The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 5/13/08 Section: Senior Columns

Media Credit: Brian Tedder/Collegian

It happens with each new school year.

I vividly remember commenting to my classmates on the lack of handwriting skills the third graders had compared to my supreme knowledge of cursive as a fourth grader, rejoicing about my gigantic one inch height advantage over the new freshmen class when I was a sophomore in high school and of course, laughing from off-campus at Southwest residents who must suffer a year of dirty bathrooms and obnoxious shenanigans that happen outside their window.

But it takes me a while - perhaps too long - to remind myself that I am not so old and wise. There was, naturally, a time when I was a third grader getting S's (for Satisfactory, a "C" in my public elementary school) in handwriting. There was a time during early high school years that everyone decided to outgrow me, leaving me the shortest in the class.

And how could I forget that I was a Southwest girl for two fantastic years?

Just like every soon-to-be college graduate, I have developed. Criticizing those younger than me isn't insulting the not-yet-developed, and it's certainly not to make myself feel better. Instead, I'm remarking about my growth and my obvious immaturity about what's yet to come.

The summer that followed my first year at UMass began with a party including older friends. Because I only put away about four beers in a span of two hours, my name was replaced with "stupid freshman" for the rest of the evening. All throughout my remaining years at UMass, I did the same thing to all the newcomers I encountered on the weekend. It took me two years too long to learn that it's quite pathetic to judge someone's maturity by their drinking behavior.

And that made me wonder, what else have I learned while at UMass?

1. EBay, not textbook annex. PRS? Drop the class.

2. Course notebooks, that aren't filled yet, can and should be recycled. True story: I have not bought a new notebook since spring 2006.

3. I might be just a little bit biased, but The Daily Collegian is a great source of news (thanks to Derrick, Kate, King, Will and Katie: wonderful partners to work with), opinion columns (thanks to S.P., smart, witty and wise beyond your years, young man), great movie and concert reviews (thanks to the creative arts team), sports (okay, I don't read it everyday because I don't really understand everything, but you four are great writers and editors; Eli and Joe, thank you for making time at The Collegian entertaining) and Sudoku puzzles and crosswords that have helped me through a lot of tough times/science lectures (thank you, Adam… quite possibly the funniest person I have met at UMass).

Continued...

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