It’s the beginning of the end. 

Of my last semester at Oakland University.

I’ve felt the pain of commuting from 45 minutes away in blistering cold weather.

Just like a snowflake, I’ve drifted apart from my high school friends.

And of course, I have met many girls who ended up having hearts colder than the icicles hanging from the Oakland Center.

Love life aside, I have learned a lot from my experiences at OU.

I began bleeding black and gold back in 2010.

I was just a kid from Commerce who would drive halfway across the Earth twice a day to get me one of them fancy educations.

On my first day of school, I had sociology with a pompous professor who just laid on his desk and prattled on about how he was right and you were wrong.

For some reason, I felt compelled to introduce myself to this man. (Because they tell you to do that in high school.)

“Hello, I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Scott Wolchek.”

His response:

“So?”

I dropped the class.

There are multiple lessons to be learned from that story. 

1) Ratemyprofessor.com sucks and 2) Professors will learn your name if you show even a remote interest in the material, you don’t have to do what freshman Scott did.

One of the harder lessons that I’m sure a lot of people go through is that, by my second semester, my friends were drifting apart.

I had to make some new ones.

This can be quite difficult at OU because, perhaps you have noticed, most students are commuters and don’t really stick around to talk.

I overcame these obstacles by mastering the art of the sly comment.

You know what I mean.

If I was still in that sociology class I mentioned earlier I would say:

“I like how our professor is too cool for chairs.”

Simple statements like that to the person next to you can make some easy-peasy companionship.

The other way I’ve made friends at OU was by joining a student org at the end of my junior year. (Don’t worry, I won’t get preachy on you and tell you joining an org is the experience of a lifetime.)

Getting involved actually put me in some fairly precarious situations.

The biggest was that I had to manage The Post while taking five classes at the same time.

Although you may not relate to that specifically, if you have had to balance a job or two as well as go to school, you can probably feel my pain and I can feel yours. 

I am not really sure how I got through it.

I eventually realized that the experience had changed me.

I am no longer the commuter kid who sat in the TKE corner freshman year.

I am a guy who has learned how to deal with people who hate my guts.

I am a guy who practically lives in the basement of the OC. 

I am a guy who finally found the courage to ask the girl I always had a crush on out on a date (she said no).

I am an Oakland University senior, and I just want to graduate.

 

Scott Wolchek is the editor-in-chief of the Oakland Post. Email him at [email protected]