College is wonderful time to learn and experience new things. You’re on your own for the first time and entering a new phase of your life. You left behind all those silly, immature things in life back in high school… for the most part. College may be a completely different setting with completely different people, but some things never change. One thing that will never change, whether it’s college or just the real world; is everyone gets embarrassed from time to time. Here are The 24 most embarrassing situations that happen in college, so that you can learn and try to avoid them.
One of the best parts of college is arguable the fact that you are on your own, with no rules except the ones you give yourself. With no parents in the picture, the amount of times you are embarrassed in a day goes down drastically. However, parents still somehow find a way to embarrass you and ruin your “cool-guy,” persona. For example, move-in-day. Mostly this day is filled with reminiscing and tears all around. (Even from you father who you haven’t seen cry since like the 3rd grade when that certain sports team lost.) Parents still like to squeeze in the time on this day to embarrass you. Whether it’s yelling at you to get off your butt and give them a hand, sharing embarrassing stories with your roommates or suite mates, no one really knows how parents embarrass their kids, they just know how to do it perfectly. And you can’t get mad, because who knows when they’ll be able to do it again because you’re in college now.
On your first day you’re most likely going to be nervous, it’d be weird if you weren’t. The adrenaline is pumping, your stomach is in knots, and you didn’t even notice you walked into the wrong classroom. You’ve been sitting down for like fifteen minutes and you’ve only just realized that this is not the class you signed up for. In this situation you have to do what everyone in this situation would do. Say relatively loud; “Aw damn, I think I’m in the wrong class!” And walk out, and never look back. Most of the kids in that class will never remember you, and if they do, you have a funny story to talk about if you meet them again.
If there’s one thing a mean-teacher loves to do, is to find the one student they know is not paying attention, and make sure to call on them for the answer. You thought the days of the teacher embarrassing you were behind you, back in high school. But yet, they somehow followed you to college. They say they do this to motivate you to concentrate, but I don’t buy it. They obviously do this because they’re mean and hate everyone. You were clearly enjoying your time in whatever zone you were in, and how they dare they interrupt you like that. So make sure to pay attention in class so that when those professors try that again, you can make them look foolish in front of everyone, rather than the other way around.
It happens to the best of us. Long night of doing homework, or partying, or just forgetting to go to sleep, will ultimately lead to a pretty tiresome next day. How much sleep you get can either make, or break your day. If you stay up all night then be prepared to doze off in class. And every now and then, you will get the professor who will call you out on it in a lecture hall of 300 students. The best thing to avoid this situation would obviously be to get enough sleep the night before. But of course, that is not always an option. In that case, we recommend lots of caffeine (energy drinks or coffee,) or little snacks to keep you up.
All you wanted to do was send a simple email to the professor about whatever. And now every student they teach know you were absent the day before and want to know what you missed. It’s pretty harmless. I mean, all the other students have to is just exit out of the email and they are no longer affected by this. But in that split-second moment where you realize what you’ve done, it’s the worst thing in the world. Probably not as big you think it is, but still will most definitely cause a major freak-out. The best advice I can give you for this incident is… Um… Just double check who you email next time? Or maybe just read the syllabus instead of emailing her, I guess…?
Something like this is more stressful than embarrassing. But this becomes embarrassing when you talk to your fellow classmates and they’re all ahead of you. Now, if you’re befriending the right people than it should not matter how behind you are in your classes. Good friends shouldn’t make you feel bad about your academic status in a class. However, if you’re picking the wrong friends, then they probably mocked you or made you feel bad about being behind in the class. Sometimes we can’t help it and fall behind in certain subjects. No shame in that. If someone makes you feel bad or embarrasses you for being behind, make sure to let them know that they are as much as a jerk and human being can be.
You’re probably wondering; “Who doesn’t know their own professor’s name?” Well, I personally did not know one of my professor’s name until finals week when I had to email him. And that was pretty embarrassing. I mean, I don’t know what changed from high school to college, but professors just don’t repeat their name often or write in on the board. You can get by, by calling your teacher, “Professor.” But that only lasts so long until you have to email them. The way to avoid the embarrassing situation of asking your professor of 10 weeks is pretty obvious. Just learn their name from the start of class. It’s that simple. Or better yet, just look at the syllabus.
You are sent to college to be an adult and do adult things, so it kinda puts a damper on things when you’re being yelled at by a professor. There’s a sudden change from high school teacher to college professor. The change being; it is a privilege to be at a university. It is mandatory for you to attend high school. So when you do something wrong in front of a professor it’s extra-bad because you’re wasting the professor’s and your own time. For example, let’s say you fall asleep in one of your professor’s lectures. He singles you out and reprimands you in front of everyone. He or she is going to be mad because you don’t actually have to go the lecture. You decided to go to their class just to sleep. Here in college you are treated as an adult, so when a professor calls you out on something that would have flown when you were in high school, it’s because you should be acting like an adult. And that’s the embarrassing part. Basically being told that you’re immature. That’s never a fun thing to hear. But either way, you’re eventually going to get reprimanded, so you might as well learn from the first time.
