Tips for Freshman year

Lot of great academic tips here so I'll go a different route:

Food * Moe's, Chipotle and Qdoba in town. Pros and cons for each. Learn what those are and plan accordingly. * Subway on campus is not on your meal plan. Kick in the nuts the first time if you don't know. * Take classes during "feeding time" (noon, 6pm) and eat before/after. You're likely stuck for Fall but for the future. Dining halls are brutal at those times. * Go to Benny's. * Seriously, go to Benny's. Draper and College Ave. Bring 5 bucks. * (Life tip to be honest but...) Try to eat somewhere new until there's no more new. It took me far too long to get through Blacksburg's restaurants because I didn't put the effort in early. There are more than you think. By the time I was a Junior/Senior I had settled on my favorites and was almost too stubborn to branch out. * Plan on adding money to your meal plan. This may not happen, but you don't want to be on 15 cents after grabbing Brueger's in the morning with an empty mini fridge waiting for you in WAJ.

Social * Go out on Friday. Or Saturday. Or both. If you've followed other tips in this thread then you've been busting your butt all week and your gradebook is screaming "AAAAAAAA" at you. You've earned it a break. Live a little. * Use the buddy system. * Race back to campus before DX closes. 2am. * Be the designated driver. In my experience is by far the easiest, quickest way to learn the ins-and-outs of Blacksburg. Where apartments are, where stores are, landmarks, neighborhoods. Actively try to DD. Not joking. * Speaking of where apartments are, if you plan to bail on the dorms after Freshman year, start looking in October. Trust me, it's not too early. * Intramural Sports. Play them.

I have to run an errand but I can go on and on and on about Blacksburg. Only a year out so a lot of this stuff is still pretty fresh in my mind, and I've got 5 years experience. I'll try to update later.

/r/VirginiaTech Thread