Anytime I go home from school and see those I haven't seen for quite some time, I consistently get the same paint-by-number questions. I'm sure I'm not the only one. "How are your classes going?" "Have you been eating?" My sister likes to keep it simple, yet broad, with "How's college?"
I personally don't know how to answer that. Usually I just say, "It's fun." Or "It's going well." I wish I could give her a visual with some sort of montage of every highlight of this semester with some cool, indie music playing in the background, however, I can't do that, unfortunately. Another question she ALWAYS asks, is "What do you do?" Again, I am at a loss for words. The truth is, college isn't necessarily what you do, but how you do it, and who you do it with.
College is a culmination of the small things that later become the big things.
College is flannel shirts and coffee.
College is coming home on break seeing your friends and family that you haven't seen in months, and within five minutes, acting like no time has passed.
College is an endless buffet of quite mediocre food made in bulk that gets old to the taste, but never to the experience.
College is chili luncheons on a loud porch full of friends and laughter on a Friday afternoon.
College is stepping outside for a breath of fresh air from an irreplaceably great conversation on the side wall of a party and thinking to yourself "wow, I love this place."
College is going to the library to study all night with a friend, but instead of studying diligently, getting lost in introspective conversations about everything else.
College is waking up on a creaky bed in a broom closet of a room next to your best friend and just laying there, talking about nothing in particular until one of you makes the suggestion to get brunch.
College is getting in the car with five dudes at 3 am on a Tuesday to get 7x7 burgers at Steak'n Shake.
College is watching a movie you've never heard of in a living room full of of friends on a Monday night while everyone else on campus is probably studying.
College is saying hi to every stranger you see on campus, because at no other point in your life will this be socially acceptable.
College is winning concert tickets to see your favorite band two hours away, and missing the bus on the way back, leaving you with no other option but to sleep back to back on a park bench with your friend, and then telling everyone you know that this was the best experience you've ever had.
College is exploring the history of the oldest buildings of your campus, finding an apocalyptic-looking basement with ghostly-sounding noises which you later find out are coming from a radiator, but in the moment force you to run out screaming.
College is going to every home football game, and staying to watch the whole thing, even if it's raining and everyone else leaves.
College is sharing some brews and some stories with your dad by the grill on a free weekend at home.
College is visiting your old friends at other schools, and while you're there, thinking the grass is much greener on their side of the fence. When you come back, you are so thankful that you are where you are.
College is taking a job on campus over the summer with all of your buds, even though you know you should've sought out a more professional experience, yet not regretting a second of it, and leaving the summer saying that it was the best job you've ever had.
College is doing everything that was uncool in high school, and making it cool again.
College is joining an organization, and going all in, letting it change your entire outlook on life before you have a chance to blink.
College is working at your favorite amusement park for a weekend with your best friends, and seeing that the behind the scenes work is not as fun as it is visiting for the rides.
College is climbing to the top of a roller coaster, literally, and figuratively.
College is going to a BigTen Football game, and never looking at the school the same way again after actually being a college student.
College is not having class till 2pm on a Monday, and relishing every time you get to hit that snooze button.
College is enjoying a class just for the magnitude of the stories and life lessons of a certain professor.(My Comp 1 professor, freshman year, told me that he was rolling down the highway and came to a standstill in traffic three times. Each time being stopped next to the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. They made eye contact each time, and on the third time, he asked her to take the nearest exit. She did, they grabbed a drink, and talked about nearly everything. Two hours later, they were engaged, and they've been married for 30 years now.)
College is making a fool of yourself in public, because no one really cares.
College is holding the door open for the person behind you, and then accidentally keeping it open for the following 15 people, because wherever you're going next is not THAT important in the grand scheme of things.
College is taking a to-go box from the dining hall, and eating the food before you leave, only to get more food for the box.
College is yelling the "signature yell" at tours of prospective students and watching them roll their eyes, instilling in them the realization that "Yes, we actually do yell that here."
College is buying a textbook and not opening it for the entire semester.
College is eating ramen and cardboard at the end of the semester when you're out of food and low on money.
College is pulling an all-nighter, coming back at 6am, taking a "ten minute nap" and then waking up 15 minutes before your final exam starts, only to get there right as they're handing out the scantron.
College is going to the Casino at 3 am after finishing your homework, because it's too late to go to bed.
College is participating in an intramural sport, attempting to relive your "glory days" from high school, and going all in like your career depends on it.
College is living in a house with all of your best friends, and consistently forgetting that you're not on the show "Friends."
College is having moments that should be documented in a movie, and if they were, it'd go down in history as a timeless classic.
College is having inside jokes with your roommate where they will know what you're thinking about just by giving them a certain glance.
College is making a hipster-esque music video with the girl next door in the dorm elevator at 2 am.
College is thinking about where you'll be in ten-ish years when you're thirty, thinking this will all be just a great memory, and promising yourself that you'll enjoy every living breath of this, leaving no door unopened.
