By Emily Money

As we all know, the first days of school are very different as you get older and into different grades. There are not nearly as many “get to know each other” games, and much more actual work and homework. School seems to get harder as it progresses. Is that true even in college?

To find out, we asked some recent Central grads about their first days of college, and it does seem to get better.

For example, Sydney Zelenak, freshman at the University of Michigan, had a great first day. “It’s so much more relaxing than high school. Professors are not as scary as I thought they would be, even at a big school!” stated Zelenak. “I love being in an environment where everyone wants to learn.”

Rebecca Noeske, also a freshman at the University of Michigan, commented on the good, the bad, and the ugly of college. “It was busy, to say the least. I thought taking only four classes would be a break from high school, but it’s actually a lot of work. My very first day after classes, I spent a good 4 hours studying and doing homework. But it’s definitely nice in that I can basically determine my own schedule and drop or add classes as I see fit,” said Noeske. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I’m sure it will be a rewarding process!”

Taylor Haggerty, freshman at the University of Indiana, had an enjoyable first week. “Classes were a lot different from high school; it was all business, right from the start. We didn’t do icebreakers or attendance, and the syllabus we had to print off is actually one of the most important documents. College is interesting, mostly because you’re a lot more independent than you used to be. There isn’t a parent telling me to get up or I’ll be late – it’s just me and the alarm I set, and I have to hope I have enough time to get anything together,” stated Haggerty.

“Overall, it’s been pretty exciting. It’s definitely different, but I don’t mind.” Dan Geoffrey, freshman at Michigan State University, said about his first few weeks, “I’ve run into a lot of old faces from Central but I’ve made plenty of new friends along the way as well.

I’ve started a new job at the MSU library and overall I’m pretty excited to see how the rest of the year goes. The campus is more like a self-contained city than a school, and it was a little hard to adjust to having to bike down busy streets just to get to class, but it’s actually kind of fun too. The first few weeks have been pretty fun.”

It seems there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe college will give us something to look forward to.