I love how Dartmouth terms are organized. The first three weeks center around how you want the term to be, the next four are all about how quickly the term is going, and the last three are done in complete panic, reminiscing about how the term was.
Well, here we are, more than half way through our ('98's) time at Dartmouth. I thought that I'd say good-bye to few things that I lost this summer.
Good-bye beautiful River apartment, hello Topliff. So much for living the fat life, it's time to get used to the dorm shuffle.
Why is it that every 10 weeks, we must pack up all of our belongings, store them in a magical place -- for college storage is one of those beautiful systems set up to nickel and dime students to death -- and then redo our living space for another 10 weeks of life?
Kinda makes me feel like I'm wandering in the desert, lost and searching for the Holy Land. Good-bye to my CDs. Almost two weeks ago someone stole a bag of my CDs. In this red bag were almost all of my Ska CDs, discs that I'd used for the past two years for my radio show, which, like everything else, changes times every term. The scary thing is that they were stolen out of my room while someone else was sleeping in it.
If you know of anything relating to this theft, please contact either Safety and Security, or Hanover Police. I just want my CDs back, so if you got 'em, just bring them back to where you took them from. And if you were too drunk to remember, that's 102 Channing Cox.
But more than my CDs I lost my trust. I had trusted the rest of the Dartmouth community enough to leave my door unlocked when my friend was sleeping on the sofa. I had come to trust my neighbors and the area at large as a safe haven in the world. A place where people didn't steal, vandalize, or fight.
I guess I was wrong in being so naive as to trust a bunch of college kids. Or perhaps that one bastard who took my CDs was wrong. That person destroyed my confidence in us as a community. Shame on you, for where I can always replace my CDs, you will always be a thief.
Whereas I lost my trust, you lost your sense of self-respect as you must live off of others, instead of being able to contribute.
While I had to go through paperwork for a while, you will have to evade the law for an eternity.
Finally, I would like to say good-bye to so much of my collegiate innocence.
Good-bye to those who I met and befriended freshman fall, during the random and exciting phase of arrival. Isn't it strange how you easily you pick some of your "best friends," how random the whole process is?
It seems like after nearly two years, a lot of that randomness has worn off, and friendships are being lost.
From my perspective, it appears that the social networks of our entire class have been altered this summer; changed by house friendships, different D-Plans, and even personal change.
It is kind of sad to think about how long we've been at Dartmouth and how little we really know about so many people, especially those acquaintances that we sometimes call friends.
Well, we all still have half of our college lives ahead of us and rather than bemoan the mistakes made during these last two years, let's look forward to the next two. After all, college is about more than classes, it's about growing up. Oh yeah, and partying like mad.
