Off Campus

Being on campus 24-7 could drive someone crazy. People stay every weekend, and I don't know how they do it. Not to mention that freshmen aren't even allowed to have cars on campus. So what are freshmen supposed to do? There are certain places that you can go that are within walking distance, but when its 10 degrees out who really wants to walk anywhere? There is transportation that the school provides which is the downtown shuttle. But no one really knows how this works. I've heard it runs every hour, but if you need to go to CVS to pick something up do you need to wait another hour to get picked up? Then there is always the dreaded bus. It took a lot of convincing to make my friends take the bus with me. Because other than having your own car it is the easiest way to get around.

Staying on campus all day everyday kind of gives me the feeling of spring fever. I think about places that I can go off campus, such as the mall, a restaurant, or even Boston and I get that anxious feeling just like you get spring fever. You are stuck inside all winter, and the only time you go outside in the freezing cold is when you have to go somewhere. So that feeling of being outside in the warm spring weather is well worth the three month winter wait. But I think the feeling of staying on campus is even worse than that. The dorms are tiny and stuffy, the food is terrible, and seeing the same buildings and faces everyday gets really boring.

Even if freshman were allowed to have cars on campus its a pain because there is never anywhere to park. Granted a car gives you an escape. But I don't know how people afford it. College is expensive enough, but then you have to make car payments, pay insurance and for gas. How do people do it? Next year I still won't have a car, unless I get a job because I will need to buy a new car. My car at home that my sister has been using died this week.

My friends and I try to get off campus as much as possible. But it isn't always that simple. It is a special occasion whenever we can leave Salem during the week. It is a treat, even if we are just going to Target to pick up some shampoo.

Always Sick

Being sick is never fun. But when your at school away from home it only makes it worse. Last week I started to feel sick on Friday. Being sick is pretty much the story of my life. I get sick more than anyone I know. Whenever there is something going around I get it every single time. It never fails. So I could feel it coming on, and I decided to play soccer on Sunday anyways. Not a good idea.

When I got back to school on Monday it only got worse. When I get sick I always get a little bit of everything. It started out with a cough, then a sore throat and fever, and finally got to my sinuses. I missed at least one class everyday that week. Sitting through class coughing irritates not only myself but everyone else around me.

It was getting pretty bad, and since the dorms are so stuffy I decided to go home for the night on Wednesday to see if that would help at all. For as sick as I get and how often it happens I HATE going to the doctors. But when I got back I decided it was finally time to go to health services. Enough was enough, I was only getting worse and I was missing too much work.

Health services was actually pretty helpful. They gave me a prescription, but I don't have a car so it was a pain to get filled. That medicine helped my sinuses, but my cough continued so my mom made me go to my doctor who 'knows my history.' So after getting more medicine I am still sick. Nothing ever helps. I just have to wait it out like always.

Deposit

Last week housing deposits were due. Its simple, if you don't pay by the deadline you don't get housing. The cut off was February 11th at 5:00. So not knowing what I am going to do next year I panicked when I woke up that morning. I didn't pay yet, nor did I have $225 to pay. I had no idea what to do.I know that I don't want to stay at Salem, there is nothing great that is keeping me here. But I don't really have any other options right now. Going into college I didn't really look around enough, and now I'm trying to do it again and its still not working.

Recently I got a call from my best friend who goes to Fitchburg. She wants to transfer down to a school in Florida and wants me to go with her! How is that an offer that anyone could pass up? Florida is where I have wanted to go for a long time. Its actually where I want to move when I graduate. I am just too scared right now to leave my friends and family behind. So as appealing as that idea sounds to me right now is just not the right time.

So where does that leave me? I have no idea. I ended up running to an ATM that morning to take out the money. If I didn't pay the deposit and didn't find another school to go to I was screwed for next year. So I just payed it. I'm still going to look around at other schools, even though I have none in mind right now. We'll see what happens.

FOOD

It is no surprise that cafeteria food doesn't taste good. But unfortunately freshmen have no kitchen, and are required to buy the full meal plan. With that you get 2 meals a day in the downstairs dining hall, where nothing is good except the stir fry and that is if you feel like waiting in line for an hour to get it. Then you get $200 for upstairs and south which barely lasts me the whole semester. But at least that comes close to being real food. And the 75 flex dollars last me all of about two weeks.I have a bad addiction to White Dove. Everything there is so good, and I am guilty of going there at least once a day. Jade House is something my friends and I cannot stay away from, and usually go there once a week. So there goes all that money. And that is not even mentioning going to restaurants.As bad as it sounds eating food is one of my passions. Therefore I cannot live off of cafeteria food, which unfortunately leads to hundreds of dollars a semester being spent on going out to eat. I think Salem State should either make a better system for the clipper cards, or get real food in the dining hall. Because that is the only place you don't have to spend any extra money. And what college student has that kind of money to be spending on food? So because of the forced meal plan I end up wasting over $1,000 a semester for "food" that I don't even eat.