Williams Village North Hall Dorms (Courtesy of the University of Colorado Boulder)
Alexia: Hi! I’m Alexia Bailey, a freshman here at CU Boulder. While I may just be getting started, I’m here to share everything I’ve picked up so far, which is a surprising amount of information. “What’s Eating at Alexia” is my unofficial and unfiltered guide to some of the things that being a CU Boulder Buff brings. Think of it as your guide to navigating everything that makes CU Boulder, well, CU Boulder. Whether you’re a freshman finding your footing or a senior with “no body, no crime” level grievances about finals week, I’m here to share my takes, tips and honest observations on everything from the sometimes-unpredictable Buff Bus system to navigating campus protests (or dodging them entirely). College is a wild, unforgettable ride, and “What’s eating at Alexia” is here to make sense of some of it, one opinion at a time.
As the school year comes to a quiet end, I feel it’s as good a time as any to reflect on the past year.
Personally, I feel both like the same person and someone completely different. A school year does that to you, changing you at the surface while leaving the core of who you are intact. My first year at the University of Colorado Boulder has certainly done that to me. With all the growth and lessons this year has brought, I feel it’s only right to share some of what I’ve learned – both the frustrations and the wisdom – with those about to begin their own journey.
This is because, my dearest readers, I must say that I believe I was put on this Earth for two reasons. First, to complain about the distance between Kittredge Loop and the Armory building (seriously, what the heck?) And second, to give advice and helpful words to those who need it most. This is exactly why, again, I feel inclined to let incoming freshmen know exactly what they’re in for.
For starters, the first two weeks of school in late August will be a whirlwind. They’ll knock you off your feet and leave you feeling so homesick that you’ll find yourself staring longingly at Kitt Pond, wishing you could go home. Orientation will feel both exciting and boring all at once. You’ll quickly either grow super close with your roommate or begin to regret going random.
But after all of this newness fades, a new feeling will creep in: independence. You’ll start to find your rhythm. You’ll discover the Hill during this time, and the morning after will be spent in bed, regretting some of the choices you made the night before. And by October, classes will start getting intense. Midterms will feel like you’ve been personally dropped into Dante’s “Inferno,” and you’ll somehow learn to speed-read 30 pages of dense academic jargon in an hour and a half. After midterms, you’ll discover that CU Boulder’s version of fall lasts approximately 3.5 days before the first snow starts falling, and your mental health will almost certainly be tragically underprepared. By November, you’ll have both found your people and lost some, too. You might experience your first major roommate drama (or, if you’re unlucky like I was, your roommate might just move out one day without warning.) It’ll feel strange and unsettling, but you’ll adapt.
Know that winter break will feel like a deep breath you didn’t know you were holding. You’ll go home, sleep for fourteen hours a day, and realize that maybe, just maybe, you actually miss Boulder a little. You might even slip up and call Boulder “home” when referencing it to friends or family. But deep down, you’ll know that what you missed most were your people at home, and that’s okay, too.
The spring semester will sneak up on you faster than you think. January will be a blur of snow, slipping off the Buff Buses, and convincing yourself that this will be the semester you stay on top of your work (spoiler: you won’t.) By March, the idea of spring break will feel like a lifeline, and you’ll cling to it with everything you’ve got.
Before you know it, April will hit, and suddenly everything will feel like it’s moving way too fast. You’ll blink and find yourself packing up a year’s worth of memories and an alarming amount of CU Boulder merch into two suitcases. You’ll walk to the Armory one last time, already starting to miss the mile-long trek you once swore you hated. You’ll say goodbye to your freshman-year roommate, pack up the last of your stuff and mourn the whole drive home.
And I think – no, I know – that a small part of you will miss freshman year for the rest of your life.
You’ll miss the feeling of awe the first time you see Ralphie charge across the field.
You’ll miss your roommate explaining “Zoroastrianism” to you at midnight on a random Tuesday.
You’ll miss the Center for Community, not the food, but the people within.
This is because we spend so much of our time being miserable in the moment that when we finally look back, all of it feels achingly bittersweet. And that’s the magic of it.
Dearest Darlingest Reader, if I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this: savor it. Savor the nights you spend laughing until 3 a.m. and the mornings you spend eating breakfast with your close friends. Savor the classes that challenge you, the friendships that change you and even the mistakes that teach you. Because one day, you’ll look back and realize that freshman year wasn’t just two semesters; it was the beginning of a story you’ll be proud to tell. And trust me, you’ll miss it more than you can even imagine right now.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Alexia Bailey at alexia.bailey@colorado.edu
