This post is devoted to the people, the events, and the tragedies that made up my final semester as an undergraduate. The quotes may not mean much to those readers who don't know these wonderful people or the amazing classes I was enrolled in, but this was the best way I could think to sum up my final semester. So hats off to this final week of finals.
American Literature:
The hilariously enthusiastic professor:
Commenting on a student's past place of work: "Exxon? They break stuff...like the world..."
On Emerson's Self Reliance: "Dude, let me enjoy it!"
On the end of Walden: "You can be the bug!"
Questions Hester's decision to return at the end of The Scarlet Letter: "Why didn't she leave? Where would she go? Hop on a Grey Hound? ....a literal gray dog at that time, by the way..."
On Eva and Tom's friendship in Uncle Tom's Cabin: "She steals his Christ thunder."
A list of instructions on how to avoid blame for the death of someone (jokingly of course) with reference to
Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue": "First, rent an orangutan. Next, teach it to shave..."
On Kate Chopin's setting in "The Storm": "Ye olde 7/11."
On the "catch all" essay question as an option for our final: *dramatic voice* "My final is a dance."
On Pudd'nhead Wilson: "What's so fascinating is that this book is a mess! Messiness can be good!"
Student's response: "Remember that when you grade our final essays."
Most important quote of the semester from this professor: "...ask for help, lean on each other, and know that you are loved."
I'm going to miss that class and that professor so much.
Spanish III:
The disdainful, yet incredibly attractive, Spanish professor from Alicante:
"Love is always temporary."
Yeah, Spanish class was pretty straight forward.
Greek Mythology:
The amazing professor that considers it his life mission to open every person's eyes to the world around them:
On mythology:
"We all have a gene for hair, but we have different hair. We all have myths, but the myths are different."
"What is a dragon but a woman with wings?"
"Are myths reflections of the anxieties of society the way dreams are reflections of our own anxieties?"
"Stories- do they help us understand life or do they help us escape it? We constantly distract ourselves from processing our anxieties."
"Behind every hero is the ego of an author."
On life/mythology:
"This is what makes us different- we have a should."
"Laughter happens at the moment that you've just saved yourself from the abyss."
"You can only laugh when it's not painful anymore."
"When you get to know someone almost always they are not who you though they were."
On a dramatic reading of Antigone: "I'm the leader...you guys be the prophets!"
Student on reading "Medea": "In the beginning I pity her, but then she came in like a wrecking ball...."
The Ups:
"You can start on Monday, December 16th."
"Congratulations on completing your Capstone presentations."
"You two are both superheroes for getting through these last several months."
The Downs:
"We've got different goals in mind."
"Feel free to come visit."
"You're perfect in every way..."
Counselor in a false cheery voice:"Congratulations on your graduation."
Me, in response: "Congratulations on having $30,000 worth of student loans."
One of the most painful experiences in my life: "Dear Students, I am deeply saddened to share with you...."
And finally, the friends without whom I'd never have survived this semester:
My fellow Appalachian, country girl that always has my back:
"Pickles are liars."
Our favorite drink at the Lost Dog in Shepherdstown: "Wet dogs- or moist canines."
On the night we tore up Knutti Hall looking for her car keys: "After this night, I need a drink. TO THE MECK!!!"
"Heading to Montana, with either mountain men or no men. Either one is fine with me."
The middle of finals week, talking to the tree outside the Lost Dog- there's a pattern forming when it comes to the strange things we say in this place: "Tree! You're so pretty and I want to hug you, but you're wet, soo...."
Me on leaving the Lost Dog (a tea shop) and returning to campus: "I stepped into a strange world, if only briefly."
The man that I can always rely on for a good in depth conversation about the most recent episodes:
Back and forth on Facebook messaging while watching the Supernatural mid-season finale:
Me: "AHHHH!! WTF WTF!!! WTF WTF WTF WTF WTF!!!!!!!"
Him: "I feel...Hurt and empty....I'm crying."
"La vie Boheme!"
And then as the first person I see after hearing about the death of our friend: "Did you check your email? Are you okay?" <- that second question meant so much to me
The goofy roommates:
The computer engineering roommate as she works on splitting the screen between the TV and her laptop: "I broke the computer!"
Before each and every movie, TV show, VGX awards show we watched together: "POPCORN!!"
Watching the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead: "Duunn...duuunn....duunnn...duunn..." (singing along to the governor's theme)
The roommate of two years whose advice I could not survive without:
"Let me sing you the SONG OF MY PEOPLE!!" (proceeds to play kazoo version of The Hobbit's "Misty Mountains")
Her response to me bitching about the main character of my Capstone novella refusing to cooperate and tell me his life story (because our characters tell us their story and we write them down and she responded as only a fellow writer could): Oh, he's just trying to be difficult.
The new friend whose "catch up conversations" I'm going to miss dearly next semester:
Me mimicking the religious man (screaming a sermon of hellfire and brimstone to the entirety of East Campus) by shouting dramatically at a friend across the street: "Are you ready for His coming?! Are you ready?!"
His very serious response after a look of confusion: "No, I've got more important things to worry about like my calculus grade."
"Here we go with that subservient thing again."
My response: :p usually after a round of speechless sputtering
Walking to the library, just talking about life: "For what you and I want, we're going to have to leave our families and our friends behind."
Me: "That's gonna be the hard part."
I couldn't make it through this semester without those that dealt with the tears, the expletives, and supplied the smiles and laughter that drove me through this last semester. They say you make friends in college that will never leave you. I'm hoping that holds true when it comes to these people. Thanks for an amazing final semester, despite the tragedies that each of us faced. I'm not sure how I'm going to make the transition into this next part of my life, but I'm dragging the relationships we've made with me. I promise you all that. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment