So, someone wanted a post culminating a senior year at Allegheny.
I have no idea where to begin. None. Whatsoever.
President Cook is leaving. That is sad. He was truly one of the best things that happened to the college in the last half century or more. (Read Helmerich's book Through all the Years and then tell me i am wrong). He will be sorely missed.
Four years hardly seems like enough time to be anything more than a visitor somewhere, when i think about it. It sounds so trite, but it really feels like just the other day that my parents left me in the campus center, my father trying to hold up to be strong for my weepy mother.
And now here I am, gone from there... an Alumni with a diploma. And a polyester gown that i was required to purchase from the book store.
So, aside from all the curricular lessons I learned, I am thinking back on the life lessons that this place taught me. Here are a few.
1. Make friends with the custodians, the secretaries and the food service workers. The administration is great, and makes lots of important decisions, but these are the people who really run the place. Need to get into the radio station for your 8am radio show? Clide the CC custodian has your back. Looking for a list of alumni working in your field? Kay in ACCEL will hook you up. Worried that McKin's will run out of Glacier Freeze or Riptide Rush Gatorade? Norman and Frank will save some for you.
2. Don't mess with security. Their badges may actually be sewn onto their uniforms, but when the spot you are parked in is designated to be a handicapped spot overnight, they WILL fine you... for parking in a handicapped spot. Don't argue. you won't get anywhere.
3. No one will ever figure out room-draw. Just give up trying. You'll be a lot happier.
4. Explore Meadville. It may be falling in on itself, but it is a fun place to explore. There are little treasures like the Dearhead Inn, or The Penny Bar, The Market House and Pampered Palate. Take a Saturday and wander around... Just be sure to take mace, on the off chance you end up in a part of town with no sun.
5. Buy and umbrella... before your senior year. (oops).
6. Buy winter boots and long underwear. Allegheny is guaranteed to be the last place to feel the effects of Global Warming. It is on the seal... translate the Latin.
7. Classes won't be canceled... ever... so don't check your email in the morning. It isn't worth the time. 5 feet of snow and Physical Plant hasn't gotten around to shoveling yet? Too bad, get an earlier start on the hike. There is no power because a tornado blew through Cochranton? (you think i am kidding, don't you...) Oh well, grab a flashlight... we will talk about what you WOULD have done with the computers in class.
8. The side of Bentley that faces Brooks walk? Fun Fact: THAT IS THE BACK. Take a look.
9. If you are looking for the ghost in Hullings, you won't see her. And if you stay up all night looking for her, you will not only annoy the girls on those floors, but you will probably miss class the next day. Cause you will be sleeping.
10. Taking a brick from Brooks walk does not make you cool. I promise.
11. They sell Ramen noodles in town too... you don't have to go to Wal Mart every other day.
12. Football games are fun. Who cares if it is D III? They are fun events cause you can see professors and administrators out of the classroom or office. And yell ridiculous stuff with them.
13. Go to Late-Night McKinley's sober some weekend. It's called drunk-watching. You get points for every drunk kid who talks to you, bonus for everyone that hits on you. You also get points for all the people you see drunkenly fall on the ice outside the CC. Bonus if they are in a mini-skirt (gender is irrelevant).
14. Don't take anything you do too seriously. The Campus is a college newspaper. The theatre department is at Allegheny... not Julliard. The choir? Ok... they actually sound amazing. Bio majors? I have tough news for you. Your comps are not more work than everyone else's. They're not. Plus, you have a whole year to do them... many of the rest of the students do not. Also, you CHOSE to do a bio comp. Quit your ich-bay-ing and do the work. We don't want to hear about how hard it is.
15. Learn to be happy. Learn to love rain and snow, to love sun in September and those random moments where you have nothing to do. If you can be happy in Meadville, you will be able to be happy most places.
These are just some wistful things that stick in my mind. I also have learned that Bill Clinton will come if there are lots of college kids running around campus with beer on Springfest and he can claim it is a "campaign stop" for his wife.
