Dear Sister,
As a big brother it's my duty to prepare you for college, so I've decided to write you a series of letters to help you make better decisions than I. This is the first one.
For starters, let's look at your living situation. As an RA I see many roommate disagreements, the most of which come from girls. For some reason when you stick two girls into a room, one of two things is bound to happen:
A) They will become the best of friends. They do everything, literally everything together. They eat, sleep, take classes, work out, visit friends, everything together. If this doesn't happen, then we go to step B.
B) They will absolutely despise each other. First it will start off as a small quarrel. Then Girl 1 will piss Girl 2 off a little more by doing something small. Because Girl 2 is mad at Girl 1, Girl 1 will then look for things Girl 2 does that is annoying. Then it escalates from here.
Rarely does this happen for guys. I have never seen two guy roommates either join at the hip or repel like magnets. They will become friends and hang out, or they will just live with each other. The end. Guys are simple.
Secondly, in this letter I would like to tell you about parties. Ah yes, mother and father, if you're reading this your Precious Princess will indeed go to a party or twelve. I did. The thing is to be smart about it.
Now the subject of parties is a difficult thing for me to talk about, especially to my little sister. From the fraternity aspect, I have been to my fair share of parties, and maybe more. It's easy to get carried away with it though, so be careful not to become a habitual party-goer. This is where the RA in me kicks in.
Too many of my residents have gone down this road. First it starts with the Thursday night parties. Yes that's right, Thursday night. "What about class on Friday?" you might say. Well that's where unexcused absences come in. It's not uncommon for Freshmen to get "sick" their first few weeks. From Thursday it goes to Friday which, after all, you don't have anything to do Saturday so it doesn't really matter, right? Then Saturday rolls around, and of course you can do all of your work Sunday night, so you go out again. The real problem starts when other nights come into play. "Well Monday night is trivia night, so that's like learning, right?" "Oh, it's Tuesday! Karaoke Night, plus I need a break from that Monday..." ...as you can see, it just spirals out of hand.
The kids who do this generally are also the kids who get put on academic probation and who drop classes, gradually getting further and further behind. And of course there will be the occasional week where you will want to go downtown on a Tuesday night, and that's ok as long as it's only once in a while.
Another thing that will be something different for you to face than for me is what happens at parties. I've seen way too many girls who were sheltered go crazy now that mommy and daddy aren't there. And I'm not saying you're sheltered or that you're going to go crazy, but sometimes it's easier just to ignore what we know we should do and just do what seems to be fun. Don't go home with guys you've met at parties, and don't take drinks from strangers. Not to sound like a broken record, but those are things that you need to watch out for. Plus I'm your big brother, and you're not allowed to date until after you're married.
So now that I feel like a parent lecturing you about the evils of being out in the world on your own, I think it should only be fitting to tell you the truth. Here are some things you will do in college:
1) You will meet so many people it will be overwhelming for you. Some of them you'll like, some of them you'll hate, and many of them you'll forget.
2) After meeting all of these new people, you will forget virtually everyone from your high school. Sure you'll chat on facebook every now and again, but slowly you'll talk to fewer and fewer of them. Sure you'll keep a few of your close old friends near by, but even they will grow farther apart.
3) You'll meet Mr. Right, then he'll break up with you. For this all I can say is shit happens, so learn to carry roses to mask the stench. Keep good friends around and you'll be ok.
4) You'll skip class to work on something for another class. Hey, it happens. College is a lot harder than High School and you'll become a master at procrastinating, just like your older brother. Though you are smarter than I, so hopefully not.
5) You'll learn more outside of the classroom than you do in it. Yes it's true. Most of the learning that I've done here has been through my fraternity and being an RA. Get involved with things, and you'll learn so much that you'll wonder why you're taking class in the first place.
Well I feel that's sufficient rambling for one night, and as stories come up I'll be sure to write you again. As for now it's time for me to write that paper I've been putting off. See? I told you you'll learn to put off your work.
I love you,
Beast
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