CARISSA MARSH
A&E Editor
Girls just wanna have fun. School’s out for summer. I hope you had the time of your life.
Lyrics like these are running through my mind. My time here at Pepperdine is almost done and despite my senioritis and longing for days without homework, all-nighters, humanities tests or Graphic deadlines, I cannot escape a feeling of sadness for what is about to end. I can almost hear Vitamin C’s graduation song “Friends Forever” playing in my ears.
But then the questions come. What will I do with all my free time? Am I really ready for this?
As graduation steadily approaches (my MySpace countdown will not let me forget how many days are left), memories of the last three-and-a-half years flood my quiet thoughts and a strange mix of anxiety and excitement wash over me.
I have given in to the nostalgia. Here is some of what I remember from my years at Pepperdine:
• A deer poking its head into my window while moving in to Pauley my first day on campus. I took it as a good sign.
• My freshman suitemates introducing me, a shy spring transfer, to the joy of Malibu Yo instead of going to NSO Coffee House.
• Trekking up the stairs that first semester thinking it would get me in shape — I’m still waiting.
• Leaving my music major behind to pursue journalism, all on the assumption that if I like to read magazines and write, then it will work. It did. Thank God.
• My roommates dragging me to my first club, Tiger Heat. Trust me, the venue choices have gotten better since then.
• A hellish week of “rushing” to make some lifelong friends.
• Formals. By now, I have a dress in every color.
• Jogging that non-stop 40-minute run test in P.E. I felt like Rocky. Well, an asthmatic Rocky, but strong nonetheless.
• Nacho runs with the roomie at a quarter to midnight simply because the HAWC was about to close, not because we were hungry. I call that the sophomore 15.
• Getting glam for a night out with the girls, which is almost more fun than going out.
• “Sex and the City” marathons. And cosmos.
• Shedding my inhibitions and finding myself in Washington, D.C. For this California girl, that is almost overseas.
• Driving all over Los Angeles all in the name of a good story. To think I used to hate museums.
• Cholada’s Thai food in the newsroom. Long hours and lots of laughs in the newsroom. My life for the past year, in the newsroom.
These are just some of my many memories. And while part of me would like to hold on to the past and stay here forever and not say good-bye, I am looking forward to post-Pep life.
I will have more free time to explore all the fabulous places I have written about, to reconnect with old friends, to finally go to New York, to make fun and happiness a priority, to take what I have learned and experienced here and use it to create the best life possible.
Crossing that stage April 28 will mean crossing into a new life, but I am ready, and it is because of Pepperdine and my wonderful professors — Dr. J, Elizabeth, Dr. Murrie and Dr. Waters — that I have that confidence.
Yes, I am fearful. But I am also hopeful. Because I have a song in my heart (thanks, Mr. Pullen) and lyrics in my head that remind me of who I am and where I am going.
It was fun, but school is almost out— forever. And I had the time of my life.
It’s hard to say it. Time to say it.
Goodbye.
04-05-2007