Take advantage of campus entertainment

Alison AngelBy Alison Angel

I’ve always been really into the music scene.

Since I was 13, I’ve been going to every concert I could possibly fit in and spending all my money on any show that sounded somewhat promising.

I was even a Warped Tour regular starting at 15 years old, before it started sucking.

So you can imagine what I was scared of when it came to college. I love Winthrop, but we all know that it is a smaller college.

Eighteen years old and fresh out of high school, I didn’t worry about making friends or classes as most people did; I knew that would come eventually.

No, I worried about one thing: What on earth am I going to do on the weekends for fun?

It took me a while to find out where the entertainment was, but when I did, it pretty much changed everything. From day one I saw all the Welcome Week flyers covering every square inch of campus.

They promised everything from comedians and bands to something called the Atlanta Drumline, which to me, at the time, didn’t sound very promising.

Still young and naïve, I immediately wrote these events off as school-mandated events that wouldn’t bring me much joy.

Typical mindset of a repressed high school kid forced to go to boring school events, I know. Luckily, I had some great friends who wouldn’t hear of me missing the Atlanta Drumline or Tom DeLuca’s hypnotist act.

Still skeptical, I agreed to go but wasn’t expecting much. It turns out I was in for a huge surprise.

The shows were the most top-notch, professional and entertaining shows I had ever spent money on. I couldn’t believe I got to go to awesome shows for only five bucks, especially considering that, previously, a good time had cost much more than that.

I found out the shows that come to Winthrop, all of the bands that play, all the comedians that come to try and force a laugh, are all a pretty amazing treat.

My only advice to you, freshmen, is this: Take advantage.

You’re never going to get as much entertainment brought directly to your doorstep as in these four years and you’re never going to have a better time for five bucks.

Plus, you’re going to get the chance to make the new friendships you’re so desperately looking for that will last your entire life.

Throw the mindset of “I don’t want to” away, and just take advantage.

Trust me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you get.