As thousands of new students prepare to descend upon the several mile square patch of concrete that barely contains Richmond's monolithic public university, "What's An Azalea" weblog has some advice for those new to the ways of Richmond and life as a college student.
Alternately insightful and eye-rollingly amusing, the advice is not only reasonably on-target but reminds me how little has changed since I was a scrawny straight-edged freshman hanging out in a very different Shafer Court. A few choice bits:
- If you are a young female and any boys start hitting on you as you walk through the compass area do not have sex with them. Hold out on having sex with anyone that is straight edge, period.
- Renting a house with roommates will also be in many cases cheaper than dorms. Get out of dorms ASAP you will lead a more fulfilling life, and probably save money.
- Are you Crazy??? Go to the commons, upstairs to the counseling center and get free counselors, psychiatrists, group therapy, etc. They are high quality and professional. Then you take the prescription they offer you over to student health and get it filled for way way cheap. You will never again in your life have access to free therapy, and if you think you don’t need it then you’re crazy, which means Go!
Ah, student health.
I remember well the autumn of 1989. I was working four jobs (full-time editor of the student paper, part-time PR hack for the university, part-time City Desk intern at the Times-Dispatch, and an almost full-time dairy clerk at Ukrop's) and taking five classes. I weighed 135 pounds, drank about two gallons of coffee every day and was sleeping about three hours a night.
I found myself in the Student Health Center looking for some of the free meds mentioned above (for allergies, hello) and the nurse asked what was going on in my life. I told her. She was livid about the student load deal and immediately got on the phone. An hour later, I had my fat check.
A month later, I was eating better and drinking better beer at the Village Cafe, but I was still working four jobs. I ended that semester with an A in Dr. Messmer's historiography class and four F's.
Despite the fact that I was working like a mad man, I was broke and my student loan application had been rejected.
