Oh, that first cup of Ramen of the semester. It really is something, isn’t it? To know it is going to be a while until you remember what actual food is supposed to taste like.

How many days until Thanksgiving?

As college students, with the exception of that three percent that can afford the full fifty-six something thousand dollars per year, we are accustomed to going without a lot.

Home cooking (unless you count the diner, which would be sad), sleep, free time, a clean bathroom, alone time, and other luxuries are what we would have at home.

I am not sure if the infamous “freshmen fifteen” weight gain is actually caused from excessive dining hall food, late night pizzas, and beer that we are all supposed to be consuming massively. I think that maybe it is actually caused from the binge eating everything we have ever enjoyed from our hometowns and mama’s cooking during breaks.

Going home for Thanksgiving, in between semesters, and possibly more often if you are conveniently located close to Pace, is more probable to be the cause of weight gain because of the, “Oh my goodness you can like, have food that you want. Like all of the time,” factor.

You can have a closet and non-comical size refrigerator full of food and not have to walk any more than from the couch to the kitchen for what you desire. The grilled cheese and bread. Oh, the bread.

The actual pizza that we all don’t want to pay real money for while we’re here, unless it’s after dining hall hours and we do not care because Domino’s delivers and Pizza Hut has stuffed crust. Unless you go to North Carolina like me where they do not understand what pizza even is. But that is a personal problem I have to deal with.

I find that the hungrier, more tired and stressed I am, my standards for food fall astronomically. “Going without” becomes, “I’ll take what I can get.”

We may be in a state of delusion currently, being that it is still the beginning of the semester and we haven’t truly run out of dining money, food in our rooms, toiletries, etc. But don’t you worry, everyone, particularly freshman who are new to this way of life, you will soon understand the severity of the struggle of running out of everything.

Have you ever taken a shampoo shower? You will.

Especially for students who don’t have cars, or gas money, or money to buy anything when you take the shuttle and walk to wherever you want to go, college students are at a disadvantage.

We pay/work/loan/do unspeakable things for the thousands and thousands of dollars that is our tuition.

Most students have a job while at university. Even more have jobs in their hometowns for when class is not in session to save up for the extra fees they don’t tell you about such as books, trips to the city, internship clothes, milk, etc.

Any tuition remission, part-time grind, or if you’re fortunate enough to have a paid internship, is really just enough to keep your head afloat. The experience is probably beneficial to your growth and maturity but the revenue is probably just grease in the wheels of the next semester’s payment.

It is never quite enough, though, is it? I mean, it is not like we can all work full-time jobs while simultaneously having a full-time course load, being involved on campus, some semblance of a social life, and, sometimes, sleep.

It is hard out here on our own but those breaks come faster than we think. Team up with your friends/floor mates for resources, take advantage of school sponsored saving graces like midnight breakfast, and Pace yourself with what you’ve got.