College

What a strange four years it's been. I came in as a young, relatively shy 18 year old, where my only real hobbies included eating cheesesteaks/cheesecakes, sports, and playing video games, and I left with those still hobbies in mind, but have developed so much more interests and abilities. I'm not sure if that is due to college, or life experiences, or just growing up, but it's great.

College is an unusual life journey. It's when you supposedly grow up and realize what you want to do. I don't think I've reached that point yet. I'm not sure you ever do. You're supposed to keep evolving, learning, and growing.

But damn, what's a fun four years I've had. From a small dorm in Rich Hall to a lovely (cough) apartment in South Campus, I've kept the same few best friends the entire journey - and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Sure, I've made a few other really good friends (including being adopted - AYO T & C), other random acquaintances, some ups and downs, and some people I'm sure I'll never want to see again.

It's funny looking at things through pictures - how we've grown, how we've stayed the same. Sure, I have the memories in my head of what we did, but not the photo evidence. It's crazy to go through them year by year. Real quick so you understand what I'm saying:
Frosh Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year (yes we were legal drinking age)
And finishing it out where it began at graduation.

It's been great. You'll notice most of the same people in the pictures - I love it. Sure, I couldn't find one that had all of my friends, but I think it captures enough of our friendship over the past four years.

Last night was my first night back home, and it was brutal (although there was an unbelievable 24 on.) It's not easy going from the freedom to the unknown. No jobs, no real idea of what the future holds, and being so far away from your friends, with no idea when you'll see them again.

I do know that college has made me into a better person. It's a great feeling when at the end of four years, you can come away with a solid group of friends (with the most supportive parents for people they've never met,) knowledge and skills to succeed in a professional level, and just the overall confidence to believe in myself.

I don't attribute that to Boston University, because as I've made clear, I think they have some dysfunctional aspects of their own to deal with, but I do believe a few professors and most importantly the people I've interacted with on a near-daily basis have really helped to shape everything about me - and I'm forever grateful. The only thing that could of made it better would be to get a job - but that will come with time.

The best four years of your life. I just hope the next couple decades can match them.

I Love That Dirty Water

If you're not in Boston, then you're missing out. We've had a massive (and unprecedented) water mane break in the city - leaving the place under a "boil order" for all water and honestly causing a sense of chaos for no real reason.

People are going to grocery stores and buying water as if they're stocking up their bomb shelters for the impending nuclear winter. I saw one woman get 10 cases of water yesterday. That's 240 bottles. I'm hoping it was not all just for her.

Boston University, in all of it's great service to it's students (and senior's final two weeks of college before we get hit with a) reality and b) them asking for "donations") can only give you water if you've got a meal plan to their dining hall. I'm serious. Me and my roommate stopped by yesterday to try and pick up one bottle of the great "Terrier Water" and were told no, I need to sign up for a meal plan. WHAT KIND OF INHUMANE PLACE IS THIS? NO WATER UNLESS YOU PAY AN EXTRA THREE GRAND. SORRY.

Sorry, I got a little carried away. It's too easy sometimes.

The other great thing about Boston right now is the weather - the place is gorgeous. Had a beautiful day out. Until I was feeling dehydrated and bought water, which I'm pretty sure they're jacking up the prices because EVERYONE's buying water. In my lovely not-well-ventilated Boston University sponsored apartment, we have poor air flow when its hot. And in my room, there's a kind of "mystery" window that conveniently pointed east which is also conveniently where the sun rises everyday at about 6:30 AM. Let's do some math --> Dehydration + Hot room + Sunlight at 6:30AM + College student who usually doesn't wake up until 9 AM on a Monday = A dry(in more ways than one,) witty, blog post at 7AM after laying in bed until 2:30 AM because of the same situation. Honestly, I wasn't even up this early for Marathon Monday.

This isn't a rant, this is more of just like a 'When I Pictured College, It Didn't Include A Scavenging For Water" situation. I just sit and laugh. Is this real life?

I also keep making this joke that I know I'm totally killing it, but it's honestly SO FUNNY right now. The Standells did a song about Boston and called it "Dirty Water" and it's one of those Boston anthems - it's played everywhere around the city. Sporting events, in the park, it's everywhere. It's like the Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Up To Boston" of the 60s, but everyone still listens to it now. Anyway, the repeating lyric is "I love that dirty water, I love Boston." I know someone reading this is laughing right now. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP GUYS.

OH ALSO - It's National Drink Tap Water Week. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP.

