“It’s senior year. You have to … ” At this point in the school year, it seems as if this line can make any senior do whatever you want them to. As we all start realizing that graduation is just a short time away (thanks Gustavus for the constant reminders… 72 days is the current countdown) and the college life is slipping through our fingers, there is a mad rush to live up the remaining days of no real responsibility and complete freedom. Whether it is drinking on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night, or watching Drop Dead Gorgeous instead of writing a paper, the concept of senior year seems to always win out.

With the real world looming in the not-so-distant future, I am beginning to look back at my college career and realize all of the things that I have not done yet.

Whether it was body painting for a sporting event (check… it’s senior year, I had to), spiking coffee during class, or attending P-Ball, there are things I have been able to check off my list. However, I wish that I hadn’t waited until senior year to realize the small things that don’t seem to matter so much as an underclassman.

Breakfast at Oodles, painting the rock, actually attending Nobel, sleepovers in the Arb… the things that as a freshmen you put on a to-do list and eventually the four years go by in the blink of an eye and you are scrambling to do all the fun things in the last 100 days of your college career.

At the CVR’s “I Can’t Believe It Went So Fast” Senior dinner, a group of fantastic seniors reflected upon the past four years. We reminisced about freshmen year, for better or worse. We talked about all the things we had done and not done. We talked about the approaching good-byes we will have to make and the things left on our to do lists before those teary farewells. One thing we all came to agree upon was the concept of using the excuse “It was college” following any good college story, and the limited time period we can use that for. While we have all been abusing the “I’m a senior” reasoning over the past few months, we realized that “I’m in college” works just as well. “I peed on the 36 yard line of the football field, but I was in college” works so much better than “I peed on the 36 yard line of the football field after my 9-5 job, and then I had to pick up my kids from day care.” It just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Whatever line you have to reason with yourself—whether its just college or the fateful day you can start using “I’m a senior”—abuse the privilege.

In my defense, I am not advocating for everyone to go make horrible decisions. I’m more or less advocating for spontaneity, the lifestyle of living for the moment, and not taking life so seriously. If a bad decision or eight happen along the way, so be it.

It’s life, it’s college, it happens. As Gusties we have a tendency to be dominated by demanding schedules, overbearing academics and sky-high stress levels. These wonderful characteristics keep us the well-rounded and active students we strive to be, but also has a tendency to miss out on the moments in college that go down in the history books. The NCM (non-committal make-out) you had with the cute boy that sits next to you in class makes for a better memory than reading your business homework for the second time. Make the memories that you want to remember rather than waiting until the opportunity is gone.

Ask any sentimental and freaked-out senior, college flies by in the blink of an eye. As important as our academic lives are, there is a whole side to college we have a tendency to forget when the Gustie ideal overtakes us. So go ahead—travel the world, drink wine on a Monday night, don’t shower for three days, create a religion based upon Free Willy … it’s college, what do you have to lose?