Freshman year is tough. It’s a time full of new experiences, awkward social encounters and more stress than you thought possible. Here is a list of advice that I have compiled based on information I wish I had known coming into my freshman year at St. Edward’s.

1. Print your paper the night before your class. The printers will never work when you need them the most. Don’t overestimate the number of printers on campus, either. Somehow they all seem to break on the same day, which will happen to be the day your 10 page research paper is due.

2. Don’t overestimate how long your meal plan and topper tender will last. $2000 seems like it will last the entire semester, if not longer, but it usually won’t. Outtakes and the vending machines are always tempting. The chance of you spending $100 on snacks in one day is totally possible. Resist the urge to snack at the beginning of the semester because living off Ramen and granola bars for a month is never fun, especially when studying for finals.

3. Don’t try to get Jo’s before your morning classes. A breakfast taco and a turbo always seem like a good idea before that dreaded 9 a.m. class, but I promise waking up early enough to get through the line of the other 9 a.m. people is not worth waking losing sleep.

4. The convenience of parking in the visitor lot outside of The Village is not worth the parking tickets. Nobody wants to walk across campus to get food from Hunt Cafe, but ending up with $400 worth of parking tickets and a call from an angry parent that checked your MyHilltop account is much more painful than the 10 minute walk to hang out with your friends.

5. Hunt Cafe serves breakfast until 2 p.m. on the weekends. You might be asking “who needs a breakfast taco that late in the day?” But you will learn to appreciate the afternoon breakfast. Make sure you don’t get there too late though, because chances of them running out of your usual order is highly possible, and nobody wants to be disappointed on a Saturday morning.