The Week At Wofford

You Think College Students Have it Rough

I'll admit that am often the first to bemoan the life of a college student. No money, no kitchen, no bathtub, roomates, papers, grad school applications piling up etc. Often I find myself daydreaming what my life will be like someday. I'll have a house, or at least a nice apartment with a full size kitchen and a tub to soak away the stress of my day. I'll have a real bed, instead of one that I practically require a small plane to get down from. My boyfriend and I will live together and we will paint the walls (which won't be made of concrete block) and I'll get a little dog. My days will still be hectic but instead of writing papers I'll be grading them and I will wake up joyfully (ok maybe thats a stretch) each day and impart my knowledge of Titian and Chagall to impressionable young minds.

I get a good dose of reality every time I talk to my father. Now in his 50's, my father is dealing with things that I am sure he never thought he would have to worry about again, like looking "cool" and dating. After my parent's separation, my father, who had always been content to be just an average, small-town father and husband, is now having to think about things like brand-name jeans and good haircuts. Today he called me and complained for an hour about his inability to find a good Halloween costume for a party he is planning to attend this weekend. Still living in the same town I went to high school in, I hear him mention regularly that "there is nothing to do," a phrase I that came from my own lips rather often during those years. My father has a job, he makes good money, he has a nice house, he is his own boss. He has all those things that I'm sure he dreamed of having when he was my age, but I'm also sure he didn't imagine having them all to himself, and no one to share it with.

My point here is not to make you feel sorry for my father or act like I have become jaded in life. It's just a little reminder that just because you have an idea in your head of what your life will be like in 10 years, doesn't mean it's set in stone . Just because you plan on becoming a professor, or a CEO or being happily married to the same woman for the rest of your life doesn't mean it's going to happen. Maybe the lesson is here is a Buddhist one, that expectations are the cause of pain, or maybe its just a reminder that you have to try everyday to create that life you want, that you can't just dream about it and assume it will happen. Likely it's somewhere between those two. But just remember, you never know, today you might be the best dressed guy in your fraternity and the most popular man at the bar and 30 years from now you'll be asking your daughter for wardrobe tips in hopes of being able to get a date (assuming you can find a single, attractive woman who is less than ten years your junior), using Just For Men on your grays and working at a BBQ restaurant. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, however) 

Wofford podcast -- October 25

Featured this week are Wofford's Oktoberfest celebration and a look back at two conferences that took place on Wofford's campus in October -- Engaging Our World and the Southeastern Medieval Association conference.

The answer to life

Sometime last week in a moment of heavenly epiphany without the use of hallucinogens, I decided that I will stick it to the man and NOT go to graduate school. Yea, take that. Or at least, not immediately after graduation like the rest of my silly, goal-oriented, ambitious, and futurely successful classmates. A broader question: What is wrong with everyone? Why the rush to go to more school? We're young now; we just spent four years memorizing the five hundred points to the Treaty of Tientsin, writing papers on the function of estate in Jane Eyre (extremely bad idea, don't recommend that topic at all) and deciding that Toni Morrison is the most undeserving person in the history of undeserving people to win the Nobel Prize. But no, apparently those four years of coffee and Adderall addiction haven't been enough; people have somehow miraculously forgotten that chunk of time and are fervently applying to graduate schools right and left. And some of these people, in my kindest opinion, shouldn't have even applied to college, unless there was a Investigative Study of Beer and Greek Life major at Wofford that I am not aware of.

What happened to only living once? Do you want to spend your one life (or present life, if reincarnation is your thing) reading books about Art in the Spanish Golden Age (cough, Sarah) or wasting $100,000 on law school knowing full well you will most likely fail the Bar exam repeatedly? Grad school will always be there. If you really want to continue your education, you shouldn't be afraid that if you take a year or two off, you will not want to go back to school. Because that is what graduate school is supposed to be about: Furthering your desire for more knowledge not, so I can get a good job and a 401k, whatever that is supposed to be.  Or, in my case, so my mother won't disown me for being a complete disappointment and waste of birth giving. If you're not absolutely sure what you want to do later on in life, right now at 12:24 AM on October 24, then WHY ARE YOU APPLYING TO GRAD SCHOOL? Take a year off! Two years! Find a job...get some REAL job experience that doesn't include working at your family owned landscaping business with your daddy paying you under the table.

I'm getting annoyed and a little frightened with this growing trend of going to graduate school straight after a four year college. Annoying because all of you certainly have more ambition than me, and frightened because if everyone starts going to graduate school, then what will happen to the job market in the future? Competition will heighten tenfold. You'll probably need a Ph.D just to be a manager at Barnes and Noble or something ridiculous (notice: correct usage of the word ridiculous) like that. We're all so strung out and worried about the future that it is taking all the fun out of life. Take a road trip, work as a bartender, move to Maine, join the circus! Don't worry, all the graduate schools in America won't simultaneously blow up while you're doing your thing.

