My parents always told me that the most important part of college would be the education, which makes plenty of sense. But when I started school, I had no idea that I would take away so much more.
Today, I find myself caught somewhere in between wanting nothing more than to get out of this tiny farm-town where nothing changes and everyone knows each other’s business, and being terrified of leaving the only place that’s ever felt like home. The place where I know the way to the dirty frat bathroom like the back of my hand, and I never have to worry about being alone, and it’s as safe and comfortable as the laughter of my friends drinking in a dorm room on a Monday night.
Because to you, it might just be college. It might just be a group of years bunched together due to a common theme, or the biggest public university in the state that everybody who was nobody in your high school inevitably went to. But to me, this is everything. This is the place where I don’t turn a corner without seeing a familiar face and feeling a sense of a relief that in this big huge world we aren’t so alone after all. This is the place where I know the ins and outs of every bar, every dining hall, every floor of the library. This is the place that forced me to grow up, to open my eyes and see that there is so much pain in the world but also so much happiness, and so many reasons to smile.
So tonight, I sit with my friends eating french fries and ice cream in our old dining hall, listening to them complain about their classes and professors. And the conversation slowly transitions to stories. The first time he got drunk freshman year. The night we stayed up until four in the morning playing that game where you come up with rhymes until someone can’t think of any. The time we recorded videos of ourselves that didn’t make sense but we laughed so hard it didn’t matter. I listen and smile at the memories, because in twenty years I’m not going to look back and think about that all-nighter I pulled studying for my orgo exam. Instead, I’m going to think about the time we walked to 7/11 in a snowstorm to buy cigarettes. Or the night the party got shut down so we wandered the streets with a pack of freshmen, giving cynical advice to their curious, talkative, drunk minds.
I’m going to think about all the $5 amaretto sours we bought before we realized they had hardly any alcohol in them, and the nights we spent dancing our hearts out to "Don’t Stop Believing". I’m going to think about the rush of adrenaline we got from seeing someone we hadn’t seen in awhile, or hearing our favorite song come on at the bar. I’ve been trying to tell myself that it only goes up from here, but the natural high I get from this school and these people is better than anything I can possibly imagine.
So thank you UConn, for not only pushing me to reach my maximum academic potential but also for giving me the best memories with the best friends I could ask for. This time, you’ve truly outdone yourself.
