Everyone has finally moved in, classes have begun and the usual routine is now underway.

We will walk the same familiar paths to class, hit the same hot spots on the weekends and spend our time with old friends, and a few new ones. What about the freshmen?

How are the freshmen faring this new experience? They don’t have a routine yet. The class buildings are only vaguely familiar to them. Many of them don’t even know where the DeKalb hot spots are. (Does anyone?)

According to freshman Alexandra “Alex” Poppie, being at Northern doesn’t seem very real or permanent yet. Poppie said it feels like she’s “at camp or on vacation.”

Disbelief seems to be the general feeling among most freshmen. Freshman Shannon Williams, Poppie’s floormate, agreed saying “it’s like a dream.”

The first day at college is often a traumatic experience. Seeing your family drive off without you can leave an excited yet scared mix of emotions.

Alex Poppie’s mother, Marsha, felt that moving her daughter into Douglas Hall “went much more smoothly than anticipated.” Mrs. Poppie tried to keep herself busy by helping put her daughter’s things away. However, when it came time to say goodbye, Mrs. Poppie said that “even the little kids were teary.”

Mrs. Poppie’s biggest fear about her daughter going to school, is that Alex’s newfound independence would change her. However, Mrs. Poppie said she has great faith in her relationship with her daughter and hopes everything will work out fine.

Alex came through her first few days of college none the worse for wear, and said homesickness hasn’t hit yet. She attributes this to the fact that she’s going home this weekend for Labor Day.

With the initial family trauma behind them, freshmen set out for the first big day of classes to begin their college education.

Alex hopes to major in accounting and is already worried about her business classes. She also shares another common concern in that she is having trouble understanding her foreign calculus teacher.

Another freshman, Dana Luellen, summed up his first day of classes by saying that his courses “are just like high school, only a lot more in depth.”

Alice Biggers sees freshmen everyday as a teacher for English 105. Biggers observed that for the first couple of weeks of class the freshmen are “painfully shy” and it is “very difficult to get them to speak up in class.”

Biggers attributes this silence to something she calls the “high school mentality.” She explained that this mentality causes the students to constantly worry about saying and doing the wrong thing. “It’s not that they are worried about being cool,” Biggers added, “It’s just their fear of being uncool.”

When classes are done for the day, everyone must determine how to fill their social life. For Poppie, this poses a problem. She had a very successful, active high school year at Rich South.

High school days are over, the comforting familiarity is gone and Poppie is nervous about joining a new organization. For example, she was an all-conference volleyball player both her junior and senior year. Poppie has a genuine love and talent for the sport and sadly admits that there is a definite void in her life since she is no longer able to play. She entertained thoughts of walking on the NIU squad, but confessed that she’s “just too scared.”

Luellen had a very different outlook on organizations. He said he was thinking about joining the Black Student Union, but wanted to direct his attention towards his studies right now.

As the weekend approaches, thoughts turn to fun. However, Poppie, Williams and Luellen have already attended parties here at NIU. The three unanimously agreed that the three separate parties were “hot, overcrowded and nothing to brag about.”

“Can I survive?” This is one question that Biggers feels the freshmen constantly ask themselves. Biggers feels that because their values are suddenly questioned they face a terrible insecurity which she calls “the freshman disease.”

The whole adventure of beginning college is quite an overwhelming experience. The freshmen are faced with a new found independence, and they must determine how to use this privilege.

As time goes by, the insecurity fades and the freshmen will soon fit neatly into their own routine as all freshmen before have done.

Only through trial and error will the correct paths be clear.