This column will be published on the last day of class. When Tyler, the opinion editor, told me I could write a column for today, I obviously thought a long time about what would be the most appropriate.
To me, the last day of class, or LDOC, while first and foremost a flood of relief, has always been a day of reflection before the darties begin. Who was I a year ago today? And where do I stand today? I’ll be a senior next semester. Two years ago, I was hired to start writing columns for The Daily Tar Heel over the summer between first and sophomore year. This coming year will be my last of writing columns about my experiences within the UNC community.
I always rolled my eyes when I heard older students or recent grads I knew tell me: “Enjoy every second of college, it goes by so fast!”
It was easy for them to miss, I always thought, considering they weren’t the ones writing 10-page papers every other week or getting rejected from internships. But now I know, as I watch my senior friends get ready for graduation, it does go by fast. Even now, one year out from graduation, I find myself thinking of all the things I’ve yet to do here.
Next year will be the last chance to try a lot of traditions unique to UNC. A few weeks ago, I attended my first-ever non-basketball sporting event at school. I watched UNC play N.C. State and was given a T-shirt upon walking in. After being informed that this is a semi-regular occurrence for sporting events, I turned to my best friend and said: “Why haven’t I gone to more games?” I love free shirts, but I was confronted with the realization that there are quite a few rites of passages I have yet to experience here.
So, I’m making myself a bucket list for my last year at this beautiful school.
I have to go to more basketball games (considering my first attendance at one was this past fall) and other sporting events. I’m going to participate in all the senior traditions, from bar golf to the Bell Tower climb that first-year me probably swore she wouldn’t do. I’ll cross enemy lines and take an Uber one night to Shooters. I want to see as many shows as I can at Memorial Hall. I’ll go see a movie hosted by CUAB. I’ll pull my first all-nighter. All those guest lectures I never made time for in the past, well, I’ll make myself find time for them. Stargazing at the Planetarium? Sure, I’ve always wanted to go. I'll hug my friends more often, too.
It may seem like I’m getting melancholy a little prematurely, but I can’t help it. A wiser opportunist (but perhaps less wise student) named Ferris Bueller once said: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
I don’t want to arrive at my last day of class ever (well, for undergrad at least) and kick myself for missing out on so much. Sure, I have had experiences that have molded UNC into my own, but maybe it’s time to embrace the traditions everyone else enjoys so much and see how they become mine too.
