This weekend, nearly 60,000 students are moved into their overpriced, temporary homes – dorms and derelict off-campus housing alike – preparing for a new semester or a first year at The Ohio State University.
Parents have said their goodbyes, High Street has come back to life, and somebody has inevitably been kicked out already.
No fucking way are there this many of you from Maine!
— Toos Under High (@ToosUnderHigh) August 20, 2016
Nearly three years ago to the day, I arrived at the moat of Morrill Tower as a terrified freshman who knew not one soul among my 60,000 classmates. I spent my first weekend trying desperately to find something to do with someone – anyone.
Today, I confidently strolled around campus with two of my closest friends, handing sticky notes with a handwritten "welcome" on them to anyone who appeared to be a freshman, in an effort to elicit as much long-term confusion as possible in a relatively harmless (maybe even positive?) way.
first day in college and already witnessed a man get arrested #new2OSU
— Matthew (@matt_galla) August 21, 2016
I'm now a senior redshirt junior, and coming back to campus feels quite a bit different than it did my first year. I no longer have to go to awkward lunches with people I don't know as a desperate attempt to find friends. I no longer have have to approach total strangers with a football like a lost kid at recess. I no longer have to feel pressured to drink the "trippy juice" being offered to me by the kid on my floor who never even made it to a class before being expelled.
You know you're in college when you open one of your dressers and there's a sock with weed on it #new2osu
— Monica Wasef (@monicawasef) August 21, 2016
I've found my place here. I've made this enormous and debaucherous place my home. But when you step on this campus after being away for a while, it has a way of always making it feel like it's your first time. The Orton Hall chimes sound a little more musical, the oval looks a little greener, and Pearl Alley smells a little less like the urine of a homeless man.
Me and Suhay just casually taking shots in dorms by ourselves #new2osu
— Tristan Rooney (@tristan_rooney) August 21, 2016
Coming back reminds me that this University is far more than just a fine academic institution with a great football team – it's home. It's a place of endless memories and nowhere near enough sleep. It's a place where you'll never forget, and you'll always come back. It's a place where yelling profanities at a state to the north while wading in a frozen pond is a perfectly reasonable way to spend a Tuesday night in November.
In CVS and sees a guy running from inside then notice he has a beer in his hand, then I watch him throw up EVERYTHING 10 inches from my foot
— Darby-Marie (@DarbyMarie85) August 20, 2016
Update: Man is now laying on the ground screaming in pain #new2osu
— Darby-Marie (@DarbyMarie85) August 20, 2016
So if you're a first year student excitedly terrified of your next four years, welcome home. If you're returning to campus for another year of unforgettable memories (and class, of course), welcome back. If you're 30 years removed from all of this and would do anything to do it all over again, you're never too old to come back and let this campus win you over one more time – it'll never disappoint.
First day at Ohio State and I just met an Australian wearing a cape. 10/10, would transfer again.
— Cam Rentsch (@camrentsch) August 20, 2016
