By Maureen Quinlan, News Staff
It seems that these days, Facebook is just a forum to share BuzzFeed, Thought Catalog and even the occasional Her Campus article on our friends’ timelines. I can’t say I hate it. I, just like 98 percent of the human race on the Internet, enjoy lists.
Lists of ways to find your soulmate, lists of why John Krasinski is perfect, lists of the most Boston things to ever happen, and lists about best friends all make me smile. So I decided to make my own.
Here are 22 reasons why I love college.
22. The people. We meet so many interesting people, from the faces we see at parties, to the international students we have group projects with, to the greatest people you will ever have the pleasure of knowing.
21. Turning 21. This is an occasion only fitting for the grand stage that is being a college shit show.
20. The ability to be a shit show. I keep hoping it will be acceptable to do Jager bombs and dance at Our House until 2 a.m. into my late 20s.
19. Surviving the dorms. Living for 9-12 months in a shoebox-sized room is an accomplishment in itself.
18. The dining hall. Overpriced or not, I love eating 20 pounds of food on a Sunday morning and taking cookies, bananas, tea and anything else I can fit in my pockets home with me.
17. The Underwear Run. Drunk, half-naked college students running down a busy street through the reflecting pool on a weekend when parents descend on campus? Yes, please.
16. Clubs. Want to learn how to make apple pie in a microwavable mug? There’s a club for that. Want to share your love of entrepreneurial innovation? There’s a club for that.
15. Change. It happens so often and so fast; I am a pro at adapting to change now, I’m set for life.
14. Mistakes. We all make them, but thankfully being in college is a great excuse for being stupid.
13. Learning from said mistakes. We aren’t completely stupid if we actually learn from them.
12. All-nighters. Seeing the sun come up as you walk home from Snell while strung out on caffeine only happens in college.
11. Rallying. After a night of too much fun or not enough sleep or heaps of stress, there is nothing college students do better than rally for that job interview, presentation or another night of shenanigans.
10. Study abroad. If you have the chance to see the world as a young person with little responsibility, take it. You won’t regret it.
9. Naps. Enough said.
8. Day drinking. We don’t need holidays for the Irish or marathons as an excuse to get tipsy before noon.
7. Community. Sometimes it feels like living in a fish bowl where everyone knows everyone (and their secrets) can be suffocating, but it’s nice to have a community of like-minded people surrounding you.
6. Co-op. We not only gain experience in our chosen fields, cold hard cash, recommendations, connections and the opportunity to see if we actually hate neuroscience and want to switch to theater, we gain a huge appreciation for the fleeting years of college classes. Work life after graduation is going to feel like an eternity without that six-month expiration date.
5. Growth. The difference between my freshman self and my fourth year self absolutely baffles me. I’ve loved watching myself grow emotionally.
4. Sunny days in the quad. Seeing Adirondack chairs in Centennial Commons with the sun shining is what made me want to come to Northeastern. There is nothing so college as sunbathing, studying and laughing on the quad on a sunny day.
3. Boston. I try not to ever forget how lucky I am to learn and grow in such an amazing city that became my home in four short years.
2. Friendships. College cultivates great friendships that last lifetimes because living with your best friends for four to five years creates an unbreakable bond.
Who else will love you even when you haven’t done the dishes in a week? Who else will you tell the most intimate details of your day to without fear of judgment or disinterest? Who else will pick you up off the floor after one too many shots? Who else will love you in spite of all your flaws? Who else will cry like a baby with you when you have to graduate? College friends hang around because they’ve seen you at your worst and your best.
1. The best years of your life. It has not been an understatement that college has been the best time of my life. The laughs, the memories, the friends, the experiences all make me, me.
Cheers to college.