I'm closing with another great line about drinking from the "Most Interesting Man In The World" campaign - Stay Thirsty My Friends.

ps I'm laughing really hard at that one too. Bye.

What Am I Paying For?

College has become commonplace for almost everyone to go, thanks to loans and the abundance of colleges. It's no longer for the "rich kids." I don't want to say that anyone can go, but it's gotten so much easier. So now, a college degree is common.

The concept of college is to learn about what you think your career path may be, then assuming you'll go get a job in that career, or some require further education. Mine is public relations - so I'm taking PR classes. BU's tuition is around $50k including room and board. So I'm paying $50,000 a year. For four years. $200,000.

So for $200,000 you would think that I would be getting so much more than I feel like I'm getting. Instead, I feel like BU is literally nickel-and-diming me every step of the way - and I'm still not getting my money's worth.

For example, I live in an on-campus apartment in South. It's a relatively nice place. Given how much it's rained this year, we've had some water leaking into our apartment. When me and my roommate called B&G, they said "We're getting a lot of complaints, we'll get to you when we can." When they came about 3 hours later, all the did was bring a bucket. We had a bucket. We didn't need another bucket.

A few days later another B&G guy came in and I showed him where it was leaking. Since it had stopped raining, it wasn't leaking. He said "I can't do anything about it if it's not leaking."

Fast forward a few weeks later, when monsoon season hits Boston, and it's leaking in my apartment again. But not just the same location, literally in three different spots. Then it started to get moldy. I called B&G again, and no one's been here. It's been a week. Then I read in BU Today that there were over 600 on-campus leaks reported. I tweeted to Dean Elmore, he said "I'll have someone come over." Really? No one came. And the last time they did, they did nothing.

How can you have 600 on campus leaks? I understand the rain was much more than we've had in quite a while, but 600 seems too high. It's probably leaked last year, and they were told, and still did nothing. What the hell am I paying $50,000 dollars for when my place is disgusting.

Some other fun facts about my apartment - there is no internet port in my room. Or a cable port. They changed the window structure in my building so that air can't get in, making my room a hell hole even when it's 20 degrees out. The walls are so thin I can hear everyone. In every way. The fridge is smaller than the one we had last year. When we moved in, the fridge was broken and they didn't fix it for a few days. We didn't have a mirror. It took weeks to get a mirror in the bathroom. We kept calling and filing requests for a mirror and got none. We gave up and bought our own. The sunlight in my room lets me wake up at 7 am everyday. Everyday. EVERYDAY.

Or I could talk about the print quota fiasco, where BU, who last year gave us a 500 page quota this year, gave 100. Then, told the professors to not make copies of hand-outs, instead make us print them out, making us use our reduced print quota. In my political science class, our teacher had well over 20 uploaded articles that spanned as high as 56 pages. Half of my quota is spent on one article for one class. I took four classes and it was all the same. So therefore I have to pay money just to print my things that last year would have been free. But my tuition goes up. And all we get from BU is stock quote straight up bullshit. "We're going green" "We're cutting costs" "We found that students don't use their print quota." Then they removed the computer labs that were located at different locations on campus. They brought them all to the library, so it's still available, but it just seems inconvenient and inefficient.

Then I went to the Career Center, where I wasn't offered much help in finding a job. I said "How can I work for a Public Relations firm in Philadelphia?" Their response: Use CareerBuilder and Google. I'm so glad that I pay $50k to be told to use Google. I never would have thought about Google. Thanks guys. They did help with cover letters and my resume, but overall, I don't feel like it was all that helpful. I got better help from my internship in the fall. Their career fairs don't apply to my industry at all - but most of the people there seem to be worthless too. For instance, companies like the FBI and Abercrombie & Fitch would be there. That's not where I'm going. Call me picky. I know PR is kind of a different thing, but no help at all? Really?

It should be MANDATORY for every student to take a class about the job process. How it works. Resumes. Cover letters. Etc. Make it specific towards everyone's major. Give each student a CAREER ADVISOR. I have an academic advisor, but combine the two. Make some kind of mandatory check-in every few weeks. Talk about plans. Brainstorm. Help us. Isn't that what college is ultimately about? To learn and to use what you learned in the world. Help us see through the second part. I don't want my hand held, I want to meet half way. It shouldn't be totally on me to find a job on top of taking four classes and having an internship 2.5 days a week. There's too much going on for me to find a job too. But by incorporating it into class, it's helpful.

I have friends at PSU who have a career advisor and they help them have a plan for internships and jobs. I could go to PSU for $14k a year. Do the math.

