As I shake off the last of my Mardi Gras stupor and finally become brave enough to check my bank account, I have found myself questioning the value of fun in college student’s lives. This may seem innocuous as college students are all about fun, but are they really?
I had always thought college would be a never ending party: going out every night, having no regard for anything but the next bit of “fun.” I mean, that was what the movies had taught me. Maybe I managed to live life like that for a period of time, but eventually school and work seemed to take a more centered focus in my life. I began to feel boring, bogged down by the weight of my grades and my lack of the enjoyment each freshman was seemingly having. While I am aware that it is not worth comparing your life to the enjoyment other people are seemingly having, I did feel a lack of the fun I felt I had been promised in college.
College is consistently referred to as the best four years of your life, which is true! These four years allow students the most freedom with the least responsibility. What makes them the best is up to the maker though, for some people fun would be drinking themselves silly each night, but there are those other pesky things like classes, bank accounts or even just general health and safety. Fun can be whatever mission you embark on with other people, as nothing cements fun like bringing it back up weeks/months/years after it occurred. Fun will cost you some time, away from your books and away from your chores and responsibilities. But, fun will provide you relaxation, an outlet and just a general good time.
Where was my good time? It seems that getting older and becoming more mature means doing more things you don’t want to do but have to do. There becomes less and less ditching for more and more “grown-up” things. I am not yet a grown-up, as much as I’d like to pretend to be, so I did the collegiate thing, invested in some fun and ditched to spend a weekend indulging in the carnival that is Mardi Gras. I reclaimed my sanity by taking some time to myself to enjoy a weekend away. And it was worth it.
Interestingly enough, there were many adults at Mardi Gras doing the same thing I was, which proves you can have fun after college too. But, you should enjoy the fun you can have now since those times may become fewer and far between the older we get. College offers us a time to find out what it is that we enjoy, and in the long run the benefits outweigh the costs. So invest your time in fun every once in awhile. Hey, there’s always Mardi Gras!
Alyx Eva is a senior majoring in American studies and English. Her column runs biweekly.
