It’s 12:27 a.m. on a Thursday night and I have a class in less than nine hours that I’ve slept through one too many times already this quarter. Instead of finishing homework or getting some shut-eye, though, I’m huddled on the couch with some friends—processing some news that should be good, but ends up making us feel more bitter than sweet. A suggestion was presented: “Let’s go to the beach.” With less than a moment’s hesitation, we were finding flip-flops, packing towels, and making a rental car reservation. Within five minutes, we were on our way, merging onto the Silicon Valley highway that is usually filled with the hustle and bustle of daily life but now, in the dark middle of the night, lay wide open in front of us. The windows were lowered, the AUX plugged in, the volume cranked up as high as it would go, and the GPS abandoned in favor of driving endlessly, knowing that this road would lead us to where the land empties into the sea, wherever that happened to be.

Three hours later, we cruised back into the parking spot, bleary-eyed, sand-clad, and satisfied; with our paper bag of diner donuts and an old-school carton of milk. Falling down the stairs into the ocean, losing a debit card, and standing in the Pacific until our feet froze was a centering experience. It is one that, no matter how many times I do it, never ceases to make me feel simultaneously small and powerful.

It’s nights like these that make me feel alive. They allow me a brief escape from class, the library, meetings, dining halls, studying, and every other moment that fills my average college student schedule and I will never turn them down, no matter how much I have to do. Now don't get me wrong; I love college. My classes are enlightening and fulfilling. My professors are brilliant and incredibly caring. My randomly-assigned roommate is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm going to college to get a degree to advance myself into a career that I'm passionate about and that will enable me to save people's lives and I couldn't be more excited about the opportunities that await me. But that’s not the only reason why I’m here.

I am not here to wake up in the morning, go to class, eat in the dining hall, go to the library to study, attend a meeting or two, go to bed on a consistent schedule every night, rinse and repeat. My education is absolutely the most important reason I am here and I will give my classes the attention they deserve but it is not the only reason I came to college. I am here for the experience and I am living college with no regrets.

There seems to be an obsession with the college students that don’t party . These “holier-than-thou” teenagers are over-glorified. They’re what our parents and grandparents hope we could be. Now, I am not here to condemn anyone for the decisions they make in college. If you choose to skip the party phase and that makes you happy; if you want to remember every moment of college so you refuse to engage in anything that could make you black out, you have my respect. If you go out and party all the time, have a wide social circle, and can still somehow manage to keep up with everything else you have to do, consider me impressed. Can’t we have both though? Can’t we spend Friday nights in some random house wearing too much makeup and drinking out of Red Solo cups with our friends and then spend Saturday afternoons wearing our sweats and going to watch the latest Disney movie before shuffling to the library on Sunday to write an essay that’s due the next day? When did these experiences become mutually exclusive?

You can find me in the library at closing time, sipping lukewarm coffee and finishing assignments. You can also find me in my suite on a Wednesday, enjoying my night off with friends and having fun before we make the trek to the Bronco for mozzarella sticks and grilled cheese at 1 AM. I’ll do both. I’m the girl that shows up at a party in heels that are three sizes too big but that I just couldn’t pass up because they were simply too cute but I’m also the one that checks my school email approximately every 37 minutes and keeps meticulous track of online assignment deadlines. I spend my Thursday afternoons pushing patients in wheelchairs and my Tuesday afternoons rubbing kids’ backs until they fall asleep. I take the train into the city on the weekends (with my flashcards tucked into my purse, of course) and I spend way more on sushi than is advisable for any college student. I joined a fraternity and I spend at least one weekend a month with my grandparents. One quarter I had 200 too many meal points and the next I had 200 too few. Balance is something that I hold dearly in my life

There is no recipe for how to be the perfect college student and nothing is a dichotomy: it is absolutely possible to have the best of both worlds. As long as you are happy and healthy and fulfilled, do what you want to do. As for me, I want to experience it all. I never want to look back at college and regret not being involved or wish I had done more. Life is too short to play by the rules all the time.