Being a 19-year-old freshman in college, I have experienced many new and interesting things in my first year of school here at Gannon University. These experiences have been fun, interesting and weird. When asked to do a recurring piece for Edge, I couldn’t think of what to write about. Should I write about my experiences as a freshman and how they have “helped me grow as a person through my spiritual and personal wellness?” You know? The cliché freshman articles like “10 things to do before you become a sophomore” or the typical “how you can tell what personality type you are from your favorite cafeteria food.” I thought about it, and decided why not write about my observations on campus and in the city?
Like all stories we start at the beginning. Monday, I woke up, did the usual pattern of the morning routine. Washed my face, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and ate breakfast. Not much happened on Monday, like usual, but I did see something that caught my attention on my walk to my last class of the day. As I passed the Erie Club I looked over at the parking lot and the sea of fancy foreign cars that belonged to successful judges, doctors, businessmen and women, and lawyers. As I looked at all of these fancy and interesting cars there was one that stuck out like a sore thumb. It certainly was not fancy and it didn’t fit in with the crowd of fancy German cars. This car was an older van, probably made in the early 2000’s. This van had battle scars in the form of dings and dents, rust and road wear and a few scrapes and scratches. While looking at this car, I found myself more interested in the owner than the car itself. What was the owner doing at such a prestigious club? Did he hit the lottery but didn’t cash in the check yet? Is the owner a criminal for hire and having a meeting with an evil millionaire that is in need of his assistance to do a “job?” Or is the owner a rich businessperson trying to set a new trend by driving old beat up cars to make a statement by trying to be retro? You know, like the hipster kids these days? So many questions, so little time.
Tuesday and Wednesday came and went. Thursday arrived and that only meant one thing: laundry day. I went down to the laundry room to be greeted by two students engaging in conversation. The one, who had been waiting for a dryer to open for 10 minutes (but she made it seem like it was a decade), went on a rant to her friend about how she will throw out the clothes of anyone who leaves them in the dryer for an hour after their cycle is over and how “inconsiderate these people are.” I was listening to her talk in amazement over the way she tried to make herself sound like a hero of the laundry room through discussing the way she felt about something as unimportant as laundry. She spoke in the way a politician would in order to get more votes and win people over, but in this girl’s case it was just to vent to her friend about something unimportant like laundry.
So that was my week and the observations that I made. Not a lot happened, I didn’t get into any adventures like the kids on TV, but I did witness some weird and interesting things that helped add a little bit of excitement to my boring week and helped me make it to the weekend.
