College Experience Week: Jennifer Shaw Wolf’s First Day Of College Story!

My First Day of College

Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Okay, I’m going way back here ( I won’t say how far back), but there are a few things I remember about my first day of college. By the first day, I had already figured out that my math class needed to be changed. Then when I went to my first day of my ballroom dance class, I found out I was supposed to have signed up with a partner. That meant I had to find a partner, or drop the class. The idea of trying to change classes and finding a dance partner when I was so new to everything kind of terrified me. I needed a game plan.

I went to the library between classes to come up with a plan. The first thing I did was access the on-line student directory. (Facebook and Twitter have nothing on the old Ricks college on-line student directory for stalker-ability.) You had to be in the library to access it, but once you were in, all you needed was the student’s name and possibly birthdate (if it was a really common name) and voila, you had that person’s address, phone number and their entire school schedule. (I’m told that’s been changed.) Anyway, within a few minutes I had located the schedule of a cute guy I had met and gone out with twice over the summer. (I moved out the summer after high school, but didn’t start taking classes until fall.) I found an acceptable alternative to my math class in the same building and at the same time he had class and decided to ask him to be my partner for the ballroom class.
(picture of Jennifer in college above)

I got to the building early and waited near his class, but I didn’t see him. (Okay now that I write this down it sounds kind of desperate.) Luckily, the class I had decided on had room for me and on the way out of the building I saw him! Even better, when I was trying to figure how to bring up the ballroom dance thing, he asked me if I would go running with him that night, the perfect chance to ask about the dance class. Score!
When the time rolled around to go running, three of my roommates saw me getting ready and decided to come too. Note: This is a common thing; the first day of the semester, “we’re going to go running every day after class and fight the freshman fifteen” thing. (It usually lasts until week two or three when homework and social life get in the way of staying in shape.) It wasn’t quite the romantic, running together date that I had planned, but at least I was going in with support.
Long story short, I asked the cute guy to be my partner for the dance class and he said… “I have a gymnastics class at that same time. It’s a lot of fun and there are some cute girls in that class.” WHAT??? (I ended up going through three partners before I finally had to drop the ballroom dance class, but that’s another story.)
However, I continued running with this guy way after all my roommates stopped coming with us and we ended up getting married. SUCESSS!

(Jennifer’s YA Novel “Breaking Beautiful”)

I’m not sure if there is any good advice for anyone in this story, (or if it just makes me sound like a boy-crazed freshman). In the way of advice, I’d say enjoy your time at college, it’s not all about grades, but it’s not all about the social stuff either. LOVE IT! Don’t stress! This might be “real life” but you have a lot of years of living ahead to get it right. Oh, and keep running after all your roommates drop out, because the freshman fifteen is real.

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Thanks so much Jennifer for being apart of College Experience week I have really enjoyed this story of your first day at college! I will definitely keep on running and exercising when my classmates drop out haha. I do not want to gain the dreaded “Freshman 15”. What did you guys think of her story? Be sure to let her know in the comments section!






AND THIS CONCLUDES THE END OF COLLEGE EXPERIENCE WEEK, thanks to everyone who has participated! I hope everyone had a blast!