This is the space typically reserved for the big “so long, thanks for the memories” column that lets one lucky senior Spectator staff member reflect on his or her college life and put some of the wisdom he or she has gained by offering advice for those left behind.
They usually write about how afraid they are about heading off into the real world now that graduation is upon them, and how they’ll always look back on what has been the best time of their life.
It’s all very bittersweet.
Alas, no one on the editorial staff is graduating this semester.
Nary a single editorial staffer will toss his or her cap into the blue sky amid hugs and tears before saying “goodbye” to the sheltered safety of college life forever.
But we still have space to fill, so the duty falls to me, resident staff four-year senior (soon to be fifth-year) and the oldest of the editorial staff. Come closer, my son, and I’ll tell you the story of the university back in my day, way back in 1997. A time that will be forever known as the age of “MmmBop.”
OK, so maybe I haven’t quite reached a profound mystical understanding that gives me the right to tell everyone else to live college life to the fullest. Nonetheless, this space falls to me.
My four years in Eau Claire have given me at least enough experience to know that despite how often it’s said and how clich it sounds, college truly is the most free any of us ever get to be.
Not that I think I have to rationalize things, but part of the reason I’m returning for an encore year is because I took a semester off to intern for a local paper. In that time, I got a taste for what it’s like to work full-time, day after day, grinding away to make a buck. As great of an experience as it was, it still instilled in me the belief that college truly is the time when I’ll have the most freedom.
When else can I sit around the house in my underwear and eat an entire tube of cookie dough and not be looked down upon?
OK, bad example.
When else can I call up friends on a whim and head out for a drink at The Joynt and still have the weekend to finish up my presentation for Monday?
Yeah, things can be stressful. There are tests to worry about, papers to write and bills to pay.
But even with the stress that comes with college, we still get to skirt some of the stress and responsibility that living in the so-called “real world” brings about, and no, I’m not talking about the MTV show. If “The Real World” was anything like life, we’d all live together, pay no rent and spend our days complaining about how no one ever cleans the house, all to the tune of “Everybody Hurts” by REM.
Phew … I’m getting off track here. This whole reflection thing is tougher than it seems.
Let’s see. This would be the part where I encourage everyone still in school to enjoy the time they have left and live life to its fullest. I could do that or I could just say:
See you next year, we’ll grab a beer, stress over finals, smile at the `A’ we got on the big project, see a local band play, travel to Big Falls, eat at Burger King (even though we know it rots our guts), walk up the hill, dance on the whore box at the Nasty Habit and enjoy our time here at Eau Claire.
