New Horizons: Going off to College—Freshman Year

I’m taking a step from writing about my ancestors and instead will write about my own history.

I thought that I was the first in my family to attend college but after doing genealogy research, I discovered that my grandmother had attended Normal College in Montana, and later again at San Francisco State to get a California Teacher’s Certificate. I also had a few older cousins who attended college before me. Anyway, I was the first of my immediate family to attend and the only one of my siblings to graduate.

High School
Because my parents never really encourage us to go to college, I was at a disadvantage in high school. I only thought about college in the fall of senior year when I heard an announcement about a meeting for those who plan to attend college. I went to the meeting and learned I needed to take the SAT test. There wasn’t time to take it and still apply for fall 1973 during the month of November. So, I took the test and applied as a biological sciences major to California State University, Hayward for the winter quarter of 1973. A group of us had visited the college to watch a women’s volleyball game. It was close enough that I could live at home and commute to classes.

Freshman Year
The whole process was so unfamiliar and I was on my own. I knew no one attending the school. My

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best friend didn’t plan to attend college at all. This was back when registering for classes was done in person. Freshmen were the last to enter registration, and after standing in multiple lines, the only two classes I could get were College Algebra and U.S. History to 1865–one at 8 am and the other at 3 pm. Oh, it would be a long day. After meeting someone in the library that first week who was taking a German class, I added Intermediate German II. I rounded out the first quarter with adds of Expository Writing and Beginning Tennis.

Driving to school was an adventure. My father and I found a used Rambler Ambassador station wagon and I drove that listening to the radio station KSFO. The drive from Walnut Creek to Hayward was down Interstate 680 to Crow Canyon Road in San Ramon. Once in Hayward, I went through town and up the hill from the back. One particularly tough day, it was so foggy that I missed the Crow Canyon exit and drove to Interstate 580. That extra time caused me to be late for an algebra test.

Spring quarter, I signed up for French I, Intermediate German III, US History Since 1865, Analytical Trig, and Intercollegiate Softball. I joined the college softball team! What an adventure that was. I was so naïve and the other players would try to fool me. I did learn to play third base but I didn’t hit or run well, so I didn’t play much. One day I remember well. We drove up to Chico to play against their team. I don’t remember if we got lost, had bad traffic, or left too late, but we barely got there in time for the game. We had no lunch, no pre-game practice, and we lost badly. But I do remember the fun we had singing show tunes up and back.

Before we left, my car had overheated on the way to school and now I had to deal with it late at night. I put water in the radiator and drove home, through San Leandro and Oakland on Highways 580, 13, and 24. I stopped once in San Leandro at a gas station and filled the radiator again. By the time I got to Orinda, lots of steam was coming from the hood. The gas station right off the freeway was open and one of the attendants knew exactly what was wrong—I needed a new radiator hose. He changed it for me and I was on my way once again. I really miss full-service gas stations that had employees who knew cars.

Spring quarter was tough. My French and Trig classes were taught by women whose native language was Chinese. I had a difficult time understanding them and that was especially tough in French class. Plus, with the daily softball practice, I didn’t have much time to study. That was the end of my taking French. I stuck with German.

I made a few friends this first year—both from the German class. That was the only year I was on the softball team. Once I started my major classes in the fall, I had afternoon lab classes in biology and chemistry. It wouldn’t be until my junior year that I went out for the badminton team.

#52Ancestors-Week 49: New Horizons— Going off to College—Freshman Year

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.