For the past decade, enrollment has increased at UND nearly every year, bringing throngs of young adults to school, each of whom has their own vision of college life. Most of us have sat in class eager to meet a new classmate who happens to plop down next to us. Sometimes, we are fortunate and find lifelong friends, amazing study buddies, possibly even a boyfriend or girlfriend.

However, we all also run into the circumstances of meeting less than ideal peers on that first day of class.

If you are a student with a selective hygiene habits or a cigarette smoking habit, or perhaps you favor heavy perfume, please keep in mind that those aromas affect many people around you. Almost daily when walking down the hallways, I will pass a guy or girl who decided to shower in their fragrance that morning. I find myself wondering, “Are they covering up the smell of stale alcohol and body odor, or do they think this is attractive?”

Many of us may have already encountered this type of problem in high school, but probably not as often since parents were around to nag us daily about hygiene (and wash our clothes). In college we need to take care of ourselves, without our parents’ constant attention, and some students just can’t handle it. In classes where peer communication and work groups are required to be successful, please remember that bridges may quickly be burned, or not even built,if other students can’t tolerate your smell.

More often than not, when I am sitting in a crowded “lecture bowl” auditorium packed with students, I can keep tabs on 10 or more students’ Facebook creeping habits, and it’s distracting. Honestly, how many students who bring their computers to lecture bowls type the necessary notes? Now that I’m a “super senior” and have sat through my fair share of general education classes, I can attest to it being hard to pay attention to the professor’s lecture and slide shows when you have some random person’s drama unfolding in front of your eyes.

As classes begin, I urge students to keep in mind common courtesy practices. The university may be very large, and you may think you won’t run into the same students on more than one occasion, but you often do.

It is best to make yourself easily approachable, because college is a great place to gather friends and networking opportunities which could benefit you for years to come.

Maggie Upton is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at margaret.upton @my.und.edu.