Friday Fiver: Back to school

The campus on which I work will be very busy this weekend.  Students will be moving in, reuniting with friends and making new ones.  I attended the same college where I now work, so watching move-in certainly brings back lots of memories.  I've been out of college for some time, but I still remember the anticipation of a new school year.  I didn't care much for homework, but there are certain things I do miss about the college days.  Here are five of them:

I'm sad Kathleen isn't in this photo, but it's still a nice one.

My roommates
I didn't really mesh with the roommate I was assigned my freshman year.  Fortunately, I quickly met some wonderful girls with whom I would spend the majority of my waking hours (which were numerous in those days) for the next three and a half years.  We were (and still are) very different people, but somehow, the arrangement worked out perfectly.  Ever since we graduated, we've been scattered to our own area of the nation, and there's going to be some more scattering soon.  I miss these girls dearly and think about them every single day.

Band
Yeah, I was a band geek.  I started playing the flute in 5th grade and continued right through high school and college.  I had two different band directors in college, but I remember the second one the most.  He was very tough.  He expected perfection, and he was methodical in getting us there.  I still have tons or respect for him though, and I definitely miss playing as part of an organized group.  I still have my flute (the same one I got in 5th grade), and I get it out every now and then, but it's seldom enough that I struggle each time.

This was the staff my senior year.

Student Newspaper
I lived and breathed for my work on the student newspaper during college.  If I could have skipped classes just to do newspaper, I would have.  This is how I knew I was in the right field.  Sure, I'm no longer in newspapers, but my work in college media gave me a great foundation for my post-college years.  It didn't hurt that I got to work with a lot of fun people, many of whom I'm still in touch with.  I have fond memories of those late Thursday nights of dueling playlists, sugary treats and chair races.  The annual print vs. electronic media softball game stands out as well.

Interesting classes
The first class I sat down in on campus was called "God and Human Suffering."  I'm not kidding.  It was a course discussing the presence of God in various tragedies in history.  It was really interesting, and although there were only seven of us in the class, there were often some very lively debates.  A few of my other favorites were "Love, American Style" (an examination of how our definition of romance has changed over the years through book and film), "Women's History" (I learned soooo much about the women who helped pave the way for me to have all the rights and opportunities I have today) and "Behavior Modification" (our main semester-long assignment was to choose one of our own behaviors to change and use the psychology techniques to try and change it).

Some of my favorite good time girls.

Ready-made social situations and parties
In the real world, it is so hard to meet new people.  In college, all you had to do was go to class, join a club/organization or simply head to one of the campus gathering places.  I haven't yet figured out the equivalent for these things in the real world.  I wasn't a heavy partier in college, but there were several I'll never forget. And, of course, some I'll never remember.  But we won't go into that. *smile*


What are/were some of your favorite things about your college days?