......pieces of thesis

-When I Was In School-

The more I write the more I realize why I’m writing. These stories and anecdotes aren’t medals or awards or achievements to be displayed and shone to anyone who comes over for dinner. The stories are a way of remembering and as they are told they become a way of reliving. College stories aren’t about trumping someone in drinking; they’re about believing in freedom. It’s about those fleeting years when there were no ‘real world’ responsibilities, no extreme bills, no obligations to anyone but yourself.

The college student has the basest of existence: a miniscule dorm room, horrible food, an extremely small social circle. Ostracized from the outside world but with more freedom than the world can give. It was a time of simplicity, friendship, good times and base. It would become the blueprint of our lives.

The times we shared and the things we did were never planned nor were they expected to be memorialized. They simply became our refuge as time kept turning.

Few things can compete with a wild nite with friends, a road trip to anywhere, and a 8:00 a.m. class with a hangover. No job will ever give the same amount of satisfaction that an all-niter to complete a 14 pages term paper will give a 19 year old college student. No paycheck will ever be as big as the gift package that mom and dad sent. No house will ever be as big or as personal and comfortable as the cell we called a dorm room. No beer will ever be as good as the first one we paid for legally. Life will never be college. New friends will never be drinking buddies. Vacations will never be spring break. Summers will never be yours again.

sound familiar?