They say you go to college to further your education—to get a degree and start a career doing what you love to do. From the moment you step foot on campus, you are told to always put your grades first and that is your main priority. I will not disagree with any of these statements, but I must make a counterpoint. In the wise words of many very intelligent individuals who have already survived the long and winding road of college, the most beneficial part of their experience at a university did not come from what they learned on that Tuesday afternoon in Psychology 1000, but instead the incredible life lessons from the most unusual places.
I, for one, can most definitely agree with this ingenious piece of wisdom. And of course, how could I do so without a story to pair with it?
It all began on a sunny Sunday morning right before the start of the fall semester. A good friend of mine had the fine idea of exploring the Fraternity Carnival, which sounded like a blast. What better way to spend the last day of summer than with free food, new people and a Ferris wheel on campus? Once we were there, we saw plenty of booths, one of which had a spinning wheel with free concert tickets as prizes. I spun the wheel and had no such luck of winning a ticket ... yet.
As an important side note, anyone who knows me at all knows that I am the most passionate fan ever of the band O.A.R. They come up in almost every conversation I have.
Later that night, I got back to my dorm and a friend down the hall, knowing of my fandom, informed me that she won a ticket to see none other than O.A.R.! She was kind enough to sell me the ticket, and I later found out that my hall neighbor also won a ticket.
The concert was on the Friday of Labor Day weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, and neither of us had class. At this point, all of the odds were in our favor.
We had decided to take a MegaBus to Cleveland, as it was a two-hour drive and neither of us had any other transportation.
When we arrived at the venue, not only did we find out that it was right on the waterfront with perfect weather but somehow we were able to walk right into the V.I.P. section about three rows from the stage ... I melted from excitement.
About halfway through the show, my friend told me that he did not purchase his bus ticket yet to take him back to campus. His phone was out of juice, so I told him not to worry about it and that he could borrow mine after the show.
This may have been the biggest mistake I could have made that night, but it was all the better.
Once they played the encore, my mind was blown and we were booted from the venue. I lent my phone to my friend, and he discovered that tickets were no longer being sold for the 1:30 a.m. bus. I proceeded to reassure him that it shouldn't be a problem, he could probably just pay with cash. We walked back to the bus station.
Finally, the bus arrived and we explained what had happened. Little did we know that there was a zero percent chance of us boarding that bus without a pre-ordered ticket. We would just have to wait for the next bus, which left at 7:00 a.m.
I immediately had the thought of camping out in the bus station, that is until I was told that it is not permitted. The kind bus station operator told us that if we wandered around the casinos all night, we "should" be safe.
With very limited options, this seemed to be the best choice. Luckily for us, there was a lobby area in one of the casinos that we could nonchalantly hang around in for a while until we were asked to leave.
There was a small wall near the restrooms where we could attempt to catch some sleep, and we succeeded until an employee approached us, at which point I explained the whole situation. He was a good sport, but we were asked to leave the premises.
At this point, it was about 4:00 a.m., and we were aimlessly meandering around the city. We were trying to walk as close as possible to larger groups of people to avoid any trouble.
We found a secluded bench on the side of the street that looked comfortable enough to catch a few z's, so we leaned back to back and did so.
Before we knew it, 7:00 a.m. had arrived and we boarded the bus, only to arrive at the campus to an absolute downpour. The friend who had accompanied me to the carnival picked us up and drove us back to the dorm.
All in all, this was well worth it; the concert was absolutely nuts and was probably the best one I have ever been to. This was the best night of my college experience thus far, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
There are also several different lessons to take away from this adventure:
1. Sometimes if you're given an opportunity and there is a small price, you just have to go with it.
2. It is possible to spend the night on the streets of downtown Cleveland and live to tell the tale.
3. You only really know a person after sharing an experience like this.
4. The best hot-dog stand in America is located in Cleveland, OH.
5. Always pre-order your MegaBus tickets, but if you don't something great could result.
6. Sometimes the biggest lessons you learn in college are as far away from a classroom as possible.
