TOP 10 COLLEGE MEMORIES

As promised...

(and to protect the innocent, I have left out the names of those associated with some of the memories)

MY TOP 10 COLLEGE MEMORIES:

1. lying down in bed the day we moved into our freshmen room together (Brooks 224...ah!) and talking with Carla (she was on the top bunk; I was below). We had so much in common; she was so funny; she was a great listener; we shared so many concerns and dreams. I knew we'd be great roommates and friends. Realizing this made the thought of leaving behind my home, family, and high school friends bearable.

2. Making answering machine messages to remember. There were messages that included the theme-song to Little House on the Prairie and Puff Daddy. My all-time favorite message was from our senior year. Jill left a messages that went something like this: Becky, Carla, and Sarah are either at swim team practice, leaving swim team practice, on their way to swim team practice, practicing for swim team practice, or Becky is dragging Carla and Sarah to swim team practice... and cannot come to the phone. It was classic.

3. Traveling to Daytona Beach, Florida for spring break 2000. We drove Jill's father's Cadillac. We lived like queens in Jill's aunt's house. We spent days on the beach (although it was cold) and pretended to be cool in the evenings. I remember working on my comp while we were there (read: loser). We also met members of the British Junior National soccer team while out one night. The goalie was really cute; he was carrying a glow-in-the-dark squirt gun all evening.

4. Swimming at Nationals 1998. In addition to swimming a great meet, having super cool shwag, and getting to go to St. Louis for a week, one of the seniors on our team jumped into the diving well from the awards podium after receiving our award for the 400 freestyle relay. It was a long jump and I thought she was joking, but after pictures were taken she jumped - fully clothed - into the diving well to celebrate her swimming career.

5. Moving into Idaho. It was a dump, but it was ours. Much fun was had there!

6. One of my roommates (whose identify will be kept secret by me) took a life-sized cardboard George HW Bush out one night. George was a mainstay in Idaho. We dressed him up (once he wore a neon-green bra; another time a sandwich board proclaiming my son will be the next President). Well one night one of my dear friends decided to head out for a night on the town with George. They both wore Allegheny swim caps and I believe George was wearing a lei. It was a big night out for both of them. The last time I saw them they were stopping by the guy swimmers' house. After that they ventured over to the other side of campus to visit a frat party. Unfortunately, that was the last time any of us would see George. He did not return home that night. He was never seen again. Legend has it that he was disposed of in a ravine behind the frat house...

7. Eric.

8. Writing my senior comp. Ah... the Allegheny Senior Comprehensive Project, commonly known as your comp. I fell in love with my project. I had an amazing experience from start to finish. Highlights include winning the department award for best project and writing most of it on the second floor of the bio building. To be honest, most nights I sat in the second floor lab with my laptop and friend, Scott. Scott was awesome (more on him to come); he is still a good friend. Scott also made wine as part of his senior comp and as the end of school neared there was a lot of wine to be drunk. Scott and I would sit around typing and drinking wine. Sometimes we'd bring along some cheese and crackers. Other times, we'd simply enjoy his homemade wine out of paper cups.

9. Living  at 424 Brooks Hall. Our sophomore room was awesome. We were blessed by the room-draw gods and pulled an excellent draw. We also found a student not planning to return in the fall and added her as our fourth roommate. We ended up with three people in a quad. And it was a spectacular quad. We had a huge loft, which is where I slept. We had a spare bed in our clothes closet. We had a separate dressing room. We also had great neighbors across the hall. They were two people living in a quad. Our room was better than theirs, but they had roof access and a great view. Several spring afternoons were spent on the roof of Brooks Hall enjoying the sunshine! We also had several fun parties in our room, and our floor RA was kind and generous and always willing to turn her eyes away from our shenanigans.

10. Spectating an intramural soccer game in the spring of our senior year. I went with Carla and Sarah and one of the best pictures of the three of us was taken that afternoon. I remember enjoying the weather and each other and the wine coolers we were drinking. Note: the wine coolers were in brown paper bags because we didn't want to get caught with open bottles. Anyways, following the soccer game we made our way to the pool and into the varsity team locker room. There we enjoyed a beer together and left our underclassmen teammates a message on the whiteboard. I have a picture of our whiteboard message and the beer bottles lined up on it. It was a great exclamation point on our lives at Allegheny, our swimming careers and our four years together.

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Bonus Memories...

Once one of my roommates had a crush on a math professor. At the end of our first semester, said professor sent an email to this roommate confirming when she was going to take his calculus final. The email read, I'll be waiting for you there (or something like that). My roommate was so excited about the email she printed it, cut it out, and taped it to the door of her room.

Sarah and Carla made a sign for me prior to me leaving for nationals our freshmen year that read: Do it for Gilbert! As in Gilbert Blyth from Anne of Green Gables.

Another one of my roommates mistakenly sent an email about a boy she was interested in to a boy from home she was technically still dating. The email was intended for a friend from home. It didn't get there. At the time, this was a terrible situation. Looking back on it, it was pretty funny.

My friend, Scott, got a puppy our sophomore year. He brought the little cutie to our dorm for us to meet her. And she pooped right in the middle of the Alumni Lounge!

Skunks spraying and mating in our backyard senior year.

One of my roommates had to write a book report on the book Beer Booze and Books. Surprisingly this book was not on the best sellers list.

Several of my roommates listened to a lot of rap music during college. There was a lot of Puff Daddy! There was also a lot of Santa Baby beginning the week of Thanksgiving through Christmas break.

The morning after my 21st birthday I woke up early to finish a take-home exam. The plan was to drive to the dining hall, grab a quick breakfast and coffee to go, and then camp out in the computer lab. Unfortunately it iced the night before and my car doors were frozen shut.