COLUMN: Four years to chase dreams and desires

From Melissa Wong's, "Days Like This," Fall '99 From Melissa Wong's, "Days Like This," Fall '99Penn students shudder with the memory of that anxiety-ridden, stress-filled autumn. Senior year, a time when late nights were spent writing college application essays in response to questions ranging from the obvious to the ridiculous -- what would you make from a rubber band, a conveyer belt, a teddy bear and a plastic spork. Events with that level of stress can very well cause episodes of blackouts, hysteria and panic attacks, so it's no wonder that many of us have since forgotten exactly what we wrote in answer to those college application questions. Perhaps the following may sound familiar: "If I am accepted to U Penn, I will spend my four years there broadening my horizons and trying new things, taking advantage of all that such a great university has to offer." The best laid plans? We entered our first year with many hopes and much excitement about what we thought we'd like to accomplish during our time at Penn, and yet by the end of our careers here, very few items are checked off of our list of things to do. I dug up one of the original viewbooks sent to me during high school when my mailbox was crammed daily with letters and guidebooks from places like Beaver College and Salisbury State. I had underlined stuff I wanted to do as soon as soon as I came to Penn. International Affairs Association. Check. Ballroom Dance. Well, I went to the first class. Club swimming. Haven't been to Gimbel in years. You may have intended to be one of those students pictured in the viewbooks, rowing crew on the Schuylkill or cheering for the Penn football team during Homecoming. This was what you looked for in a college experience, a great education along with the chance to do things that you wouldn't be able to accomplish in other places. What happened to our original plans? For many of us, our days were reduced to a routine of classes, studying, socializing and sleeping. Day in and day out, the monotony of the week dragged on. We are all too willing to justify why our checklist remains unchecked. It's hard enough to stay afloat when you're up to your earlobes in work, and the extra 40 minutes or so to spare on any given day is more easily devoted to napping than to anything else. We aren't the same kids who applied to college two or three years ago. Those idealized visions of our college years straight out of the Penn viewbook have been replaced by the more practical issues at hand. If it's between writing cover letters for a few more summer internships or spending the afternoon at the Art Museum downtown, a choice has to be made. And we always seem to postpone the latest Monet exhibit for later. That pattern of postponements may well continue until you suddenly realize that your time at Penn is dwindling with each semester and each year. At some point, the realization hits that sometime soon, you'll no longer be in this place of opportunity and variety. Extra time is often difficult to obtain, and yet we surprise ourselves sometimes. Many who shoulder a heavy load of classes and activities find that it all becomes easier to handle when you realize that this is what you want to do and enjoy doing. While sometimes we hesitate to forgo Must See TV for extra hours of meetings on Thursday nights, those who want to find the time -- and tape Must See TV to watch later. It was just this semester that I was utterly shocked to find I had only two more years left to complete all those items that I had underlined in my viewbooks back in high school. Whether it was a completion of my original plan or a complete whim, I now participate in a bunch of activities in which I never thought I'd be involved. And however cheesy it may sound, some of these pursuits are things I'd always dreamed about doing. I suppose I feared that I'd regret some things by the time I left Penn. Now, even though my nights are incredibly busy, I remain surprisingly content because I know that I won't leave Penn feeling there are things that I haven't yet done.