<y much ready to graduate and leave Carleton. Sometimes I think I’ve been ready since freshman year. Maybe I’m too cynical, but I’d also rather be ready to go at a moment’s notice than have the same mindset of people I know who will probably have to be pried from the graduation stage. So here’s a list of signs that you’re ready to graduate Carleton:
1. People start to bug you to an unprecedented level. So far, senior year has been one of my both worst and best years for friendships. I’ve let some people go, and welcomed others more closely in. I think at least this year, I’ve begun to have a lower tolerance for bad friends. I’m done with the Carleton, or perhaps Midwestern, passive-aggression in friendships and feeling like I’m being monitored or told how to act constantly.
I so desperately cannot wait to get off of campus and meet people who aren’t afraid to: 1) be unashamedly themselves and 2) have a greater sense of the larger world around them.
2. There’s no one final class that you’re dying to take. Academics, though they can be incredibly frustrating, are honestly my favorite part about Carleton.
I think we have the best professors of any college I’ve heard about, and some of my favorite moments on campus are when I’m actually in class. I love learning, as nerdy as it may sound. So, for someone who loves my experiences in the classroom so much at Carleton, I think it’s a big statement for me to say that there’s no class I’m really looking forward to taking. There’s no one final thing I’ve always wanted to try, no final professor I feel the need to get to know. I’m satisfied with the depth and breadth of classes I’ve taken.
3. The fear of not having a job to go to is much less frightening than the idea of staying at Carleton for another year. This point doesn’t really need an explanation.
4. You think senior spring will be over-hyped. I mean, we’ve all done Rotblatt and Spring Concert at least a couple of times now. Was it really life-changing and enthralling to wait in line for a t-shirt at 4:00 a.m.? For me, it never quite was.
Frankly, I’d rather go to a concert of my choosing than wait for an artist I don’t know in the unpredictable Minnesota weather.
I think spring term will definitely be less stressful, and I look forward to just lounging around and relaxing, but I also probably should’ve graduated early, come to think of it.
5. There’s nobody else on campus you feel like you need to meet/date/hook up with. For me, senior year has been all about shaving off the people I don’t think I’d stay close with after graduation, and adding a few I thought I might. There’s nobody I have a serious friend crush on or regular crush; I’m good with what I’ve already got.
6. You just can’t picture yourself getting nostalgic about leaving. I’m a very nostalgic person in general. But I don’t think I’ll be that way about Carleton.
I think walking in the Arb for the last time or getting a last meal at HoBros will be a little sad.
However, the feeling of elation and joy that I get when I think about how I’ll feel driving away after graduation seems to trump any other sort of emotion I’d have about leaving.
All in all, here’s hoping for the best in the next five months, but I’m not getting my hopes up.