Things I Wish I’d Done In College

In less than a month, I’m graduating from college. That seems absolutely insane to me, but it’s true. I generally consider my college experience to be a positive one, and if I had to do it all over again, I would. I love Pacific University, I love my professors, and I love the people I’ve met here. That’s not to say I don’t wish I’d done a bit more with my last four years. Below are just a couple of things I wish I had done, or done more of, during college.

1. Dating

As most of you probably know, I am currently in a longterm relationship (1 year, 4 months, and 6 days as of writing this blog) right now. Quinn, my boyfriend, is pretty much the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m so glad to have met him and to have worked up the courage to ask him to make pancakes with me that one night. However, he is the first person I have dated in over five years, meaning that for most of my college career, I was entirely single.

Well, I did have two ill-advised makeout sessions at the end of freshmen year, but those hardly count as “dating.” Either way, I’m fairly inexperienced as far as casually dating goes, and I think it might have benefited me to get out there more. Speaking of…

2. Parties

Let me be clear: I don’t mean I wish I’d partied more. I drank underage… twice? I think? And both times it was far from in excess as well. No, what I mean is that I wish I had merely attended more parties, because college parties are fascinating, at least in an anthropological sense. In four years, I have attended one “college party” and while it’s a decent story, I wish I’d gone out of my comfort zone more. Like expanding my dating horizons, attending more parties would have challenged a lot of my preconceptions about people who party, and besides, when you’re an outsider at a stranger’s house where everyone else is drunk, you’re bound to get a good story out of it. Or at least a poem or two.

3. Walks

I am the poster child for introverts everywhere. I like to refer to myself as having a “people quota,” meaning that after a certain period of time, no matter how much fun I’m having or my actual exhaustion level, I need to not be around people anymore. My people quota gets full very quick sometimes, so suffice it to say that I have spent a metric crapton of time watching Netflix during college. I don’t necessarily regret that, because I was introduced to so many amazing TV shows that eventually led to me getting accepted into a TV writing grad program in NYC.

However. Oregon is a beautiful place, and I spend way too much time inside, sitting and motionless. If I had gone on, I don’t know, one walk a day instead of watching a single episode of whatever show I was binging on, I think I would be a healthier person. Plus, walking around is a great way to clear your head, come up with new ideas, and heck, I might have even met some people.

4. City Time

Pacific is situated in the tiny town of Forest Grove, OR, but a mere hour bus ride takes you right into the heart of Portland, one of the coolest and most interesting cities in the Northwest, if not America. And while I definitely didn’t avoid Portland, I also definitely didn’t spend nearly enough time there. It’s a city you can easily wander around in for hours, bouncing from coffee shop to cafe, running into artisans and hippies and everything in between. I love Portland, and I wish I had taken more solo trips into the city on a lazy Saturday here and there.

5. Gender/Sexuality Classes

The only sex education I remember getting in school was the “you’re gonna get a period and also boys have a thing called a penis” talk back in fifth grade. Since then, the whole concept of sex, sexuality, etc etc has been mysterious and unapproachable to me. Plus, I used to be one of those girls who made a big deal out of not calling myself a feminist, because I was dumb and didn’t know what that word meant.

I feel like I learned about feminism and the extent of sexism and so on way too late. By the time I became interested in these topics, and I am incredibly interested in them, I had a major and two minors and no room left in my schedule to take any other types of classes. I think I would have benefited a lot from an academic perspective on gender and sexuality issues, because they’re incredibly relevant to my life and the world around me. College was great as far as allowing me to take classes in the things I’m interested in, but I wish I’d, once again, stepped a bit further from my literature and media and art comfort zone. I think I would have been a better human.