Reflections on the College Experience

I find myself manning an exhibit at a college missions fair this week. This is not all that irregular an occurrance for me. Yet I find the experience strange and awe-inspiring–coming back to the college environment having graduated and been away for a few years now.

I don’t believe I can put my finger on this sentiment all that accurately, but I will try this morning–while most of the students are probably still asleep.

I knew upon graduating that college is a one-of-a-kind experience. I might even venture to say that it’s a much more wholistic experience for people who live on campus (This has been the trend in recent years, whereas having an aparment was more desirable when I began college in the mid 1990′s.). As I was still taking classes I began to realize this, while at the same time I pondered how much less money I would have spent and how much more “practical” experience I would have received had I gone through the ceramics program at the community college instead.

However, this lament failed to supercede the value I realized in my experience at a large university. Once again, I can’t particularly pinpoint where I find this overarching value. But two things have come to mind this week.

First, while I often sarcastically mocked the politically correct and politically motivated diversity program the university constantly plugged, the diversity played significant part in the positive sentiment I came away with. Living in the “international dorm” helped with this.

And secondly, though I haven’t been married five years yet, the idea of being single seems very distant. Being on campus this week, I’m reminded of my own dating experiences, and then my courtship with my wife-to-be. This week, I happen to be spending my time even at the small, private university that my wife graduated from. Our courtship occurred, for the most part, afater she had graduated.

Being in this environment has me wishing I could have known her some when she was a student. She refltects on her college-years even more favorably than I on mine. She had more energy then as well, and wasn’t daily faced with some of the health problems she faces now.

Suffice it to say that coming back, sitting in the student center for a couple of days, is most certainly strange and awesome. I don’t so much desire to return to college (although I would love the opportunity to further study my passions) as much as I wish to retain vivid and ever more accurate memories from my years there.