College. For some, it is the beginning of their lives. It is the place where they can open their eyes and their minds to new ideas in order to grow and blossom into a beautiful human being. It is the place where they can find their true calling in life and live out their purpose, whether that entails lifelong ministry, ten more years of medical school or a devotion to teaching.

For others, it is a four-year long party. Every second of their day is spent hanging out with friends doing anything except for homework and every other night is filled with loud music, “contraband,” and ill-thought-out decisions. Their life motto is some form of “Screw it, why not,” and they live under the authority of no one but themselves.

However, a surprisingly large percentage of college students live somewhere in between; in the gray area. These people live out a healthy balance of social lives, good grades and sleep, with a little sprinkle of poor decisions here and there and a part time job as the cherry on top. They understand that college is the only time in your life when you’re allowed to be stupid, but only after all your homework is done (not that they actually abide by this 100% of the time). My friends, these are the people from whom I have received these stories from:

• “My girlfriend once dared me to eat five bowls of soft serve ice cream with all of the toppings, but on bowl three, I projectile vomited on her and she broke up with me.”- anonymous, UCSD Psychology Major
• “I was running late for a really strict and structured class one morning. I realized I sat right underneath one of the windows, and if I timed it right, I could sneak in through the window without being noticed by the professor. Turns out what I thought was my freshman 15 was actually my freshman 50, and I got stuck in the window when I was already halfway through. I was so embarrassed I dropped the class.” –anonymous PLNU alumni
• “I once broke in to [a] church through the roof and got locked in and had to get out through the emergency exit. The alarm went off.” –Daniel Bozarth, PLNU sophomore
• “I went out with some friends to the club one night and they started ordering drinks. I just ordered whatever they were having, which ended up not being apple juice like I had hoped. I mixed the not-apple-juice with ginger ale to get rid of the taste, but had way, way too much and started dancing with a guy I thought was really cute. We ended up making out for a few hours, stopped because I had to throw up a few times, and then he asked me to go back to his room with him. I politely declined because I don’t deserve a guy who is so desperate he would still get with me after throwing up not-apple-juice, so my friend ended up driving us back to school.” –anonymous, PLNU Communications Major
• “I watched my friend get a stick-and-poke tattoo from a guy in an easy-up tent on the corner of a highway and all I said was, ‘Go for it dude it’ll be a rad story!’” -anonymous, PLNU senior
• “This one time I gave a homeless man a car ride to the train station. He seemed really nice and respectable, but he smelt really bad and my car smelt like butt for three weeks after. I took it to a car wash so they could try to get the smell out and the guys like came up to me after they cleaned it and said there was totally a dead bird under my back seat. That homeless guy literally left a dead bird under my seat.” –anonymous, PLNU Undeclared
• “I was heading down a really steep, dirt hill to go to the cliffs with some friends. I was carrying my friend’s Cali-burrito while she climbed down, but when I was going down, I slipped. As I was rolling down the hill, I destroyed my pants, my body, and my friend's burrito. Instead of helping me up at the bottom of the hill, she ran to her burrito and mourned its untimely death.” –anonymous, PLNU Social Work Major

• “One of my friends decided to run around campus a few days ago with a clown mask. If that isn’t the stupidest thing you could possibly do right now, I don’t know what is.” –anonymous, PLNU Freshman
• -“The boys in my dorm freshman year decided they wanted to make a sauna, so they closed all the vents in the shower room, sealed the door, and turned all the showers on at the highest temperature. The steam ended up escaping and set off the fire alarms.” –anonymous, PLNU sophomore
  
• “I got mega-wasted, went back to my room, and threw up 22 times. Literally, twenty-two times and I didn’t die.” –anonymous, PLNU Political Science Major