The first day of classes can herald both anxiety and excitement for all students — especially those just entering college.
That's why, after a long hot day of running around campus, many first-year students took part in the First Day of Classes Cookout Crawl. This event featured three of USC’s all-you care-to-eat locations — Honeycomb Cafe, Bates House Diner and Gibbes Court — for a meal swipe plus five dollars.
“You get a passport card and that is your passport into each location. So you go to each dining hall and get one stamp and eat as much or as little as you want at each location,” USC Marketing Coordinator Shawon Gibbons said.
Each dining hall had different types of barbecues. The Honeycomb Cafe featured wings; Gibbes had hamburgers and hot dogs, while Bates offered traditional barbecue.
“And once you have three stamps and you’ve visited all three locations, you hand in the passport card and you’ll get the “I survived the first day of classes Cookout Crawl” T-shirts,” Gibbons said.
Clearly students are willing to do a lot for free T-shirts and good food. Once students finished the crawl they were able to relax and reflect on their first days.
Many agreed waking up early was difficult after a summer of sleeping in, and some were faced with aspects of college they hadn’t expected.
First-year biochemistry and molecular biology student Shane Bello saw both ups and downs on his first day.
“Einstein's was busy; I had to wait in line for 30 minutes for a bagel and coffee, but my class was easier than I had expected," he said. "The TA walked in, and I thought it was a student. I didn’t expect a TA to teach the first class.”
First-year business student Lauren Flintom thought that the differences in high school and college schedules was a little jarring: “It was weird going from all day of school to a class in the morning and a class in the afternoon."
Most could agree the temperature was staggering and the bricks were uneven, making their walk to class less than enjoyable.
“If I could change something about my first day, I wouldn’t have worn long sleeves,” first-year business student Alex Mallin said.
Good thing these first-year students will have plenty of time to experience and learn more during their time at USC — even if it just means altering their wardrobe for August in South Carolina.