What blows my mind is I was talking to someone the other day who was considering taking some time off and then applying to graduate school, but then immediately decided no, she could not do that. Why? Because she didn't want to "waste a year" and be one year behind on getting a Ph.D and being the most attractive art history professor the world has ever seen. Is ONE year going to make a difference? Would a college not hire you because you're 32, whereas the other candidate is 31?

(Not to be hypocritical, I once entertained the thought of being an English professor until I realized I can barely write a five page paper, let alone a novel length dissertation.)

I just want everyone to be happy, I really do. I might be bitter and angry and sleepy most of the time, but I hate seeing everyone so stressed out about graduate school and feeling the pressure to decide exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life before the semester is over. I want people to enjoy their senior year of college, to do something they've always wanted to do, and most of all, to STOP TALKING TO ME ABOUT THE FUTURE because I am sick and tired of hearing everyone whine. It makes me whine, and my roommate is tired of staying up till five in the morning trying to reassure me that I am not a failure at life and that boys are absolutely the worst species in existence. That is, next to shrimp, because I am allergic. to it.

So, that is the answer to life and everything. It was very illuminating. You can thank me later.

I'm With Blair

Before I start writing, I'll say that if you scroll down, you'll find a post about commuting students that has no author.  That's Blair Burke, our esteemed design editor.  There's no author attached because we're all still learning this blogging system, and we're probably all going to make mistakes (mine probably much bigger than forgetting my name) for a while.

Blair's pretty much right on with her post, though, and I'm tempted to just quote some of it, but I won't. 

I've lived off campus my entire tenure at Wofford.  I'm from Spartanburg, and despite the fact that I knew Wofford was something like 99.44% residents, I decided I'd live at home.  Not a terrible drive, though certainly not always fun, and while I love being able to get away from how this school often makes me feel, it can definitely be an inconvenience if there's something on campus I want to attend or a friend I want to hang out with or whatever.  I'm still not sure the pluses outweigh the minuses, but maybe I'll reflect on that over the next few years and come back as a special guest blogger and give you my thoughts.

Typically, the worst part about telling people I don't live on campus is the look I  receive.  It's a look that's a cross between, "I just heard your grandmother has cancer" and "I'm sorry, sir, but you have cancer."  Those of us who didn't want to live in the dorms are other, and that can be kind of distressing. 

I'm not above putting partial blame on the college, though.  At freshman orientation, we're treated as other, with a lot of emphasis on bonding the hallways and very little, if any, emphasis on incorporating us.  We're left to our own devices, forced to find our way around campus, not receiving basic information that others receive.  I'm talking things like meal plans. 

Of course, parking is an issue for everyone, but it often feels amplified for those of us who have to have it every day.  It doesn't really seem fair that someone who drives his car once a month gets a prime space to sit in while I have to park so far out that I'm breaking a sweat by the time I make it to class. 

I'm not taking any blame away from myself.  I knew that living at home would be somewhat isolating, and I'm perfectly fine with that.  But I think that the college ought to make a better effort to include those who don't adhere to the traditional Wofford type (and yes, this goes beyond just living arrangements), or else it needs to seriously stop patting itself on the back for, well, everything. 

Wofford Circus

Family Weekend seems to have entailed something entirely new this year:  a circus, as evidenced by the carnival-like tent pictured below.

Sadly, no elephants, ringmaster, or acrobats were present for the picture-taking opportunity.

Wofford Needs to Rethink Fall Break

College is hard.  No matter how many times you've heard it, that doesn't change the fact that it is true.

Really, I should phrase that differently.  College itself isn't that hard.  All the things that college life can entail makes time management difficult.

Sure, the classes can be time-consuming and drain you of what little mental faculties you possess, but it's everything else on your to-do list that drags you down.

Today, for instance, I had three separate activities scheduled for the same hour:  a study abroad meeting, newspaper meeting, and a discussion for my philosophy class.  I was forced to choose between the three and hope skipping the other two didn't have any lasting repercussions, as I did not have a Time Turner on hand.

Anyway, back to the point, my concern here is Fall Break.

It seems Fall Break has been pushed further back in an effort to test the bounds of Wofford students' and professors' sanity.  My classes all seem the same to me: filled with tired-eyed students, dozing in and out of class every few minutes.  I think a lot of this sense of mounting despair on campus could be avoided by instituting an earlier and longer Fall Break.

One day is simply not enough to recover from half a semester's worth of college life.

Support our study abroad students!

