The College Journals: Take And Give
There are some things they leave out of the glossy brochures.
There are some details they forget to mention in their fancy presentation. A few warnings that don’t make it in between the alcohol and drug safety slides. And there are some little things they forget to tell you before you sign your name with their shiny new pen.
But there is one that stands above all.
You will be dragged to hell and back before you rush back through those columns as Alumni. Sorry to the prospective students currently looking through the color corrected images in the pamphlet (the campus is beautiful but it’s no Garden of Eden). They leave out the failed classes, the stumbled nights, and the heartbreaks. The heartbreaks of lost friendships, and things that could have been. Which is why I’m here. It’s time to talk about the Take and Give of college.
Let’s start here. It’s freshmen year, and I am a meteorology major hoping to be the next Jim Cantore. The first few weeks of classes go by smoothly. I was excelling in most of my classes, and enjoyed all of them. Then the first math test came flying up from Hades himself, and knocked my on my butt. I was no math genius in high school but I did okay for myself. But reality came rearing its equation shaped head in the middle of October. And reality felt a lot like a panic attack. I remember the moment. The moment I realized that I didn’t want what I had wanted a few months ago. Since fourth grade it was weatherman or bust. But now it was anything-but-weatherman or bust. So with the encouragement of a few friends (and some late night little talks) I switched majors. I joined the dark side and became a J-School major.
Luckily, reality came back to claim me from journalism's dark hands soon enough and it was back to the major search. Two majors in two semesters. I was really beating some stigmas there (sarcasm). A few days after dropping another major, an email popped into my mizzou inbox. And in the jungle of promotions and football season ticket memos, came a little light in the middle of nowhere. A new major was being created called Digital Storytelling, and it centered around the creation and marketing of digital media. And just like that, in the blink of an email, I found a new home.
Third time’s the charm right? Actually...yes. I fell in love with it. I fall more in love with it everyday. You see guys, no matter what college takes from you, it will give more.
Yes it will take a lot. It will take sleep, sanity, money (and more money), friends, memories, the plans you had for your life, your high school sweethearts, your friends for life, your reservations, your views, your religion, and your morals and put it all in a woodchipper. And then it will turn it on, pop a bowl of popcorn, and watch the fireworks of your life before college fizzle in the air.
But then something magical will happen. College will lead you to a brand spanking new road in the middle of everything.
And it’ll will give it’s greatest gift. Choice.
It will give you the will to choose how, when, and where you put the pieces back together. It will give you that path again. It will gift you with new views, and new friends, and new loves of your life, and a new more defined moral compass. College will give you anything you want. The friends for life. The memories. The saturdays down south. The late nights. The black cap and gown. The life you always wanted. But it has to take a little first.
You can’t put the puzzle together, without creating a few pieces first.
See you Thursday,
EICHEL | @EichelGDavis
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