Peanut Butter and Jelly

Graduation day dawned bright, beautiful and the cool.  I didn’t even hit the snooze button when my alarm began blaring at 7am.  I jetted out of bed, threw on my previously planned graduation dress, grabbed my cap and gown and was out of the door in 10 minutes. I headed over to an apartment where a group of my friends had conglomerated to enjoy morning mimosas. We took pictures, raised our glasses to passerby’s from the second story of the apartment complex and blasted cliche graduation tunes like “Here’s to the Night,” by Eve 6.   After a conclusive game of “remember whens,” we all headed to the auditorium for graduation and came back “adults.”  Which is comical due the the fact that everyone wound up going to a 7 kegger party and acting silly until the break of dawn.

The day after graduation was filled with tearful goodbyes of friends and joyous farewells to the books.  I prepared for my Tour de California…

I can distinctly recall late nights in elementary school, staying up well past my bed time, with arts and crafts, book report remnants or some project debris exploded on the kitchen table, working frantically between bellows of my mother upstairs and the ticking grandfather clock in the corner. What I’m saying is, I’ve been a procrastinator all my life. I have also known for the majority of my life that I am not what people would call a “math person.”  I panic at the sight of a bill, I dread the day I have to balance a checkbook and my life depends on my cell phone’s built in calculator.  This trepidation, on top of my professional procrastination has landed me in a pickle.

When I got to college my freshman year and found out that I had to take math courses AGAIN, after literally and figuratively tossing all pencils, protractors, rulers or any other math utensil, my head almost exploded. I took it in high school! My sweat poured over those pencil shavings! I struggled the whole way! Did that not count for anything? Apparently not. So, angrily and reluctantly I signed up for the required course in 2005. I went twice, failed two quizzes, and didn’t look back. At each meeting with my college advisor I was warned, “You’re missing math, this will prevent you from graduating, you’re missing math, this will prevent you from graduating, you’re missing math….” Etc etc etc. And at each meeting I would tell my advisor, “I’ll take it next semester, I’ll take it next semester, I’ll take it next semester.” Next semesters came and went, it’s past graduation, and instead of traveling, as intended, I’m stuck taking math…

I think there’s a lesson in here somewhere.

Living in landlocked Stockton can be tough on beach bums. While it is beneficial in an academic sense, it is detrimental to the sunshine spirit.  Luckily, the cure of the coast is not far. Many students of University of the Pacific cruise out on the weekends to get their beach-fix, as I have done for Thanksgiving break.  This upcoming beach-fix, however, entails a new adventure: surfing! Surfing and I have met once before; it resulted in a bloody nose after the board did a nosedive. Albeit I have high hopes for today. My sister and I will be heading to Malibu for Sarah vs Waves round two. Let’s hope for the best! Ahh the life of a college student.

It’s that time of the semester;  the time when planners become mass mazes of ink, as assignments and due dates flood those little planner-lines, thereby spilling into days previous and prior.  It’s the time of the semester when students turn from functioning humans, to crazed, mindless wanderers who once resembled students, and who walk around campus muttering nothings, trying to coordinate schedules and cursing the mere 24 hours allocated in each day.  It is the time that Starbucks stores see a 50% soar in sales as students flock to fuel their bodies via caffeine. It is officially crunch time.  Crunch time, despite its close proximity to the end of the semester does not emit any such sense of success or conclusion.  The light of the end of the tunnel is obstructed by a thick haze of stress and pressure.  No matter how diligent one may be throughout the semester, the chaos of crunch time is as unavoidable as parking tickets.  Suddenly, a once manageable workload becomes overwhelmingly impossible.  ”Where did all these assignments come from?” Many students ask.  No one can catch a break during this dreaded time. If one project is due Monday, another one is due Tuesday. Once Tuesday’s project has been completed, on Wednesday there is a test.  The test on Wednesday ultimately leads to a poster presentation on Thursday, bringing everything around to Friday, where students are reminded of all the assignments due Monday.  How do students around University of the Pacific cope with the crunch time fear? Holiday cheer.

“I keep my Christmas movies readily at hand in the library,” one student said.  ”Sometimes when my brain needs a rest from studying, I’ll pop “Elf” with Will Ferrell, you know, like,  into my lap top and just watch a few minutes, get a few laughs and then hit the books. But then I feel guilty for spending time watching movies and that stresses me out more.  I guess that’s a little counteractive to what I was trying to achieve.”  He added pensively.

“If I have a lot of stuff due right after Thanksgiving break, I’ll just try not to think about it too much.  Like, I’ll organize in my head what I have to do, but I’ll mostly just sit back, have a few beers, and enjoy the family time. I don’t let the crunch time fear get to me too badly until it’s full on freak out mode like right before stuff’s due.” Another more laid back student replied.

“I listen to my Holiday Music Compilation CD’s that my mom got me last year.  I downloaded them onto my ipod and those songs just put me in a good mood and remind me that it’ll all be over soon. But, as much as I the songs help, they don’t prevent the all nighters and the constant struggle to keep up with the work.”  Said another UOP student in the library, with one headphone in her ear.

So there you have it; holiday cheer, Thanksgiving cheer, and crunch time fears.  These students do it all.

