2/9/2012
English 255
The
Best Time of Your Life?
“My senioritis is so bad, I don’t know if I’ll even make
it to graduation!” I can’t even begin to
tell you how many times these words escaped my mouth during my senior year of
high school. Everyday my friends and I
would talk about how excited we were to be out of high school, out of our dinky
little town, out from under our parents’ houses, and away from the crazy drama
of our teenage lives. Sure, we’d heard that
college was stressful and had been told that we were going to miss this time of
our lives—our hometown, our parents, even our high school. We were convinced that we were somehow the
exception to this rule . I had been
ready to move out since the 9th grade, I certainly was not going to
have second doubts now! College was
going to be the best time of our lives, it would solve all our problems, and I
was convinced that at the end of four years I would be screaming the words of
Ashton Roth’s song ‘I Love College’—“Do I really have to graduate? Or can I just stay here for the rest of my
life?”
Now, as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee in
Knoxville, I’ve learned a few things. It
turns out, that adults actually do know what they’re talking about and my
friends and I are really not really that different from anyone else. After being on campus for one weekend, I
realized that the orientation leaders lied to us—there is no such thing as a
“dry” college campus. Freshmen are out
from under their parents for the first time, with a practically unlimited
supply of alcohol thanks to the all too accommodating upper classmen. The only things “dry” about UT’s campus are
the lectures given by the history department.
As someone who doesn’t drink, this still annoys me. I know that I can have fun on the weekends
with my friends without getting wasted.
In fact, I’m happy to say that I’ll actually remember the fun I had
here. The choice is yours—don’t succumb
to peer pressure. The great thing about
college is that you are no longer confined to the cliques of high school. Decide who you are going to be, and don’t let
anyone convince to be someone else. Find
friends who are like-minded.
At first, college feels like an extended summer
camp. Most colleges don’t even start
class for several days after freshmen move-in.
As soon as classes start though, the stress begins. The instant your professor hands you your
syllabus, you will realize your life is now theirs. Knowing the exact dates of exams, term papers,
etc. is helpful in planning but also means that the next assignment is always
looming over your head. I had friends
who would spend five or six hours a day in the library, still never feeling
like they were fully prepared. The
hardest thing about classes is finding a balance between doing your best and
going utterly insane from stress.
Hard as it may be to understand, you will miss home. You might not miss the drama of high
school—cliques are annoying, but knowing where you belong is also strangely
comforting. In high school I was the
drum major of our band my senior year. I
had danced for 14 years at the same studio.
I played flute with the same teacher since 6th grade. I went to a high school were everyone knew
your name, your siblings, and parents too.
Going to a university where hardly anyone knew who I was took some
getting used to.
As
a high school student, few people are more annoying than your parents. You feel old enough to take care of yourself,
yet they are constantly breathing down your neck, checking to make sure your
homework is done, telling you when you have to be home, and demanding to know
who you’re hanging out with. When you
get to college, though, you quickly realize how much they did for you. On top of your stressful classes, you have to
take care of getting your own food, doing your own laundry, and cleaning your
room. You will quickly learn all the
annoying habits of your roommates and suddenly your siblings are not so
annoying after all. By the time November
rolls around, it seems like every student is singing “I’ll Be Home For
Christmas”, the lyrics holding a new deeper message we never thought possible.
College is awesome.
Please don’t let me lead you to believe that it’s some torture that the
world invented, forcing us to be miserable for four years before we can get a
job (and paycheck) in the field we really want.
All these things that make college so hard are also what make it so much
fun. You get to be whoever you
want—sure, it might be lonely for the first few weeks or even months but once
you find friends, you’ll wonder why you ever missed all your high school
friends. Classes are hard, and you have
to study to make good grades, but if you go to the library with friends it can actually
be pretty fun. You will learn to
appreciate your parents and family at a whole new level. The mistakes you make will turn into some of
your best stories. College probably
won’t be the best time of your life, but if it was, how depressing would that
be? To have to live the rest of your
life after college always wishing to go back?
Live in the present, appreciate every day, and make the most of the
opportunities you have, wherever you are!
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