Real Life, by Nicole Kaupp
Tuesday, April 25, 2006

In a heartbeat...

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If you could do it again, would you choose this college? Why or why not?

Honestly, I would choose L&C again in a heartbeat. While there have been difficult times throughout the past four years, I know that I have received a phenomenal education. I believe that a lot of a college experience is your mindset. If you convince yourself that you are going to have a good time, then you will. Likewise, if you tell yourself that it is going to be a bad experience, it will. I came in with a positive attitude and have loved my experience. I was able to come to L&C and become involved with a variety of activities that filled my needs. Similarly, I was always challenged in my classes, which has resulted in an increase in my writing skills and organization. I will be graduating in a week and a half with a handful of loans, but I know that every dollar I will have to pay in the future is well worth it for the education and experiences that I have received.

A month ago, I couldn’t wait for graduation and to finish my college career. Now, as graduation comes closer each day, I am becoming more and more anxious. Everything is become nostalgic, and every time I see someone I feel like I have to preface our goodbyes with “Make sure you come say goodbye to me before you leave”. I am not ready to leave this place. My home has become L&C and Portland. I have spent the past two years living in Roberts…and the past three living with Jordan and Jenn. How am I going to go from being able to knock on their doors and take a study break, to having to call or e-mail for communication? Things definitely won’t be the same. I won’t be able to walk around campus and see friendly faces all the time, something that I have become accustom to.

L&C is such an amazing place and I know that each person has a unique experience. In some ways, I am jealous of the people who will still be here for a while, as L&C is undergoing an incredible transformation and I can’t wait to see what comes out of it. The quality of the school in increasing by leaps and bounds every year, and it is going to be interesting to see where it goes in the next few years.

This past weekend I went to a couple of music performances that were incredible. Ryan (fellow blogger) had his senior recital on Saturday, and I had to remind myself that I was sitting in Evans instead of some fancy concert hall. Ryan is an amazing pianist, and it was enjoyable to be able to witness his final recital at L&C. I know that a lot of emotion went into it, and it made me think about my last swim meet and how there was a strange sense of completion, or the end of an era. I knew that when I touched the wall on my last 200 Fly, that I would never swim in the same manner again. It was the strangest feeling to know that something I had been doing for over 16 years was coming to an end. I guess that is what happens with the end of college and I’m guessing that most seniors are having these same thoughts and experiences as they are finishing things up.

Sunday night, the orchestra performed Beethoven’s 9th symphony. Again, it was incredible. Especially since they combined with Western Oregon Universities Chamber Choir, which filled the chapel with rich sound. And the chapel was packed, which was a lot of fun to see.

I am in the home stretch of the semester/my college experience. I had six and a half hours of class today, but I only have two more hours of class left for the semester.

So, the rest of my semester looks like the following:

Tomorrow (Tuesday) night- Student-Athlete Awards Banquet (I’ll get my 4-year letter winner blanket!)

Friday-Haircut and Goodness Corner (Jenn, Jordan and me) Commemoration of graduation…don’t worry, I’ll fill you in next week. Then, going to Seattle for the weekend to work with the Junior State of America (A group I was a member of when I was in high school).

Sunday- Return to L&C

Monday(5/1)- Spanish Final

Tuesday(5/2)- Comm Paper due

Thursday(5/4)- Germany Paper due and Modern US Century Final

Saturday(5/6)- My family arrives, History reception

Sunday (5/7)- Graduation and Senior Party!

Monday(5/8)- Leave L&C :(

Look for two more entries from me. One next week, and one following graduation.