Final Columbia Days Creep Up On Graduates

If your experience is anything like mine, you will not realize that you are actually graduating from Columbia until April of your senior year.

OK, so there are some hints earlier on that you will not be returning for another year as an undergrad.

Starting in October, the Senior Class Center stuffs your mailbox with letters that remind you to order your cap and gown, purchase a class ring, and confirm that you have completed all of the requirements for a degree. Butler Library contacts you sometime before the end of the fall semester to let you know that you owe $115 in fines because you forgot to return reserve books “on time” and kindly explains that your diploma will be withheld until you pay off your debts. And even before you have begun your search for full-time employment, the Center for Career Services sends you sympathy e-mails telling you that the economy is terrible and not to worry when you find yourself without a job (thanks, CCS).

But the kicker doesn’t come until late in the spring semester of your last year, when all of sudden it becomes clear to you that Columbia is evicting you from your East Campus home and thrusting you out into the real world to make our beloved alma mater proud.

For the first time ever, the housing lottery happens and you are not part of it. No more running to Rob Lutomski and shedding tears over the Wien single that you picked into junior year. Also for the first time, you do not pre-register for the next semester of classes. Gone are the days of scouring the College Bulletin for those “can’t miss” classes with celebrity professors.

And then, to cap it all off, the Spectator asks you to write a farewell column after four years of sports writing. That’s when it really sinks in that your days are numbered. No longer can you pontificate about anything and everything (hey, we sports columnists have free license to write about whatever we want) on the back page of the student newspaper.

But, as difficult as it is to accept the fact that college has nearly come to an end and that I am finally graduating from Columbia, I know that my time has come and that I have to leave.

College is a lot like summer camp, in some ways. When you first get there, you are a little nervous and you are not sure whether you really want to be away from home for a couple of months in a strange place with strange people who smell even stranger. Then, you begin to love it and you sometimes even forget about what is going on in the outside world. But after a while it comes to an end. Your parents pick you up and drive you home and it’s over. You don’t really want to leave at first, but then you realize that it’s for the best.

And besides, you are getting a little irritated at that kid in the bunk bed above you who pisses his sheets at night. Hmmm. Maybe that’s where the analogy stops working.

There were times this semester when I thought that I did not want to graduate, and when I was not sure if I was ready to be an adult with adult responsibilities. But, now I understand that it’s for the best and am now eagerly anticipating life after Columbia.

That is not to say that I won’t miss some things about being a college student. I will miss having the freedom to plan my own schedule so that I do not have to wake up until 10:30 in the morning, just in time to roll out of bed, shower, and make it to my 11 o’clock French conversation class. I will miss dormitory life and the luxury of staying up all hours of the night hanging out with friends. I will miss playing midnight football on the South Lawn. I will miss the greasy cheese steak sandwiches at JJ’s Place. I will miss the excitement of taking part in a really provocative classroom discussion. I will even miss, dare I say, the West End.

But I will take all of these things with me as memories when I leave this place in less than a month. Columbia will always be a part of me, and the experiences I have had here will always be close to my heart.