I remember a few years ago (seems so recent and yet so long ago) when I first started college. I was so excited! I was going to be fashionable, make lots of friends, do fun things, get great grades, lose weight, party, work, and blah blah blah. And, to be fair, freshman year I did do most of that -I lived in the dorms, which makes it easy to make friends. I still dressed like a goth girl, and wore make up daily. I went out at all hours of the night, doing stupid things like walk by myself past midnight in a notoriously bad part of town. I didn't lose weight, and since I didn't study, I didn't get good grades. I did alright. And I definitely partied, if by "party" you mean got drunk on Pabst all night with some guys I wasn't exactly friends with but were fun to drink with. Oh boy, my grades suffered that term!
College is nothing like you see in movies. Not that I've seen a lot of movies about college; not really my taste. But still, we have this ideal that the girls are hot and dress up, the guys are cool, everybody's in a frat or sorority, everybody has wiiiiild parties, big football games, school spirit, rah rah rah, you know the cliches. I'm telling you, none of that is true. This is the first in a We'll-See-When-I-Get-Bored-Of-It series explaining what college is really like for me, an Average Student :)
So, what's it like being a college student? For one, everybody's pretty damn poor. Everyone I know has money problems -student loans, FAFSA (the biggest bullshit you'd ever believe), rent, books, you name it. I don't know ANYONE who can afford to regularly party, do drugs, drink, wear fancy clothes, drive nice cars, go places, buy the most recent electronics, or eat regularly/healthily.
Seriously. College is all about staving off complete destitution long enough to graduate. On a typical Saturday night, if I ask myself, "What do I want to do today?" the answer is something along the lines of "I have 37 cents. Let's stay home and sleep." Right now, after rent and before payday, I have a total of $8.50 to live off of. If I'm going to eat, it's whatever's in my freezer or cabinets
I'm vegetarian, so I don't have to worry about buying that expensive "meat" other people crave. I just buy frozen vegetables on sale, and rice in bulk, so when supplies get low, I can make a tasty stir fry and rice dish. Or I can make just rice and veggies. Or rice and cheese. Cheese is a common college staple, along with tortillas, eggs, milk, cereal, chips, popsicles, potatoes, pasta, butter, cookies, and a huge bag of baking chips. In our house, we thrive primarily on bagels and cream cheese. Two weeks' worth of groceries costs me usually about $30, if I go somewhere cheap like Winco.
Obviously a diet based largely on boxed foods, frozen foods, preserved foods, grease, salt, sugar, and fat is NOT healthy. Hence, the Freshmen 15, the Sophomore 25, the Junior 35, and the Senior 45. At least if you go to Grad School, you'll be too stressed out to eat. Anyway, all this poverty puts the stereotypical college food Pizza out of our range. Sometimes salad is affordable, and when it is, I get that.
Thanks to this poverty, college students LOVE free stuff. Just today, I picked up a half-broken, wobbly old stereo cabinet that my neighbor was giving away. I was stoked! I can use it to store some of my crap. My roommate's mom got us a killer free coffeetable a few weeks ago. Basically, if it's in even remotely usable condition, and you can get it home, if it's free, a college student will jump on that like flies on shit and drag it home. You can figure out what to do with it once you've got it home.
Similarly, I love deals. I will nitpick for the best deals in Winco. I won't buy things I don't really want, or usually need, but I can spend fifteen minutes deciding on which box of pasta gives the most bang for buck. Coupons? Awesome! What I won't do to save 15 cents a pound. Your standards, when you're a poor college student, also take a dive. It usually goes name brand > store brand > generic brand > sub-generic brand. Winco sells stuff that is literally called "Cat Clay." "Cat Food." "Dog Food." It's a plain white or yellow bag with black lettering. For me, I can handle the sub-generic brand stuff usually, although I won't buy stuff that tastes nasty. And I won't buy my pets anything less than store brand.
Being poor as I am, I did get rid of cable, and I'm on the cheapest internet (still expensive). I take advantage of every deal I can. Thrift stores and Old Navy are great for cheap deals. I won't spend more than $10 for a shirt, and no more than $20 for pants. Actually, thrift stores rock in general. So much shit for so cheap! Unfortunately, there are better thrift stores back in my hometown than my new town. Subsequently, I have a hard time throwing anything away. "Oh, clothes that don't fit me? Hrm...I could lose weight! They only have one hole in them." You get it. I make an excuse to keep everything.
The worst part of being a poor college student, though, is the working. You have to work to pay for your life, but working interferes with school. Yes, students who work are better at time management, but my job is infuriatingly inflexible. I can't afford to quit, especially with the promise of full-time employment right after graduation, but I will never graduate if I can't take core classes because they interfere with my work schedule. It's such an annoying conundrum.
But, the upside to this destitution is the creativity that you have to draw from the depths of your soul. You'll find yourself making strange meals that are surprisingly delicious. You'll find some use for the torn up old robe you kept for some reason (it's our bathroom curtains). An old fishbowl is now a pot for a plant. Nothing to do? Let's clean. Let's sleep. Or, let's study. Hate your job? Think of it as the place with free AC or heat. Plus, if you're really looking for something to do, you can go to free school events.
Yes, the college life is a constant battle of being completely broke, getting paid, paying rent, and being broke again. And if you're like me, the poverty will carry on after graduation thanks to a huge debt left by student loans that are only growing interest. Such is life, and college is great training for how to be poor. It's even actually pretty fun sometimes!
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