Hello happy souls! Happy summer!! This is a blog post TAKEOVER (WOOTWOOT) by my lovely boyfriend and fresh out of college grad, Patrick Nichols (the sexy man with the quinoa chips!) Since I'm not graduating until next year, I really wanted to share his thoughts on this huge change of leaving what he's called home for the last four years. So I'll let him get to work!
Peace + Love
Paige
I walk to the place where our class is scheduled to meet before we process to the ceremony. I make eye contact with my friends Mike and Eric. They're decorated in the academic cords they have earned through their hard work. Even at a school like Eckerd, which we students lovingly refer to at times as "Camp Eckerd" because of the summer-y, carefree vibes the place brings out of us, college is hard work! To think that my late-nights (sometimes all-nighters) I've spent studying have come to an end, it gives me quite a rush of relief. But college is more than this.
Don't tell my parents, but I'm starting to think that the academic aspect of college maybe isn't the most important part. Certainly our various academic pursuits have forced us to grow, to change our opinions and assumptions about the world we live in into well-tested values that we hold close. But the thing is, you can only learn so much in the classroom. I've never been a proponent of the way we school children, which explains why when I reflect on my four years at Eckerd, the most indelible moments were those I spent with the people I have grown to love over the last four years.
I met my closest friends at Eckerd on the first full day I was on campus. We all lived in the same dorm, and it just so happened that the six of us were soul brothers. We immediately clicked and did not leave each other's side. Since then, many have come and some have gone, but that core group has been my rock in both good times and bad. They were the hardest to say goodbye to. But college isn't meant to last forever. Sure, that might seem appealing, but at some point we have to take the next step in our personal growth. Isn't that what we want life to be about? And I know that the friends that I have made at Eckerd will always be with me. I have learned just as much from them as I have any professor.
College is a special place, but Eckerd? There's no place on this Earth like it. I am so incredibly fortunate and overflowing with gratitude for the laughs, tears, conversations, and bonds that place has given to me. College is expensive, but I simply cannot quantify a value for this priceless experience. Leaving Eckerd, I am ready to make those I have shared life's most beautiful moments with proud.