Bucket list for adventurous college living

I found it necessary to make a bucket list when I began college to make sure I did not lose sight of the things in life that keep me sane. I did not want to forget my dreams, goals or the little things that make life amazing and worth it. Considering that attending Maryville College was on my bucket list, I think I am doing pretty well.

Personally, my bucket list is possibly quirkier than most, but I am completely determined to cross off every single thing in the college section before I graduate. I have loads of random activities that I feel are essential to my college experience such as attending a dance, reading at least 50 books in the library for fun, walking into every room on campus that is not someone’s living space, or spending the night on campus. I know the last goal seems weird, but I am a commuter. It is not weird. I also have a compulsion to add any college related “Top Ten” lists I find on line to my bucket list as if it was not melodramatically long enough as is.

I earnestly think participation in events provided by Maryville College is a great way to experience things you would never imagine to. I have even added activities to my bucket list after experiencing them because they were just too amazing to not reflect on later on. One moment in particular I added was an in-class Skype Q&A with D.B. Jackson, a professional fiction writer, while taking Dr. Will Philips’ Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature course. That was seriously a major fan girl moment for me.

This month, I was given the opportunity to cross off my list both attending a school dance and attending a masquerade simultaneously by attending spring fling. There was not an archaic ballroom dress or mysterious interaction with a stranger behind a mask, but SPB’s event, “Behind the Masque,” was everything I could have hoped for. I got to go through the motions of getting ready with my best friend and run around market square which is one of the most beautifully diverse local areas we have available to us.

The event had everything from a disc jockey to a photo booth with props. I think if every life event had a photo booth to capture all those perfect moments with incredibly angst-driven and immature faces on photo strips, the world would be a better place. That night was probably the highlight of my first year at Maryville College.

Not only did I get to don a vintage gown and wear a mask for the evening, I was able to live out a piece of my “Perks of Being a Wallflower” dreams by dancing to Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ song “Come on, Eileen” at a school dance. If that is not a perfect night ending on a magical note, then I do not know what is.

The beginning of the school year I made this impossible list of seemingly impossible activities and goals to my heart’s content. I have now crossed off at least one-third of that bucket list thanks to actively attending many of the events attending Maryville College leads me to. My sheltered life of homework and crochet needs and welcomes these experiences given to me.

This coming month, I plan on crossing off attending the Highland Games for the first time and learning everything I can about the various types of and methods of donning a kilt. I also have a few plans outside of campus related events such as the Synchronous Firefly shuttles that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park provides once a year to witness these beautiful fireflies which is nostalgic of my childhood attempts at catching fireflies.

As my photo albums and journal fills up with all of these precious moments and memories I’ve sought to complete and have, I want to urge the importance of a bucket list for college or for life in general.

These experiences in and outside of the classroom have been some of the most meaningful experiences I will take with me. I still have two-thirds of my bucket list to complete before the end of my senior year, despite horrifying amount of homework and the ever-growing responsibilities of adulthood.
My only response to those odds is “challenge accepted.”

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