After 3 full years of college, I realized that it prepares you for a lot of life things. I mean duh, yes we all knew that before, but what I didn't realize is that college accidentally prepares you for a lot of life things as well! For example, the Olympics. I promise I'm not loony, but just follow me on this journey.
It wasn't too much later, after Rio had been announced, when the internet broke down and went crazy. I'll never forget seeing environmentalists and economists lose their minds over setting the 2016 Olympic games in Rio; what that would financially do to the poor city of Rio and how the area itself was nothing but a large trash bin. It wasn't until earlier this week when I had seen a viral picture on Instagram of a paddle-boarder who was just offshore Rio.
It was disgusting, to say the least. I almost didn't even think it was real. There was garbage floating all around and under water even! The water was a brownish red, that made me wonder if it was iron, or if it was truly just that dirty! This one picture had my mind stirring just as bad as the environmentalists and economists before me. More than anything, it made me wonder what else I was missing during this year's Olympic games. So I stopped, made a list of everything I've been doing while the 2016 games have been going on, and compared it to what I've seen so far.
First, the opening night. Er, I mean my best friend's 21st birthday. The opening ceremonies were something I used to watch with my family, I loved that time. I would sit in awe as everyone came out in traditional clothing, and I used to love when countries only had one or two athletes representing! And like most Americans, I loved being able to point at my TV screen and have a weird connection with some of our everyday professionals that I idolized. I saw on Snapchat that day to keep my eyes out for Team USA because they were supposed to look extra nice in their...Calvin Klein? Ralph Lauren? Who cares, it was my best friend's birthday, and we were going to the bars.
The first day of competition went something like this:
I walked into my kitchen and my roommate, Amber, turned to me and said, "I want to watch the Olympics but we don't have cable." and that's when I decided that I was too lazy and too tired from the night before to make any major movements. Fast forward a day, or something, or a while (remember I don't have cable and I spent this weekend celebrating my best friend's 21st birthday. It's all a little blended) and Michael Phelps won again. YAYYY!! A free celebratory round at the bar, on the tender. Cool.
Then, Simone Biles won...an event...Great! I wasn't able to watch until way after the fact and realized later that it was my loss. She has a move named after her already, just an outstanding athlete all around. And then we went out for lunch, and my friend convinced me to have a beer, and by the time we walked home we decided we were going to go watch movies and turn our social media into a drinking game.
I was having a blast with my friends that weekend, reminiscing about our freshmen year, and all of the 'trouble' that we caused. I shared laughs, memories and a night with a group of irreplaceable people, and it made me wonder...while spending all this time with my favorite people, what else had I missed?
The Olympics more than anything, but what I truly was missing from life was right in front of me. A simple night where we just sat around and talked and laughed. A night with no phones, no drama, just friends. I was not missing anything. My night, my life is being made complete by this group of people whom I love so dearly. And so I learned what college accidentally has taught me, to make friends, value time spent with other people and to just live in the moment. I've learned to make the most of everything and to just take life in, and wow does it feel great.
