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College fades into present
June 16, 2001: A date that will
be remembered forever by
everyone in the University of
Oregon class of 2001. Will it
resemble the joyous, sunny
scene played out in movie after
movie? And how will I find my
cap after I throw it?
Inside or outside? I remember
reading in last year’s Emerald
about Mary Hudzikiewicz, the
woman who has planned and or
ganized University graduation
ceremonies for the past 28 years,
standing out in her bright red
dress, starkly contrasting the sea
of green caps and gowns worn by
the graduates. The ceremonies
have almost always been held
outside, mostly without rain —
until that article. This year’s cere
mony will be held at McArthur
Court, indoors for just the third
time in the last three decades —
and I guarantee it’ll be 85 degrees
and sunny.
I can still remember the day I
set off to college. Everything I
owned was packed into my Volk
swagen GTI as I drove west in the
direction of the rising sun. Alone,
I set off for a new town, a new life
and new friends on the other side
of the Cascades. Central Oregon
offered a perfect reprieve from the
soggy and dark Willamette Valley.
I can clearly recall the first per
son I met and the conversation we
had as we sat on the top of one of
the cabins at one of those get-to
know-everybody-weekends on
the grounds of a summer camp
nestled near the base of Black
Butte and smoked joints, silently
and fearfully waiting for the four
girls who had returned for their
forgotten jackets to leave the cab
in so we could get down from the
roof.
But now, nearly five years later,
it’s ending and I can’t remember
much of it. Sure, I can remember
some things. Bend is close to the
mountain, less than 20 minutes if
you drive fast enough. Five nights
a week of Deschutes Brewery kegs
and drinking Jenga™ is not good
for your GPA or your relation
ships. Eugene has too many hip
pies, too many hairy armpits, too
much political correctness. I re
member my first semester here I
received a 1.65 GPA; the next one
I earned a 4.1— three As and an
A+. I will always remember that
people in Eugene — especially on
this campus — will come out in
droves to protest causes affecting
oppressed people thousands of
miles away, but fail to care at all
about issues that directly affect
them day in, day out.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve cer
tainly learned a lot in college.
Central Oregon Community Col
lege and the University have
etched knowledge into my brain
— knowledge I won’t remember
learning, but will retain forever.
The friends I’ve made and the
lives I’ve touched, as well as those
who have touched mine, will nev
er be forgotten. But there are so
many more people I’ve known,
people I’ll forget. Their memories
are left only to surface with some
random trigger, or a passing face,
when for I moment I’ll think “I
know that person.”
And now, nearly five years lat
er, there’s not a shot in hell all my
stuff will fit into my car. Oh, how
the shit collects. Each time I’ve
moved, I’ve been forced to rent a
larger truck and a larger storage
unit. Books, memories, free furni
ture and other treasures that were
merely someone’s trash, couches
handed down from moving
friends. Stuff is fun to have. Now,
I wish someone would take it all,
leaving me free to wander and
discover who I want to be and
whSf-e I want to be without the
burden of physical possessions.
For now, however, I am forced
to focus on the present. Eight days
and counting until I am no longer
able to mark the full-time student
box (unless I can get my parents
to keep investing money in me for
graduate school — muchos gra
cias, madre y padre!). What mem
ories I have had, here and in
Bend, will fade into the past
while I determine where my ca- ’
reer path will take me.
I know I’ll make it there; let’s
just hope it’s sunny.
There’s some advice I’d like to
give to those of you so much less
fortunate than myself that you’ll
be back here next year:
• Decide early on what you
want to do; it’ll save you time,
money, 22-credit semesters, last
minute seminars and headaches.
• Attend weekend seminars.
Easy credits, free drinks, long
lunches.
• Register for classes as soon as
Duck Call will allow. It’s amazing
how much better the semester
will go when you choose the
classes you want to take instead of
settling for open classes.
• Don’t live in a big house;
you’ll hate it when you have to
move.
• Don’t be that person who’s al
ways asking argumentative smart
ass questions of instructors.
Everyone hates you even though
you think you’re smart and funny
— you’re not.
• Think about your future, be
cause before you know it, it will
be the present.
Aaron K. Breniman is the community edi
tor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His
views do not necessarily represent those
of the Emerald. He can be reached at
aaronkyle72@hotmail.com.
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