As midterms approach in my second year of college, I have come to truly identify with what college is really all about. There is no doubt that, yes, college is a place to pursue higher education, but college is so much more than that. It sounds cliché that college is a “place to discover one’s self,” but the more I ponder that thought, it’s pretty damn accurate.
For the most of us, we’ve spent eighteen years being told what to believe because of the influences of our parents or guardians, communities, and our religions. A person’s upbringing can shape how they perceive the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with believing everything one has been taught in their upbringing, but why not explore and try new things while transitioning into adulthood? Not many people actually go explore the world and attempt to understand why they believe what they believe, and that’s kind of sad. The world is at our feet, ready to be unearthed.
I’ve discovered that in college, it’s safe to challenge yourself whether that is academically, socially, spiritually, sexually, or even more. Half of my involvement thus far in college is in organizations that I never knew existed before I stepped on campus. There are jobs and opportunities that are new, interesting, unusual, and fun that are searching for students to come dabble with and try. Even the people are different because when stepping onto a college campus, you are among a cluster of people that come from diverse backgrounds, which come from other cultures than yours. In one day on a college campus, you can listen to a flute trio, watch a basketball game, attend an Islamic Q&A session, and eat free wings at a history club meeting. You can make out with someone under the campanile, watch too much Netflix in your lofted twin extra-long dorm room bed, hide on the third floor of the library to study for your awful humanities exam, or order the cheapest large pizza you can find that delivers for free at one in the morning. You have the freedom to try new things, spend too much money, learn about the endless possibilities the world offers, and create a genuinely original foundation of what it is that you believe.
For one, college isn’t just about fun. College is a place to cultivate learning, but that shouldn’t be limited to just your degree or career goals. The learning should be an endless journey of discovering yourself. That may seem quite typical, but it’s true. If we as humans don’t make ridiculous attempts to find out who we are, then aren’t we all just looking at life as though we are looking at it through rose-colored glasses?