Staff Writer- Sam Paulsen

What would you consider to be your most used item during your time at Gustavus? You might think of your computer, phone, keys, student id, or even a pair of earbuds. Although these may be things you use often, I guarantee there is one thing you forgot about: your water bottle. Every single day, students fill their water bottles with the precious Caf water or use the filling stations across campus, yet we never think about what these bottles mean. Your water bottle can tell a lot about you and even more about the epidemic that has taken over this campus. 

If you are someone like me, you may be very attached to your water bottle. It may be one you used all throughout high school or simply a gift from someone in your life. Walk around Gustavus for a day and you will notice water bottles everywhere. We all have them, yet each one says something different about each person. 

Take the green Gatorade squirt bottles. Before you even meet someone with this water bottle you can already tell who they are. They are an athlete or at least someone who cares about fitness. Often you can find them in Lund and if not they are walking around campus a little sore from their last practice. The water bottle itself carries little to no meaning to these students, instead it is just an embodiment of the lifestyle they live. 

Then there are the giant metal water bottles. Often too big to fit in a student’s backpack you will see them being swung around in student’s hands as they walk the campus. These water bottles will usually have a few stickers on them of some importance, sometimes a club or souvenir from a trip. Although cool looking, these water bottles sound like an explosion when dropped and halt class in an instant. Not everyone enjoys these behemoths but those who do, really love them. 

The iconic Stanley. Too big to fit into most backpack pockets, yet small enough to be carried around everywhere. For a long time the Stanley has been the college campus water bottle. Often lacking personality aside from a matching color scheme, these water bottles tend to not express who a student is. When seeing a student with a Stanley it doesn’t add to their character or personality instead, it often just completes an aesthetic. 

The mismatched Owala. A water bottle that finally feels like it has challenged the popularity of the Stanley. Every student who uses these will keep theirs as clean and simplistic as possible with very little clutter. Some students may have gotten theirs at the Peer Assistants’ sophomore stride or have won them as a prize at a CAB event. Either way, these water bottles are beginning to feel like a dime a dozen and students who use them are using them for functionality rather than a way to express themselves. 

Lastly, the blandest of all, the plastic single use water bottles. The students who use these seem to not always understand the term “single use”. These plastic pieces of landfill waste have a very limited shelf life as a day to day water bottle. They often fall apart fast and crinkle and crumple from everyday use. When talking about lack of personality these water bottles are the perfect example. They tell people nothing about who you are and who you want to be; they just tell people that you just bought a Smart Water from the Caf. 

Water bottles are meant to be forgotten. A perfect water bottle is something that you should never notice and often forget is there. Yet, water bottles are so much more than that. A water bottle is a means of expressing yourself to others. Whether you want to show what clubs you are involved in through your various stickers, or you want to show your favorite color, a water bottle should tell people something about yourself. So whether you have a Stanley or a random old Gatorade bottle, add some character to your water bottle because it can tell a story. Don’t let your water bottle just be something you carry in your backpack; let it be an extension of yourself and who you want to be.