Opinion
Differences between college, high school are numerous
October 25, 2012
A buddy and I were in the mess hall on Monday and we started reminiscing over the high school years. We got stuck on the topic because my buddy’s roommate broke up with his girlfriend over the weekend.
When he told me this, I didn’t know what to think. Relationships are complicated.
Relationships, to me, are like the iPhone 5, I don’t have one.
I brought up the high school “it girl” and how she changed boyfriends quite often, just for fun. This “it girl” changed her relationships as often as she changed her clothes: everyday.
She changed her relationships so much, it was as if watching a daytime soap; if you miss one episode, you’re lost for the rest of the season.
As I sat there with him, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little inside; I was picturing another high school “it girl.”
This other “it girl” was on the Honor Roll. And, being she had never missed it, one would expect her to have a higher level of intelligence than the average dunder-head. In most cases yes, but there is always the exception.
This girl once had a bunny; her parents had purchased it from a pet store for the girl’s birthday. The girl hadn’t had the bunny more than three months, when a terrible accident occurred.
A car went by the house and the bunny disappeared.
Gotcha.
The bunny didn’t get run over.
The bunny had jumped out of the girl’s arms and into a pool of water. The girl quickly pulled the rascal out from the water and took him in the house to dry off.
She first grabbed a towel, but she soon grew impatient with the bunny’s still-wet fur.
As any Honor Roll student would inevitably do, she placed the bunny in the microwave to dry off.
Sadly, I do not know the fate of said bunny. Later that night however, the family had “chicken” ala king for the evening meal (they ate the bunny).
I hazard to guess, the “chicken” ala king had to be the weirdest microwavable meal ever.
After I quelled my laughter inside, my friend and I started talking pros and cons of high school versus college.
In high school we could take final exams and ace them, mess with teachers without getting into trouble and best of all, have homemade meals every Friday made by the geography teacher. I took multiple classes with that geography teacher.
In college we can feel free to be ourselves without parents telling us to behave. We can stay up until the bleakest hours of the morning. College is self exploration.
College is unique in other ways. Sometimes, in the dead of night, you can smell the unbearable odor of a family of skunks passing by.
To be honest, it’s not a family of skunks, it’s the marijuana users across the hall.
While at a party in River Falls this past summer, this guy asked if I smoked. I said I did; I was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
The guy held out a marijuana cigarette, I asked what it was. I was told it was marijuana and I waved it off defiantly.
“I thought you smoked, bro?” said the guy.
“Not that stuff, man,” I said. “I smoke cheese, man.”
“What bro?”
“I smoke cheese, man,” I said. “Have you ever had smoked cheese, man? It’s really good stuff.”
The guy began to laugh hysterically and through his laughter he tried to tell everyone else what I had just said, no one understood him.
College is weird like that, and trying to determine the pros and cons of high school versus college is no contest. College is better. It’s self exploration and self discovery.
College is about pushing the boundaries.
The onset of college can be a daunting experience; it is the moment in our lives, when most of us must say goodbye to the ‘little kid’ inside of us, and begin working for real.
I am asking you today, don’t discard your ‘inner child.’ Keep it alive and well, that way, life will always seem big and exciting.
Tyler Smith is a student at UW-River Falls.