To me, the college process has become much more of a business than an education. People can spin it any way they want. At the end of the day, it's about making a profit. The President of the University makes A LOT of money. I can't seem to find the number, but I found this article where the old President made $6.2 MILLION two years after he retired. WHAT THE HELL DOES HE NEED $6.2 MILLION DOLLARS FOR AFTER HE RETIRES.

I know that not all of my money goes into his severance pay and that BU has a pretty good endowment. But that seems absurd. Instead, if they spent $6.2 million, surely our tuition could be a little lower, or we would have something helpful. Nah, give one man $6.2. We don't need to help our students.

I pay $50,000 a year and honestly, what am I paying for? A leaky apartment? 100 pages to print with? Classes that aren't really teaching me anything? To be told to go to Google? I've learned so much more from my internships than from class. Am I paying to get a job? Indirectly, but BU isn't doing a damn thing to help me and act like they care.

Why Why WHY would I want to give any money to BU as an alumni? For the BU Class Gift, they're asking for $20.10. While I understand and like the concept of a class gift, I believe you give gifts as a thank you or because you appreciate someone. What am I thanking them for? The advice of Google? I pay $50k a year. That's your thank you gift. I honestly don't know anything about my financial situation whether I'll be in loans or not, but I don't feel like this entire experience was worth it. Maybe I didn't make the most of it. Maybe I "settled." I made great friends and I had a great time - but I think that would happen anywhere. But I want my money back - because I'm paying for a product that isn't what it was advertised as. I didn't pay $50,000 to live in a moldy water logged apartment. Or to have to find my own job. Think of it as a customer client relationship. I'm a customer, and I'm being deceived.

I don't know if this posts counts as a rant, or maybe I'm just too frustrated with everything. I feel overwhelmed and just like a number.. It's leaving a sour taste in my mouth for the final weeks, and it's unfortunate. Everyday I say "I can't wait to be out of here" and everyday it gets closer and closer. But I've also realized that the world is a lot of shams and lies, and you have to wade your way through.

I Really Love The Beanpot and College Sports

I originally passed on going to the opening round of the Beanpot last night - Between work 9-5 and then class 6-? (usually about a hour and a half but could of gone until 9) I figured I would of been too busy/tired. Class got out at 6:45, and BU's game was planned to start at 8. So with no ticket I went down to the Garden.

It was a potential waste of time, but I wanted to try to go scalp a seat anyway. Somehow there were still seats available. I am SO glad I went.

The Beanpot may only be a local Boston event, but it means so much to the four schools. It's a rare (although annual) opportunity for the schools to play at the TD Garden and for the fans of each school to come cheer on their school against others. Usually, the home team has the dominance, but at the Beanpot, it's literally one side yelling against another. It brings so much more energy than a pro hockey game.

Last night for the BU game, the Northeastern crowd, who was surprisingly well-supported, were seated right next to BU. That corner of the arena was LOUD. Energetic, thrilling, it was a great atmosphere. The Pro game doesn't have that energy anymore because the passionate fans can't afford the games and are more spread out than having an official "student section." Most of the pro games are attended by corporate/business types.

The BC-Harvard game was a snoozer. 6-0 BC. But BU-NU put on a great game and matched by great fans. The Beanpot tournament has been better than any pro-hockey game I've attended.

College sports in general are so much more fun because of the passion of the students. The atmosphere for a typical college hockey game can only be matched in the pros when its the playoffs (based off of my experiences at Boston & Philly regular season/playoff games.) Same for basketball, football, etc. Maybe it's just that the college kids are more drunk than the adults at a pro game, but it makes for an exciting, communal event (not the alcohol, the cheering.)

One of the things I like the best is the level of competition. The ages are relatively the same (18-24ish) as opposed to in the pros, where players can be competing against anyone aged 18-40+. The difference in age/experience/body type can really determine how successful a player is. In college it's more even. Plus, the college system only allows for 5 years, after that, they move on. It keeps for new and exciting players to come along every year.

Of course I should mention that that this really applies for the top-NCAA schools. The atmosphere at a Temple football game sucks. Totally different story at Penn State. BU's basketball isn't quite the same as at North Carolina. Maybe that's part of it. No one is going to be excited at a Florida Panthers game - but no one goes. Go to a Red Wings game and they MIGHT be more enthused. I doubt it though - not during a regular season.

So now that next week's championship game will be BU and BC, the biggest college hockey rivalry, I'm expecting an even better atmosphere matched by just as great of a hockey game. I really want to soak it all in seeing as this will be my last Beanpot as a student. Should be an exciting game!