By Hannah Hardesty–

Listen up freshmen: we know who you are. Not because of the clubs you joined or the classes you are taking, but because of small actions you make everyday.

The most important thing you learn your first year of college isn’t anything you will learn from your gen. eds. Freshman year is about learning how not to be a “freshman.”

The first giveaway of being a freshman is the lanyard you are wearing around your neck. You either got it from orientation, the bookstore or when your parents moved you into your new dorm. Get rid of it. It’s unnecessary to carry your keys around your neck at all times. Put them in your pocket or in your backpack. Put them anywhere so we don’t have to see them hanging around your neck for one more second.

Now let’s talk about lunch time. First of all, make sure you cherish your extra-large flex point plan while you have it. Just because your meal plan seems never-ending, it doesn’t mean you have to eat at the SAC for every single meal. If you do, you are asking for the freshman fifteen. One of the most important skills a person learns in college is how to eat alone. This isn’t high school where you have to save your friend a spot at the lunch table. So please, when the clock strikes noon, do not all swarm the SAC at once.

The roads around Louisville can be hard to navigate if you aren’t familiar with the area. There are a lot of one-way streets, and the new roundabout is an accident waiting to happen. Freshmen, if you are walking to class and there are no cars coming, you don’t have to wait at the crosswalk until you hear the words “walk sign second street.” Be cautious because in Louisville, the yellow light means floor it and turn signals don’t exist.

Joining new clubs and meeting new friends can be so exciting. Congratulations to all of the ladies that have recently joined a sorority. We get it, you love everything about your new sorority. You love the stitch letters, your new friends and you’re on the hunt to find the perfect big. But, please take off your bid day tank and wash it at least once. We are tired of seeing you in the same outfit day after day.

Wearing repeat sorority shirts isn’t the worst fashion giveaway of freshman, though. So are those free t-shirts you all received.

Your new, overpriced apartment or dorm gave you a free shirt, hat and coffee mug, to hopefully make up for all of the incomplete maintenance requests you will put in in the future. Wear it all in the comfort of your home, but it is unnecessary for you to wear it on campus all at once.

Also, stop wearing your high school class of 2016 hoodies and t-shirts. Here, you are the class of 2020, and soon your high school friends and memories will not compare to anything that is going to happen to you in college.

Don’t make being a freshman so obvious. You are so eager to learn and experience everything college has to offer, but you are still so unprepared. Change your wardrobe and unpack your backpack. You are not required to carry all of your books at once. And, last but not least, please do not reply all to an email from blackboard.