Recently I claimed that togas, black lights, and highlighters comprise all that is holy to college students.  While this is true, I must refine that statement, for I failed to mention one vital component of college life; and that is the classic, timeless, priceless, experience of a ROAD TRIP! This is what occurred in my life as a college student from October 16- October 18, 2009. As a fifth year college student, I am no novice to road tripping.  In 2008 my friends and I did tour-de I-5 and drove from Sacramento, California down through San Diego, all the way past the border and straight on to Mexico. It was an epic event, to say the least.  That said, I recently had an experience of close caliber.  My roommate and I were talking one Thursday evening about how fun and spontaneous it would be to head to Los Angeles for the weekend. The next morning, after our classes, we were en route. What began as somewhat of a lark, resulted in an epic adventure. We stopped by Bakersfield to visit a friend, had pizza near a haystack, climbed a haystack, ran out of gas near Magic Mountain, stopped and went on rides at Magic Mountain, got gas, blared music, made music videos, went to Huntington Beach, jumped in the ocean despite frigid temperatures and used a whole ton of money neither of us had.  We went to the city of Whittier, which apparently is hippie central; it resulted in somewhat of culture shock, coming from University of the Pacific.  There were dreadlocks and bon fires and guitar playing.  It was an excellent weekend, and encompassed everything a road trip should.

The college world has been flourishing in the beginning  weeks of the new semester.  The days are still hot and the students are still excited that professors have not jumped into full fledge assignment giving mode. When the leaves are on the trees and the grass is still green, what better way to spend an afternoon than chalking sidewalks, playing with whiffle bats and tossing a football?  That’s right, college students enjoy chalk, too.   This weekend entailed these activities in the best kind of way.  Chalking began around noon on Saturday after a purchase was made at Target.  The 10 year-old neighbors decided to join, and before my friends and I knew it, we were chalking down memory lane.   While chalking with the kids I was reminded of the good old days of recess, the hot asphalt, melting popsicles and the busy, bustling, buzzing sound of a playground. Ahhh the innocence.  After the frivolous fun the kids-kids went home and the college-kids engaged in dizzy bat; an even more frivolous event. Dizzy bat entails a whiffle bat, beer cans, and dizziness.  The goal of the game is similar to a game of whiffle bat.  The rules are as follows; drink a can of beer, place the end of the bat on the ground, your forehead on the opposite end, spin four times, then attempt to hit the can without falling over.  A game for students enrolled in higher education institutions, clearly. Dizzy bat did not last long due to, well, dizziness, and the inability for several small college girls to drink beer fast enough to make it worth while. As the sun dipped down a friendly game of flag football ensued with peers nearby in the neighborhood.  Needless to say, it was an exciting beginning to the weekend.  And of course, Sunday ended with the the mandatory meal, this time at Duck Nook, an old-school type of restaurant.  The inside of Duck Nook appears to be the result of Duck paraphernalia throw up; duck pictures, duck posters, duck shakers, duck tapers and on and on and on.  Despite the overwhelming duck decor, college students flock to this restaurant for their famous omelets and sour dough toast. Needless to say, the components of another successful Sunday.

Books, Togas, Pools and Bread Bowls

What did this weekend entail for typical college students at University of the Pacific? A plethora of activities, ranging from toga-wearing-dance-parties to homework cramming library sessions to sorority and fraternity initiations.  As a senior taking five courses I made an executive decision to stay in on Friday night despite the alluring sounds of a party just next door.  Saturday was spent in true California fashion; by the pool in September.  Pacific students lounged around, discussed the previous night and plans for the “Pike’s Endless Summer Toga and Highlighter Party.” This event encompassed all that his holy to college students; black lights, highlighters, loud music and togas.  I temporarily closed my books and joined the festivities. Sunday rolled around to the dismay of many and backpacks were unzipped once again, but not without the mandatory Sunday meal.  Everyone I know partakes in some form of a Sunday meal off campus.  Chucks Diner is always a popular choice; where you can get half a plate of hash browns and pancakes the size of your face for under $5. My friends and I chose Boudin’s.  A place famous for delicious bread bowls filled with chili.  It was a perfect ending to the weekend before entering the florescent world of the library. Oh college.

Procrastination, parties, and books;  what more does a college student know? This weekend was spent with old friends visiting fellow Pacificans like myself; who are still safe from the corporate machine. The month of September is often filled with familiar faces of friends who previously graduated because everyone knows there’s nothing more exciting than the start of a new year. With the campus buzzing and parties popping it was a good time for two of my friends to come visit me.  They came on Friday, ready to see what this year had to offer and offer their wise outside perspective as college grads.  Friday night was spent at a party off campus, which, naturally, was broken up by the police promptly at 12 am. At which point the attendees of the event flooded campus and headed to the UC Center for a late night snack.  Saturday morning was filled with pancake making and Saturday afternoon was spent by the pool; where a new adventure occurred and a brilliant game was born; capture the flag on razor scooters.  The parking lot was empty- a rarity for this time of year, and there was an abundance of razor scooters.  Using towels as flags, my friends and I coordinated teams, five on five, and spent the day scootering around the parking lot, laughing, and having fun in the sun.  The rest of the weekend followed in similar suit.