Welcome to the first day of your future. If youre a freshman, the next four years (give or take a semester) promise to be some of the most exciting, challenging and life-changing youll ever experience. Chances are, when you leave CU you wont be the same person you were when you got here.

Some words to the wise.

They also offer the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at low or reduced costs to students. This vaccine protects women from the four most common strains of the infection, which, in some cases, can cause genital warts and cervical cancer.

But rest assured that you chose a great place to pursue a higher education: There are so many activities, events and social networks to choose from that you could do something different every day from your first day of class to the day you graduate, if you had the time.

Welcome to campus. For you freshmen in the audience, you now have more than 20,000 new neighbors, and youll be spending the next nine months (at least) in each others back pockets.

So, youve paid your dues in the dorms and are ready to move away from the tyranny of RAs and floor monitors and into your first place. Theres a big, enticing world of rental properties out there, and Craigslist has literally hundreds of apartments posted each day for your perusal.

It was formerly known as the University of Colorado Student Union, a name that student leaders say was too confusing. According to Anthony DeLaRosa, CUSG chief of staff, some students thought it was a building, while others thought it was some kind of labor union.

While proponents of the tax-killing measures say government has gotten too big and that people need to save all the money they can in this sluggish economy, opponents of Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 say the initiatives would effectively shut down state government, crippling crucial public services and infrastructure.

Students seem to approach studying in different ways, even though they all have the same goal of making the grade and passing the class. Some students prefer to study in isolation, with no one to distract them.

While losing all your class notes or vacation pictures because someone jacked your laptop is bad enough, CU also sees its share of more serious crimes. In 2009, there were nine cases of forcible rape on or near campus and five aggravated assaults, according to the federally required Clery Report on campus crime statistics.