I really thought that by this time in human existence, that we would have stop making fun of other people because of regular bodily functions. Like when your stomach decides to play the entire drum solo to Green Day’s American Idiot, in the a dead silent room during an exam. But either way, that’s embarrassing. I mean, it’s not your fault. You were running late and didn’t have time to get breakfast, and now your stomach is giving you a little payback for not feeding it. Regular human stuff. No need to feel shame for it.
In universities like my own, we have little rooms in the library where you can go and be alone to study. They’re called Carrels. The biggest problems with carrels is that you have to look through a tiny little window on the door to see if anyone is in there. Every now and then you’ll see that no one is in one, you’ll walk in and get yourself situated, and not realize someone’s been in that one the entire time, and they just left to go to the bathroom or some water. This certain situation can lead to a pretty awkward encounter with the original user of the carrel. Just pray that you figure out that this is someone else’s carrel before they get back to avoid an awkward encounter.
Something as little and trivial as turning your phone on silent can be big help when stepping foot in the library. And if you’re anything like me who has Britney Spears’ Hit me Baby One More Time, ringtone, or something to that effect, you understand the embarrassment. Who doesn’t love a classic like Hit Me Baby One More Time? But no one wants to hear that in the designated quiet spots in the library. Most of the time people in the library will not care. Which is great. But every now and then, you get a death glare from “Mr. Serious,” who is just, utterly shocked that someone’s phone could just go off like that. I mean, how dare they, right?! There’s not much you can do to avoid this besides just turning your phone on vibrate, which we all forget to do every now and then. We are only human.
You just started getting used to the idea of living with someone like you do your college roommate. Whether you’re best friends with your roommate, or they’re just some dude who sleeps in the same room as you every night, it’s pretty awkward walking in on them doing something that should be done privately. This can range anywhere from getting it on with a significant other, or spending some intimate alone-time, if you know what I mean. There’s no real way to avoid something like this. Of course, your roommate can always send you message that they’re gonna need the room for a little bit or the classic, sock-on-a-doorknob, indicator. But the best thing to do is establish a good enough relationship with your roommate so that you can laugh about this moment later on in life.
If you’re anything like me, then you must have found it pretty hard to let your roommate know that finishing your show and eating large amounts of microwavable noodles sounds better than partying. Your roommates and/or suite mates will look at you with an estranged look, like you’re an exotic monkey at the zoo, when you tell them you don’t want to go out tonight and would rather finish Stranger Things, or catch the newest episode of The Flash, tonight. Your friends will try to deter you from making the smart-move and stay home. They’ll tempt you with bad decisions and blurry memories. But just think of all the bing-ing you’ll get done. Just remember, you should not be ashamed at the fact that a relaxing night watching television and maybe doing some laundry you should have done a week ago sounds better than a lame party.
Fire drills saves lives. If there is not an actual fire then they are just a minor inconvenience. However, things change when the building you live in has a fire drill. Who knows what someone could be doing when a fire drill goes off. You could be in the shower, and have to walk outside in a towel with shampoo in your hair. You could be fast asleep and have to walk outside in your Spidey pajamas, (because we all have a pair, don’t lie.) For something that’s supposed to save lives, it sure can create some awkward situations. There’s no way to know whether or not it’s just a false alarm, or some noodle-head on one of the other floors started a fire cooking his own noodles. The best way to avoid situations like these is to just throw whatever you have before going outside, (unless you know it’s a fire, than you get the hell out of there.) You’ll thank yourself later when you’re not as cold as the girl in the tank top in the 20 degree weather.
How many times does this happen to you? You wake up super early for class, you’re all groggily, and stumble to the shower. You get out of the shower only to find that you left something very important back in your dorm. Something very crucial to your shower-needs. Yepp, you forgot your towel. But why could something so insignificant be that important, let-alone embarrassing? Maybe you have to wake up your roommate and text them to bring you your towel. Maybe they already left for class or they’re fast asleep. You basically have two routes. Do it the way they did it in the old-times and just shake it all off like a dog. Or you could go the hardcore route and just put on all your clothing even though you’re soaking wet. It doesn’t get any more hardcore than that.
All you wanted was to put your clothes in the dryer before class but instead you have to explain to the girl whose laundry you took out of the machine why her clothes are not where she left while her bra is in your hands. An argument can be made that this is their fault for not coming back to collect their clothes fast enough. But that doesn’t make this process any easier. Telling them that this their fault and that you were just doing your part in this social situation doesn’t calm them down. The only thing worse than this is when it’s your clothes being taken out. Frantic college students don’t care that you were “only 2 minutes late.” If your laundry is done and you’re not there, then it’s being taken out. This isn’t an issue as long as they take everything out and don’t leave like one white sock in the machine. Because then that leaves one sock without its pair. It’s just not right.
