10 Things You Learn In Your First Month of College

College life isn't the dream I hoped it would be, but nevertheless I have to spend the next four years at least at college. These are the things I have realized in my first one and a half months at KGP.

1. Saving Water : There is absolutely no need to bathe everyday. Bathe once in two or three days. This way you save water and you save time (and there will be less clothes for you to wash). In a way many of us are environmentalists dedicated to conserving water. If you ever feel you are smelling, deodorants are there for you.
   
2. Clothes : Track pants and shorts are a blessing. I know a guy who doesn't ever wear jeans. He wears shorts in the hostel and for classes, he just puts on track pants over the shorts. Again this is a nice way to save time ( In college it seems as if we are always running to reach class on time. Time-saving tricks are always useful).
3. Food : If you eat mess food everyday you are going to fall ill. I don't know if that has actually happened to someone, but that is how everyone will feel about mess food. It doesn't matter if you are at a private college or a 'sarkari' college. And don't ever be fooled by the mess menu. Even our menu looks good on paper. I wish it looked equally good on my plate.

   

   This is called a Sandwich

4. Staying Up : This is something everyone learns ( even those who have a habit of waking up early :-P). You will be playing music, watching movies or playing games late into the night when it's not exam time. And even if you want to sleep, your friends won't let you. Honey Singh is the chief culprit ( It's easy to connect your laptop to a loud external speaker).
5. Pranks : This is the fun part of life ( as long as someone doesn't play a prank on you :-P). In the last month, ive seen so many pranks, locking people in their rooms, locking roomies out of the room when they've gone to bathe, prank calls ( beware, don't ever be intimated by a call or an email, it might just be your roomie :-P) and ..... (this list could go on forever, so i'm ending it here). Here's one example of a revenge :

   

   Revenge

6. Proffesors : I don't know if everyone has this problem or is it just me but, i really find classes very boring. The proffesors here are highly qualified ( I've gone through the CV of each of my proffesors, and I must say, they are also exceptionally talented in their respective fields), but somehow we just don't feel it when they are teaching us.
7. Seniors : You will have to respect your seniors if you want peace ( don't give too much respect and become a favourite, that way you will be ragged even more. It's all about maintaing the right balance). And also remember one year senior in college and one year senior in school are two diferent things. In college there is a huge gap between first and second years, I never felt my seniors in school were so far ahead of me).
8. Roomies : Your roomies are your best friends and your worst enemies. This is the truth of life. They will take care of you when you are sick, and when you are ok, they'll be busy plotting pranks against you. They may leak out your secrets or if you've really angered them, take pictures of you sleeping with your pillow. But they will be the ones you'll spend a lot of time with. And if you get good roomies, you are really lucky.
   
9. Complains : For the people who've moved out of their homes for the first time, it's time you learn this reality. No one is going to do their work till you remind them hundreds of times and submit the correct applications and lodge complains and speak out ( repetitive use of 'and' is intended). One of the drains behind our hostel was blocked, we complained and the drain was cleared, but the rubbish was dumped on the road. So now we have to complain again. The sweeper will finish his job in 5 minutes if you don't remind him to clean the corners. It's hard to get used to this system.
10. Lastly and most importantly, you will miss your family. In school you may have dreamed of running away to a far away college and enjoying yourself, but in college, all you want to do is go home as soon as you can. At home you'll get good food and a clean bed and your family will treat you differently. In college, you are going to miss your family a lot. It is always an advantage to be in a college close to your hometown.

This is what college life has been about (for me). Do comment what your college life was like. Thank You.

By Photo taken by de:Benutzer:Alex Anlicker using a Nikon Coolpix 950. (Own work Source: [1]) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Saugato Banerjee (Scanned image. Personally taken after permission.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons