What has college taught me outside of the classroom? College has taught me that memories are more important than working all the time. My junior year at Missouri Baptist University, I had just stopped a long day of homework and was getting close to calling it a night and going to bed. I had just changed into my pajamas and was ready to relax for the little time I was planning on staying awake. A girl on my floor burst into my roommate and my room and said “you guys want to go play in the snow?!” I immediately said no because I was tired and mentally exhausted from doing homework all day. After thinking about it for a minute, I decided it would be a good way to unwind and call it a night after playing in the snow.

I thought about how I did not want to look back at college and say to myself, “all I did was play lacrosse and do school work 24/7. I did not do anything fun.” I decided this would be my fun so I bundled up and went outside. My friend and I went down the hill in a laundry basket, something I had always heard about at my time at Missouri Baptist, but had never experienced because of lack of snow. This was my year to experience it, especially now that there was a lot of snow. We went sledding down the hill in the laundry basket, rolled sideways down a hill (knocking heads in the process), and explored campus. We ended up being outside almost three hours, way later than I initially expected to be awake. Looking back now, it was one of my favorite days at college. I love my sport and I have liked a majority of my professors, but being able to play in the snow and act like a little kid again instantly made the long day better. Although I was freezing cold when I got inside and I was very happy to defrost, it was a really fun night. My friends and I each wore more than 3 pairs of pants and a couple hoodies to stay warm.

Choosing friends wisely was what a friend said college taught them. After thinking about it, I realized I learned this in high school when I transferred. I thought that my friends at my first high school would stay my friends through the whole transferring process and we would still hang out as much as we did when I was still in school with them. Transferring taught me that half my friends were no longer there for me. One did not seem to care at all and was more concerned with getting a tee shirt back that I had borrowed. Others, on-the-other-hand, were really upset I was leaving. They made the effort to make plans when we were both free or even meet up just to do homework for a couple of hours. This transition taught me that not everyone is a true friend and those that do are worth keeping. Since my transfer, I believe I have only gotten closer to the friends that stayed around.