Whether we realize it or not, college students live in a whole different world. While we justify many things with the simple phrase, “It’s college,” much of what we actually do doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world.

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From the smallest habits to the strangest norms, college campuses are filled with abnormalities. Students often pull all-nighters or get little sleep from trying to fit in all of their school responsibilities or even just trying to fit in everything from school to work to a decent social life. When someone looks at you with their eyes half open and says, “I haven’t slept,” we just understand how accurate that statement is. If we see someone sleeping in the middle of a building we often look at them and say “Same,” showing them that we feel their pain. In the real world of “adulting”, that statement of sleep just doesn’t make as much sense.

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College students hold a strong reputation for stealing the most random artifacts straight from the streets. When you walk into someone’s apartment or dorm room and see a pizza delivery sign or orange street cone on display, you know darn well that they show that piece off to every single one of their friends. Let’s not forget how normal it is to walk around campus in a costume for no reason without being questioned. When you see someone walking around wearing a T-Rex costume, that person simply becomes the center of conversation for the rest of the day.

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Breaking and entering may be one of the strangest norms of them all in the realm of college. We spend all of our lives making sure that no one lets themselves into our houses. We are taught from a young age to knock before entering. However, spend one day in a college dorm room or around a complex of apartments and you will find friends walking in even if their friend who owns the room isn’t there.

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Not to mention our sense of time. Nights begin at 9 PM, mornings might not start until one in the afternoon, and we eat our meals at abnormal times. We also try to avoid the 8 AM class’s at all possible costs, according to The Odyssey. I’m sure we all realize that one day our lives will revolve around a schedule of 9 AM to 5 PM, but why not take advantage of what we have right now?

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Despite all of these oddities, arguably the best strange part of college is gaining insanely close friends. Many students do everything together. They study with their friends, eat with their friends, sleep in the same room as their friends, and grocery shop with their friends. This is the one point in our lives where it’s normal to have friends who are literally as close to us, or even closer, than family.

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No matter what kind of student you are, it is likely that you can relate to some of these on some sort of level. Let’s face it, college is a weird place.