The first few weeks of college you’re going to have to eat by yourself. There’s no way around that, (unless, of course, you just don’t eat, then there is a way out of it.) When you first get to college, friends will be in short supply. Yes, you’ll have your roommates or suite mates, but they might not be around all the time. So if you want to eat, you’re gonna have to eat by yourself. In high school eating by yourself was a much bigger deal than it really is. That is probably why you’re gonna feel embarrassed in the beginning eat alone. You’re going to think that everyone thinks you’re a loser for being by yourself. That is 100% not the case. Everyone you see in the dining hall has most definitely eaten alone. Eating alone confidently is an important skill to have when you’re older when you want to go to a diner or something and eat a sandwich peacefully by yourself, (because I am assuming all adults must obviously do this.) The best way to avoid embarrassment here is to just get over it and realize everyone eats by themselves and even enjoy being alone. Being comfortable alone is one of the most satisfying things on the planet.
If your school is anything like mine or you too go to school in a extremely cold location, than you understand the hazard of icy sidewalks. When you’re running late to class and have to do the brisk-speed walk every college student knows all too well, ice is your greatest enemy. One slip and there goes your fast pace, your confidence, and not to mention it hurts an absurd amount. When you slip in front of a bunch of people on your way to class it’s embarrassing to try and hide the pain you’re feeling. The only thing that comes close to how awful that is, is slipping when no one is around. Don’t argue with me on this one, is just feels weird looking around to see no one saw that fall, no one is there to help you up, and nobody’s there to ask if you’re okay. So if you go to school where it’s colder than you ever thought imaginable, I suggest you invest in a very nice, and efficient snow boot.
This isn’t something you’re not used to. Growing up there was always that internal dilemma when you saw someone from school; “Do I say hi? We’re in the same class, but we’re not friends or anything. What do I do??” The same thing happens in college. Maybe you saw someone you had a class with last semester. Or maybe someone you matched with on Tinder and they never responded to the message you sent them. Whatever the case may be, you’re bound to run into these people eventually. If you both look in each other’s direction, there’s no shame in giving a slight head nod or a simple wave. If they don’t acknowledge it, then no harm, no foul, you’ll probably never see them again. A little awkward eye-contact never hurt anyone.
Parties are always a stressful thing for some people. Especially if you don’t know anybody. Frats always have to make sure they have a certain amount of people at their parties, not too much or else things can get out-of-hand, and not too little, or else it can be boring. So if you’re ever kicked out of a party because there is too many people, don’t take it personally. As someone who has been kicked out for just taking up space, the guy who was doing the kicking, was very nice and polite. Taking up space at parties leads us to #21…
You think the toughest part of a party is getting in, but really, it’s fitting in once you’re in. (But also trying to get it.) If you don’t know anyone there it can be awkward and you feel like you’re just wandering through, waiting for something to happen. You feel like you have no purpose there. The best thing to do is start to mingle. Don’t be afraid to socialize because chances are you may never see them again, or they’re in the same boat as you.
Nothing destroys a friendship faster than when you let your buddy down in beer-pong. When you accept your friend’s invitation to play beer-pong, you must understand that there is more riding on this than you think. A good beer-pong team is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. So when you screw-up the final pong throw, you let your teammate, and everyone who was rooting for you, down. When the entire party has all eyes on you for the final toss and you miss it, that’s a major embarrassing moment. But the good news, nobody will care the next day because they either won’t remember, or they know it’s a game. Anybody that harasses you about the final toss who was not actually part of the game, has their own issues they need to work out.
If you’re in college than you’ve most likely seen or used a fake ID. Fake ID’s are supposed to help you, but nothing is more embarrassing than having the bouncer see through your poorly veiled identification and sent back home, while everyone else gets to party. The ability to buy drinks underage comes with a great risk, there’s a chance you can get caught using on. Sometimes you looking too young to be 21 years old, or their advanced scientific technology scanned your ID and said it was fake, can be the death of the party, and you don’t want to be “that” person who ruins it for everyone else. The best thing to do in situations with a fake ID, is just simply; play it smart. If you feel like whatever adventure you and your friends are on is going to end badly, do not be afraid to call it quits and go home and live to party another night.
Being drunk is a dangerous game. A modern Russian Roulette, if you will. Sure, every now and then you need to let some steam off and party, but drinking is risky. Getting too drunk runs the risk of vomiting on yourself or the cutie next you. You could end up being “the crier,” at the party, (because very party has one.) Or, you could just do something really stupid and embarrassing that night. There’s no way to control your super-drunk-self so the best way to not do anything embarrassing that night is to not let yourself get that way. Keep count of your drinks and always keep your drink near you so there’s no risk of your drink being spiked.
Being embarrassed about anything is completely natural and an average part of life for most people. Being embarrassed is what motivates some people to change. Sure being embarrassed can be a helpful thing, but most of the time, (like 96% of the time,) it’s not a good thing. That is why in this list, situations ranging from vomiting on yourself at a party, to sitting by yourself at the dining hall, are all in your head. That’s right, if this list has taught you one thing, it’s that being embarrassed is all in your head and if you want to, you never have to feel embarrassed ever again. You just have to embrace every ‘embarrassing’ situation that you encounter. I’ve said this once, I’ll say it again; YOU ARE ONLY HUMAN. College is about learning to accept yourself for who you are, and with that comes never being embarrassed by you or your actions again.
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