I have been in college too long. Or at least it feels that way. Whilst this might be a standard feeling that a number of you share with me, I am going to attempt to do something about it. I am going to compile a list of everything I have learned in college.
Is it beneficial for you? Probably not, but that's hardly important to me. This is therapy -- my therapy. It is nearing the end of semester. Winter is in clumsy retreat. Our eyes are turning again to the future. Right now I need to justify the long years and the big loan. I need to get some catharsis out of my academic journey. Moreover, I need to vanquish all the hours I have wasted on the World Wide Web searching for biographical details on the people I was interested in that particular day. I will give you an example:
Using Google, I spent last Monday afternoon looking up (in the following order) a semi-famous advertising copywriter responsible for the account of a well-known shoe manufacturer, the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916; a heroin addict/musician called Pete Doherty, a kid I know from New Zealand who plays semi-pro soccer in England, a little fish that embeds itself in one's urethra if one chooses the wrong part of a South American river to "go bathroom" in and the results of any cricket game I could find. I don't even like cricket that much and -- funnily enough -- that was part of the attraction.
Thankfully, I am not so blind that I cannot see there is a world toiling on outside. As I look at enlarged images of Mischa Barton, my ex-next-door neighbor serves in Iraq. I get his e-mails. He sends pictures of local kids he has met and his opinions on the war. He talks about his faith in the mission and his faith in God. In many ways, he demonstrates the first example of what I have learned in college. The people you meet in college are it. They are the biggest thing. It could be a professor, or it could be your roommate. Or it could be the lady with no teeth who works in the electronics department at Wal-Mart -- except that she doesn't go to college but she is pretty cool anyway. Though my neighbor and I are different on many levels, he has had an impact on my life. And he's just one of many.
With our wonderfully human predilection toward self-centeredness, it is sometimes difficult to remember that this whole "life thing" is a collective experience. Late semester anxieties and stress about the future rise to the fore, I know. Worries about all that we can't control sometimes seem to take root and hold on for dear life. Our already much-too-subjective focus turns ever more inward. At times like this it is easy to ignore the little pleasures -- the interaction in the hallway, the smile across the Lawn from someone you don't know. As some cheeseball said in some movie, "That's the good stuff." Okay, now I know I have definitely gone too far. I sound like I am in the process of a Life columnist try-out for Oprah's magazine. Together we have gone deep. We have discussed duty to one's country and God. We have talked about the wonderful benefits of friendship. Now back to me.
What else have I learned in college? I learned to write short, terse sentences. That didn't really last -- I really like to ramble on and on, I like to use commas, and due to this I think I have some French in me or at least the illusion that beneath my glaring lack of talent lies New Zealand's version of F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have learned that second-guessing one's instincts can end in disaster. I am prouder still to say I didn't learn that from multiple-choice tests. I have learned that an argument should be just that, and not a fight. Thankfully I didn't have to get punched in the face to learn that one.
I have learned to try and relax, though that is a work in progress. I have learned there's no substitute for pursuing what you would love to do, not what you think you should do. A near brush with an almost career choice taught me that. It has been one of the longer lessons. I have learned losing yourself in a task you enjoy is worth almost anything. Most importantly, I have also learned I am not particularly gifted when it comes to giving advice, so disregard the aforementioned at will.
However, here's one piece of advice I feel ready to dispense because I think it really is true. We are told that at certain moments such as graduation and certain birthdays we should be all grown up. As we all know, that is rarely the case. In conclusion, I have learned to be excited by the process of getting older and (shock horror!) maturing.
So what else have I learned? I can't remember right now. It's a bit like that though, isn't it? Ryan Adams said it best: "I am in the twilight of my youth. ... Not that I am going to remember."
Chris Garland is an exchange student from New Zealand. His column runs biweekly on Thursdays.
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