Opinions
September 9, 1999
3
Freshman survival guide
The summer is over. It’s time
to say good-bye to your friends and
kiss your folks because it’s finally
your turn to go into the big bad
world. You’ve graduated high
school and you are now a college
student. Yeah for you... now the fun
stuff starts.
Can’t you just feel it? There
is an electric spark in the air. All of
your senses are heightened. A tin
gling starts in the back of your head
and races across your brain like a
forest fire. The only way you, a
freshman; inexperienced with this
sensation, can express this new feel
ing is with the word “FREEDOM!”
Finally, the time has
come when there are no
parents breathing down
Chuck Buckley
The Pendulum
bucka5c0@elon.edu
your neck. No one telling
you when to come home or
keeping track of what you
do. You have got a chance to start
over with a clean slate. You have a
chance to remake yourself. You just
found the reset button on this game
we call life.
This college scene is just
waiting to recognize you as it’s lord
and god. This entire campus is wait
ing for you to claim it. All you have
to do is thrust your way into every
thing you can.
Now before you go sticking
things in places that du*y don’t be
long, ihere are cetain things that
you need to know. These are little
suppositories of knowledge to get
you off on the right foot and hiake
sure that your college career is as
fulfilhng as it is supposed lO be. We
can ’t have you guys running around
in a drunken, nakwd stupor just be
cause the leash has been taken off.
First thing you’ ve go! to do is
ask yourself this question, “What
do I want to get out of college?” The
answer is gomg lo be different for
everybody. It could be learning a
skill, getting a good resume, drink
ing more beer than anyone you
know, doing everything you can to
futher your career goals or to have
mind-bending sex.
The point is, whatever your
goals, college is supposed to be a
time of change. You are going to
grow into a totally different person
from who you are now.
Right now is the last time you
will be able to call yourself a kid. In
four short years you are going to be
an adult. College is the time when
you - are - supposed to learn* about
yourself, find out what you like and
what you want to do with the life
you’ve been given.
The only way to grow prop
erly is if you keep everything in
balance: social, academic and per
sonal. Only if you have a proper
balance in these things can you
grow.
That being said, let me offer
you some advice to get through this
first year of the greatest time of
your life.
Tip #1 Go out as many times
as you can in the next two weeks. I
don’t care if your academics take a
hit or two (small hits) but you have
I got to get out
there and be seen
by people and
talk to everyone.
You need to
make friends
|now!
The people
Jat this school
have an amazing
tendency to start
building walls
and closing themselves off after
about two weeks. In all probability,
the peole that you are friends with
by the end of the first month of
school will be the friends that you
have the rest of your college career.
Unless you are doing a major
homework assignment, you need to
be out there. If you are naturall) a
shy person, just grab your suite
mates, find a party and do the best
you can. For the next two weuk^^
there is no excuse for watching tcit
vision or sitting around and doing
nothing. Get out oi the dorm!
Tip #2 The grades that you
get during your freshman year will
more than likely be the theme for
the rest of your time here. If you
start to get failing grades this first
semester, the odds are against you
improving them. Don’t lose all
hope if you get bad grades, if yoi=
exert yourself you can pull them up
I had a GPA of 1.67 at the end of my
freshman year, now, at the begin
ning of my fifth year, I have a GPA
of 3.1 and 131 credit hours.
Just one final reminder, your
parents still receive your grades
during your freshman year. That
won’t change, so party in modera
tion, that is, after this next two week
period.
Tip #3 Get yourself involved
in an organization. There are many
reasons for this. You meet people,
it looks good on your resume and
sometimes you can even get work
experience.
Now when I say organization
I do not mean a Greek organization.
At the end of this semester, you
freshman are going to be approached
by many Greeks asking that you
rush their group. Don’t do it. Wait.
Deciding to be Greek is a lifelong
commitment. It’s not a decision
that you make in haste. Take your
time and decide which group has
the most to offer you, then after the
entire freshman year, if you think
it’s right, rush. Don’t worry the
Greek system will still be there when
you make your decision.
