
probably be nothing like that, but I’m sure it will be just as magnificent. My
only real tip: enjoy the ride. Soak it up, because it doesn’t get much better
than being a student at the Florida State University!
Unless you’re an alumni,
-Zac Howard, Class of 2014
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