MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — WVU held its first day of classes Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 2022 fall semester and the return of painfully slow afternoon traffic.

After Tuesday night’s Fall Fest, the first in three years, students began their school year Wednesday morning after getting less sleep than their parents would recommend.

With the campus experience slowly returning back to normal, here’s some advice from WVU students to the freshman starting their first year of college.

1. Wait to rent your textbooks

Wait to make sure the textbook listed on the syllabus will actually be used for coursework, you can usually tell after a week or two how useful it will be to have it.

Many GEDs or entry-level classes will list a textbook on the syllabus, but often times you’ll find that the teacher will send students the required reading, have the relevant information for tests and quizzes in PowerPoints on eCampus, or ignore the textbook altogether. If a teacher doesn’t have class presentations on their eCampus page, it doesn’t hurt to at least ask if they can send it to you after class.

Also, renting textbooks instead of buying them will save you hundreds of dollars each semester, and cut out the hassle of trying to sell them later on.

2. Don’t Drive (unless you have to)

Seriously. We know it’s nice to have a car on campus, but traffic during the day is a downright nightmare. The only thing worse than traffic during the day in Morgantown is finding somewhere to park, and the free parking situation this year is only getting worse with the Coliseum now beginning to charge students who park there.

If you do have to drive, try and avoid going in front of the Mountainlair, because we all know how many students try to cross that street every two seconds.

3. Get out and do stuff

Join some clubs, play some sports, and get out and try new things. Even if you don’t end up sticking with it, you might meet some cool people and make some friends you’ll know for the rest of your time at WVU, or maybe for the rest of your life.

You can find a list of the many club sports teams at WVU here. If sports aren’t your thing, you can almost always find a student club running a table in the Mountainlair. There are so many clubs at WVU that you’re bound to find one that appeals to you if you do some looking around.

Attending sporting events like football and basketball games is also free for students, as long as you apply for the ticket far enough in advance. Tickets usually become available about a week prior to the event.

4. It’s okay to change majors

Changing majors in college is extremely common, and odds are you know at least a few people who will change or already changed their major at least once while you’re attending WVU. Don’t be afraid to try some different classes and experiment, that’s what college is all about.

5. “Just go to class”

One student on campus summed it up perfectly. “Just go to class, you’ll be alright. Have fun Thursday through Sunday, but just show up and you’ll be alright.”

It might be tempting to sleep through your 8:30 a.m. Engineering 101 class on Evansdale, but we’ve all been there, and it’s pretty hard to take a test on something you never learned in the first place.

By going to class, you’re not just learning the material, you’re meeting all the other people toughing it out with you, and when the test rolls around you’ll be able to help each other with studying and homework. Another student recommended starting group messages to get ahold of classmates for questions on due dates or class material.