From small town life to IU, life brings changes to freshmen

Many of freshman Emily Milnes’ lecture halls have more students in them than her high school’s graduating class.

Like many other freshmen at IU, Milnes, from Solsberry, Ind., came this year from a low-population high school to a campus with more than 40,000 students. The dramatic change leaves some in awe with all IU has to offer.

Milnes accepted her diploma from Eastern Greene High School, graduating with about 100 students in her class.

“Coming from a small town with nothing to do on the weekends to a big campus where there is something to do every single night is great,” Milnes said.

Although she is experiencing everything from the nightlife to breakfast at Wright every day, she said she is settling down and focusing on her classes.

Milnes said her classes are a lot different than high school, and she “will have to work a lot harder to get to know her professors than before.”

She said she would have to work hard to get the help she needs in her classes.

The adjustment Milnes is making from a small, rural community to a sprawling campus is difficult, but, she said, it would be even more difficult trying to adjust alone.

Luckily, Milnes did not come to IU by herself. Her roommate, freshman Lindsey Stevens, is also from Solsberry.

Stevens said there are only a few places to go on the weekends in her hometown. Now that she lives in Bloomington, she has the option of going out with her friends every night.

Unlike Milnes and Stevens, freshman Alisha Taylor, from Spencer, Ind., came to IU not knowing anybody.

However, she had an advantage a lot of freshmen do not. She attended the Groups Program – a summer program where freshmen take classes to prepare for the fall – to get a head start on college life.

“It helped me with adjusting to the big campus and classes and stuff,” Taylor said.
Taylor said this is a new experience, and she is adjusting really well with her surroundings. Once she met new people, she said it made the city life better. 

Taylor has lived in the country most of her life. Now that she is in a city, she said she has met a lot of new people and life-long friends.

With more freshmen than ever trying to adjust to college and city life, some students turn to studying, while others turn to partying. Others still are curious about what the city life has to offer.

But no matter what it is about Bloomington that interests small-towners, Taylor had one piece of advice to offer other students who might be unsure of how to handle the change.

“Keep your eyes open and an open mind to the new culture that you’re coming into,” Taylor said.