Seniors living on campus
By James Hutchinson
My senior year commences with an air of the unfamiliar: impending job interviews, internships and post-graduation plans. A year from now with all of my Jesuit ideals stripped to an essence, I might actually have to make something of myself.
The cheerful optimism of my youth will have been replaced with fears and doubts for the future. However, if there remains one welcoming vestige of the familiar, it lies in my return to on campus living for the fourth consecutive year.
After several half-hearted attempts to search for off campus living, I took the easy way out. However, there remains a strange allure to the on campus lifestyle which, like all convenient indulgences, is not without its charm.
Living off campus is like starting over; there is a need to forge a new identity and reinforce your existence to the world. On campus, you will always have the colored cutouts of construction paper on your door bearing your rightful name and place.
At the very least, it is a chance to live in close proximity with a large group of your peers for what is perhaps the last time. Sure, the possibility for community is always there, but I happen to take significant pleasure in the occasional chance encounter in the laundry room.
Making the acquaintance of a not so familiar face is a truly reaffirming experience. You now have permission to acknowledge that person the next time you see them rushing through Kenna's hallowed halls or foraging in Benson.
Speaking of foraging, the dining plan offered as part of the on campus experience is a welcome lifesaver for woefully inept cooks such as myself. Why suffer through the nutritional inadequacies of Top Ramen when you can put it off for one more year?
As a senior, I'm soon to face the unavoidable anxiety that comes bundled with entry into the real world. Maybe spending another year in familiar surroundings with an ample food supply and good-natured laundry buddies is not be such a bad idea.
Sure, your off campus pals will extol the virtues of home cooking and new found independence, but imagine their envy as you strut into Cellar Market and can tell yourself: "I could buy all the gummy worms in this store if I wanted to."
*Ã Ã James Hutchinson's column appears once a month. He can be reached at jehutchinson@scu.edu.