TEEN CENTER :: COLLEGE CENTER

FRESHMAN JOURNAL: JANUARY 30, 2006
Sunny Skies,
Green Grass

By Julia Choe

Recently I visited some friends at another college. It was one of the colleges I had been considering, but had ultimately decided was too close to home (literally five minutes away). As I walked down the hallways of the dorms, I couldn’t help noticing how different it was from my own college. Though both schools have roughly equivalent academics, the incredibly laid-back atmosphere of the dorm struck me. People roamed the hallways, peeking into open doorways and generally were loud, rambunctious, and happy. Much like camp, actually.

Soon I was overcome by the feeling of contentment and found myself laughing along with people I barely knew. It was at this point that I started thinking…what if I had chosen the wrong school? What if the school I should have gone to was just in front of me, and instead I chose to fly across the country in search of some greater institution that didn’t exist? I decided to stay around that Thursday night in search of answers.

When my friend introduced me to the group of people that had clustered around his dorm room and hallway, all of them wanted to know what my college was like. Did I love it? Was it as amazing as their school? I didn’t know how to answer. Sure, I liked my college. But evidently, not to same level of ecstatic joyfulness that seemed to prevail among these students. If I were back in my own dorm, there might be a few people in our rooms, talking, but there would certainly be no group excursions out to the fraternity houses and campus wanderings en masse. So after a long pause, all I came up with was, “Yeah, I like it. It’s very…different.” A good phrase, I decided, since my east coast college had such a dissimilar atmosphere that these sunny Californians probably wouldn’t be able to understand it. I found myself liking all the people I had just met—their spontaneity and relaxed attitudes towards life as a whole made people back at my school seem stilted and stiff. It was strange to think that as happy as I might be at own college, I might have had more fun somewhere else.

When seniors are picking colleges, guidance counselors, teachers, and parents like to repeat one phrase: “You’ll be happy at any of these schools.” I would say that’s true, to an extent. Most my friends are happy at their respective schools, but there are definitely a few who are not. Several of my friends were eyeing transfer applications near the beginning of the year before finding their niche in campus life. And after visiting that certain California school where the sunny weather seemed to directly reflect on the student body’s level of happiness, I started feeling many of these doubts as well. I hadn’t chosen colleges lightly. In fact, I had spent one month in state of agonizing decision-making. So when May 1 had come along, I sent in my card with at least some sense of confidence that I had chosen the right one.

It was just that, confronted with a college where the people seemed to be having a great time, even on a school night, it became hard to justify my decision.

I know I would never transfer, and so thinking about other schools is just an exercise in what-ifs. So here we go: if I had gone to that school in California, I would have been happy…but on the other hand, I would always wonder what the East Coast was like. I would always wonder if I could have handled the more intense atmosphere, and wondered if I would have learned more in a place different from where I grew up. I would not be challenging myself to adapt to a new city, and I would not have learned to appreciate regionally influenced language such as “wicked.” I think in the end, all of my doubts come from the idea of greener grass (Although admittedly, the grass in Boston is more frozen than green… but that’s beside the point). There are positives and negatives to all schools. For example, I like that my school has a strong arts community, even if it means that athletics are less feted than at other places. I like our old, historical dorms, and the sense of tradition that surrounds the campus. And quieter social scene aside, the college I chose to attend is more than any other college. It is my college. The attractiveness of other schools is ultimately insignificant. When I think of my brick dorm, I realize it may not be perfect, but I love it anyways. And greener grass aside, I wouldn’t have it any other way.