One of my favorite things about Wofford is the frequency and ease with which students study abroad.  With our great programs, many students choose to make studying abroad a part of their college experience.  I am an English major here at Wofford, and I benefited from study abroad during the fall of 2006 when I spent the semester in London, England.  You can study British Literature for years, but there is nothing like hiking through the Peak District of England, visiting actual sites of literary significance, or discussing British culture with locals. 

For others, study abroad is a time to develop language skills, establish business connections, and gain valuable work experience.  Time abroad is never dull, but filled with constant learning, adventures, and culture.  However, homesickness (or Wofford sickness!) can be a factor.  We have many students abroad this semester in several countries including Spain, France, Italy, England, Hungary, and many more!  I know that when I was abroad, emails and postcards from the USA really kept my homesickness at bay and made me smile.  Addresses of students abroad are available from the Study Abroad Office.  If you know a Wofford student who is abroad this semester, send him or her a note or email today.  It's great for Wofford students to support each other even from afar!

Family Weekend

Wofford was at full life this weekend.  Between Family Weekend and Fall Hospitality day for prospective students, the campus was bustling with energy.  Watching so many people out and about on campus was really fun.

Personally, I love meeting my friends’ parents.  One of my best friends had hor d’oeuvres at her apartment in the village so everyone mingled on the porch and listened to the band.  That, the football game (which was still made for a perfect football Saturday despite the score), the President’s breakfast, sorority and fraternity events, and just having my family get to see what my life here is like was truly a great experience.

I've got caffeine, who needs sleep?

Last night, when I should have been reading a novel for my Southern lit class which was actually due to be read a week ago, I fell asleep on the futon. Lights on, music playing, I slept through my roommate doing her laundry and my suitemates noisily shuffling in and out of the bathroom. Even when Grey's Anatomy was playing at full blast on the TV three feet away (and my roommate was sitting on the floor to watch it because the futon was obviously already in use), I dreamt on. I missed my favorite TV show and my precious nightly trip to the gym. Only when my roomie started laughing at my open-mouthed, drooling face squished onto the pile of clothes that was taking up half the futon, did I awaken to brush my teeth before climbing into my own bed for a glorious and rare 8 hours of sleep.
And yet, after my 10-hour sleep-a-thon, I still feel like I could pass out on my keyboard at any moment. I was a fool to think that one night of indulgent dreaming could make up for weeks of cruel deprivation.
The clear solution appears to be to just go to bed on time. I mean, if you have an 8:30 class, you really only need to hit the hay around midnight to get a satisfying 7 or 8 hours, right? I guess, but you try turning in when you've still got 50 pages of a novel to read, a poem to write and revise, a German essay to crank out, and a lengthy research paper you should probably get started on, since it's due sometime in the next 48 hours.
And they say the biology majors work the hardest. Psh.
Such is the life of a college student. When it comes down to it, though, if I'm given the choice between watching a movie with my friends and actually making a dent in that mound of homework, I'll probably opt for hanging out. It's okay if my head droops a little during lecture class, and if everytime I close my eyes I fall into a microsleep. After all, you're only in college once.
So I press on, fueled mostly by coffee, gummi bears, and the promise of Friday smiling at me from the pages of my over-booked planner.

Just Because We Live Off Campus Doesn't Mean We're Not College Kids, Just Like You

This is my first year living out of the Wofford Bubble. I figured that since it was my senior year I deserved to be free from such wonderful "college experiences" as finding vomit in the hallway and listening to my neighbor's various sexual relations. So my best friend at Wofford and I decided to live in a townhouse on the west side of town. I love being able to leave the school behind at night and come back whenever I want.
Commuting is tough, too. You have to wake up a little earlier to make the drive through endless red lights and idiotic Spartanburg drivers. The place to part for Wofford commuters is behind Milliken in the SMA parking lot, which is spacious and at a nice location. Until Campus Safety locks the gate at 5:30. I don't know if they think that commuting students just come to class and then leave by 2 or what. We have labs. We work on campus. And I hardly ever leave Wofford before 6. My housemate and I came out of Milliken the night after the Wofford freshman was attacked on Memorial Drive around 6 to find the gate locked. We called Campus Safety to come unlock the gate and I dare say the man seemed a bit miffed. He begrudgingly told me that there WAS an entrance down on Memorial Drive.
Let's backtrack. A student has just freshly been attacked on Memorial Drive and a campus safety officer wanted US, two young adult females to just go frolicking down there to our cars with no other people around. I don't think so. We finally did, just to hurry things along, but I think they should have more respect for off campus students as being just as valid as on campus ones.

Not to mention the shocked responses I get when people find out I live off campus: "But why would you ever want to live off campus, away from everything?!"

Exactly.