As graduation nears, many seniors are reflecting on their past four years at UT. Now that it’s about time to leave, a lot of them are either dreading to say goodbye, or rejoicing at new opportunities.
They’ve been through it all: drunken nights, bad relationships and stressful classes. After interviewing a few graduating seniors, I can both agree and relate to what they’ve gone through.
Long Distance Relationships
Kristine Kassl has been on the university’s swim team for all four years. Today, she is both a good leader and a great friend. Her dedication in the pool has been unwavering, as any person on the swim team can tell you. Yet, as composed and collected as she seems today, she has her own list of regrets that I’m sure every underclassmen, especially freshman, can relate to.
Long distance relationships as a freshman are the worst. We’ve all seen it happen: the stressful late night calls, the awkward planning of skype dates and the god awful texting that no one can actually interpret the right way. And although there are a few exceptions, the majority of relationships just don’t work out. Kassl was merely another one of the countless victims.
She stated one of the main problems was texting. “I disliked being in a long distance relationship because it was impossible to convey emotions through texting,” Kassl claimed. “We were always fighting which had a negative impact on my athletics, school and social life.” However horrible these kinds of relationships can be, there doesn’t seem to be anything changing with each new class. As seniors in high school, we all think he or she is “the one.” And although the occasional couple is able to pull it together, for the most part it’s just a bad idea. “It was just a bad decision and if I could go back and change it, I would,” Kassl said. I think many can agree.
Exploring Tampa
Another athlete, Dominic Goncalves, has played soccer as a Spartan for all of his four years at UT. Coming from Egham in south-east England, he expresses what a lot of foreign students also feel about attending a Florida school. “I regret not getting to see more of Tampa,” he answered simply. Many students coming from different countries do not have the luxury of having a car in the U.S., or even a license for that matter, which means that unless they want to constantly bum rides off of people, it makes it difficult to see much of the city. A beach is 15 to 45 minutes away in nearly every direction, and Busch Gardens is a close attraction everyone should go to at least once. But it’s sad that a lot of students aren’t really able to experience all of these things that Tampa has to offer.
Taking Advantage of On-Campus Programs and Jobs
Goncalves reinforced another regret that does not only apply to foreign students, “I wish I made better use of many of the services and programs on campus.” Although broadly stated, many seniors can relate. There are countless supplies of clubs, honor societies, on-campus jobs and independent study options that students either don’t have time for or don’t realize exist until it’s too late. The university provides these programs as options for students who want to make a little extra cash, boost their resume or just be a part of something. While many students might not have the time to participate in these things, they are terrific opportunities that people need to be aware of.
Sleeping in Late
The average college student can ultimately relate to one thing: sleeping. Sleeping in until 11 a.m., midday naps or whenever we find a comfy place, we sure do sleep a lot. Yet there is the occasional 8 a.m. class that some of us absolutely have to take for our major and forces us to slump out of bed at 7:45 a.m.
Regan Blessinger was able to get around that. “I definitely don’t regret taking later classes. I was able to spend four years sleeping in regularly,” Blessinger stated. Who could argue with that? While there are some out there who are early-risers, a good majority of us favor sleep over productivity any day. We should be taking advantage of the time we have now to sleep because when the real world hits us, a 9-5 job will be standing in our way.
Taking Classes Outside of Your Major
Blessinger addressed a similarly relatable regret during her four years at UT. “I’d say I regret not taking more classes outside of my major,” she confessed. Blessinger is among the few English majors at UT, but students with other concentrations would definitely agree. Biology majors, math majors and finance majors alike have to focus entirely on their intended educational paths, without so much as a stray. Besides the required humanities classes we have to take for our baccalaureate experience, in which many students dabble in beginner’s art and music, we aren’t left with many options. English majors don’t have time to take economics classes, and business majors can’t spare the credits to take a creative writing course. In gateways and pathways, we are told to select a path to graduation, and there is practically no wiggle-room. The university provides an incredibly wide variety of courses for its students, yet many students don’t have the opportunity to take them.
As we say goodbye to the class of 2013, many of us can’t help but think how quickly our own graduation date is approaching. What do we already regret having done or not done? We’re young and will inevitably make mistakes. Hopefully, we can avoid a few of these errors by learning from those that came before us. Then again, what is college without its problems? It’s all about the journey. Only time will tell what type of journey each of us will take.
In scandinavia people think jews have a very strange face, especially the nose is very bad-looking,kinda scythe-like they say, . They call it ” Ful nasa”. the word “ful” is pronounced like the english word “fuel”. i kind of feel sorry for them, but maybe its the testosterone.. i´ve heard it increases the tissues inside the nose, especially bone mass.
It´s intresting to note that the hebrew work “nasa” can mean both “to marry” and “to lift” and “to desire” among many other verbs..
In scandinavia people think jews have a very strange face, especially the nose is very bad-looking,kinda scythe-like they say, . They call it ” Ful nasa”. the word “ful” is pronounced like the english word “fuel”. i kind of feel sorry for them, but maybe its the testosterone.. i´ve heard it increases the tissues inside the nose, especially bone mass.
It´s intresting to note that the hebrew work “nasa” can mean both “to marry” and “to lift” and “to desire” among many other verbs..