If, like me, you grew up with that constant longing to live a life like the characters from your favourite movies, you’ll know that living the life of a college student was the one true goal.
In movies, such as American Pie 2, Pitch Perfect, and Bad Neighbours, we’re shown that college is all about partying, skipping lectures, and having the time of your life. While in some cases those things can be true, you’ll usually find that, after spending just one semester in college, most of these movies lied to you about college life.
Accommodation:
Movies: Your new dorm room will be the size of a miniature apartment. You’ll get more than enough space for all your belongings, even that giant-ass speaker that you’ll use for multiple parties where your dorm room can fit upwards of 50 people. Once decorated, your room will look like it came straight from Pinterest with a million fairy lights and hundreds of photos of your seventy best friends.
Reality: You’ll find that when you walk into your ‘new’ bedroom, you’ll be delighted that it at least includes a desk. You’ll have enough wardrobe space to fit about half of the clothes you brought with you, and end up shoving the rest onto a tiny shelf. Your idea of decorating is filling the room with empty naggins, and cans of cider.
Lectures:
Movies: You’ll never go to any classes or lectures that you have, yet you somehow still manage to get outstanding grades. Doing college work is a nuisance and all it does is get in the way of your partying and drinking.
Reality: In real life this is not the case and you will indeed fail if you decide to not attend any of your classes.
Money:
Movies: Money is never a worry. You’ll always have enough to spend endless amounts of it on alcohol, party decorations, and drugs.
Reality: Meanwhile, money is a constant worry. You overthink about buying anything and wonder if that €5 pizza will set you back. Although the only similarity is that you also spend endless amounts of money on alcohol.
Partying:
Movies: College is basically one big party. If you go one day without so much as a social gathering of some kind, you’ll wonder if maybe you’ll stop functioning as a human being and become a lonely hermit instead. Sex, drugs, and alcohol is the motto when it comes to partying for you.
Reality: While parties in college are a weekly thing, they’re much more low-key than what you’ll find in movies. What consists of a party for you, is getting polluted in a session from Lidl’s finest vodka and a 7up mixer with a few people before heading out to a nightclub. You’ll come crawling back to your room, and end up passing out with the remains of your garlic and cheese chips around your mouth.
In reality, college is a lot of reading, writing, being insanely stressed out, and being miserable at times. But it’s also a lot of fun, a lot of learning, and a lot of new experiences that could be the greatest things that ever happen to you.
Katrina Gaynor