Verbal Snippets & Snapshots

What do we freshmen talk about in our free time? Since there are over 1,200 freshmen with unique personalities here, I can’t provide a comprehensive list of freshmen conversation topics. Sure, there are a few basic ones, from the erratic Baltimorean weather to the long lines at the FFC. Besides those, though, freshmen conversation topics are quite varied.

(That’s Paul Cézanne’s A Bend in the Road.) While I can’t mention everything that freshmen at Hopkins discuss, I’ll briefly discuss one conversation topic: goals for the future. I’ve been in several conversations where other freshmen and I would discuss what we’d like to do in the future, and we’d offer words of encouragement to each other. Sometimes, we’d even brainstorm on how we could collaborate with each other to reach our individual goals.

It’s true that as freshmen, we don’t need to know yet what we want to major in or do after college. Still, for those of us who already do, it’s nice to discuss our aspirations with people who understand what it’s like to have them. With so many of our classmates having goals, it’s hard to be discouraged from having our own. It’s also nice to know that with so many strong academic departments and numerous resources at Hopkins, if we do change our plans, we’ll still have support from the school to do well in life.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the end of my spiel.