Tip #4 Economize you time,
money and space. I’m not going to
say anything about this because the
only way you’re going to figure it
out is if you do it right the first time
or learn from your mistakes. TIME,
MONEY, and SPACE.
Tip #5 “Beware the Fuzz.”
For the next couple of weeks the
police are going to be coming down
extra hard. They are working off
the philosophy that if you hit a dog
hard enough the first time it does
something wrong you don’t have to
worry about it doing it again. So if
you are planning on doing some
thing illegal, be careful of the cops.
Nothing says to your parents
that you’re a responsible adult than
getting a citation your first week of
school.
I'm not going to say avoid the
bar and party scene, but I can almost
promise there will be a raid within
the next week.
After that the cops will ease
back a bit, but still remember that
except for maybe two or three
people, all freshman are underage.
Tip #6 Your friends at home
are far away. Keep them that way.
Most of your friends are go
ing thiough ilic same thing that you
arc, meetmg new people, getting
used to new routines and generally
taking their first steps into'the next
chapter of theirlives. Don t inter
fere with thai; process.
It is self-destructive for you
to go to other colleges or home
every weekend to visit your friends,
girl/boyfriend or your parents. You
need to be here at Elon, both physi
cally and mentally. People that go
someplace else during their free time
tend to drop out after the first year.
On a similar note, long dis
tance relationships aren’t the easi
est things to keep going. I’m not
saying they don’t work, but I
wouldn’t bet on it.
All in all freshman year is a
good time, but it’s a lot of hard
work. It will test you in every way,
but you’ll make it if you keep a
positive attitude and keep everthing
balanced.
... - Welcome to Elon.
Fightin' Christian?
Did you feel a twinge of
shame the first time you told your
family that you were a Fightin’
Christian?
Do you secretly envy your
friends because their universities
boast ferocious cartoon mascots?
Do you long to call yourself
a Wolverine, Gator or Blue Devil?
If so, you have a lot to learn
about what it means to be
Fightin’ Christian.
On the surface, the
term “Fightin’ Christian”
seems to be an oxymo-
Rich Blomquist
The Pendulum
blomr7d0@elon.edu
ron.
According to the
Bible, a good Christian is
supposed to love thy
neighbor, not fight him. Right?
Wrong. In medieval times,
Christians set an important prece
dent when they decided that the
word “neighbor” should be inter
preted only as “one living in a
house directiy adjacent to
your own.”
Medieval
Christians took full
advantage of this
biblical loophole
and kicked ass ev
ery chance they
got.
When
belligerent
Muslims
control of Jeru..;
em in the year 1095, Pope Urban II
called for a great Christian Cru
sade to free the Holy Land.
More than 25,000 Euiopeai;
Christians went to Jerusalem anu
kicked ass. When the fighting wa.^
over, all of the city’s Muslims auu
Jews had either been killed or dri vor-,
out.
The Christians loved fight
seizc(
ing so much that they started seven
more Crusades and kicked ass for
nearly 200 years.
It is in this spirit that we call
ourselves “The Fightin’ Christians”
here at Elon.
Our school’s moniker is
nothing to be ashamed of.
Instead, take pride in being
the best Fightin’ Christian that you
can be.
If you ever
meet someone
who has a dtffer-
eni religion than
youi' own, punch
hint’
If he has
something that
you want, knock
him down and
take it from him!
That’s what
a good Fightin’
Christian would do.
As long as your victim
doesn’t live next-door to you,
you’re still going to heaven.
And if the police give you
any trouble, just tell them that
you’re operating under the au
thority of Pope Urban II. I
They’ll under-!
stand.
All right, r 11 ad
mit that Elon’s niascot
seems a little lame'
when compared
to those other
schools.
n. li'l
get mt wrong. ac
E.
He’s just not very original.
Mr. L looks like the N trc
Lame Leprecnaun witi. a uitlei i-ni
nat and abouc 9C cxcra pl'Uau^.
What Elon C ik c.;; is
a mascot that captures if t ' ..e
r .glnin’ Christian spirit.
How about Jesus wearu.g
uoxiiig gloves? Oi periia^' '
oisliing an Uzi?
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