Responsibilities of adult life may approach sooner than expected
Freshmen and sophomores, you will hear some of the cheesiest clichés during your next two or three years in college. Juniors, you are probably already tired of the overused phrases about college being the best time of your life, about making friends you’ll never forget and memories you’ll never remember.
As I prepare to walk across the stage in the Colonial Life Arena, I wish I had taken some of these cheeseball quotes a little more seriously.
I’m not so naive to think that college will be the only best time of my life. I’m confident enough to know that my happiness will continue to develop as I grow and have a career and family of my own. However, I am quite certain I’ll never be able to enjoy life in the same way that I have been able to during the past four years.
As I type this right now, it is 1 p.m., and I’m sunbathing by the pool. In a few months, I will not be able to spend my Monday afternoons in such a relaxing way. In a few months, I won’t be able to go out on a Tuesday night, stumble home around 4 a.m. and pick myself up to make it to class by 11 the next morning. In a few months, I’ll be waking up at 7:30 a.m., trekking my way to whatever “big girl job” I have in order to pay the growing bills that my parents will no longer pay for me.
College is the opportunity for us to better ourselves as people while still enjoying the many pleasures that life affords us. Our responsibilities are large enough that we can actually be productive, but our freedoms are wide enough that we can spend our weekends at the pool and our nights at the bars and still manage to make good grades. While our workload may be too much during some weeks, there is the comfort in knowing that after that last exam, there is a winter, spring or summer break to relax us.
This is the last column I will ever write as a USC student, and I cannot imagine a more incredible way to say goodbye. I have met the most amazing people and have made the most wonderful friends on this campus. I have had some of the best and worst times of my life within these halls, and I am a better person for it.
So students who have the benefit of returning to this campus for one, two, three or even four more years, take advantage of all opportunities. Go to as many sporting events and campus activities as you can, because right now they are free.
Take the time to relax, have a drink and meet new friends. We have the rest of our lives to work. Take the years you have now to enjoy yourself and, while still doing well in school, have a whole lot of fun.