Well, this is it. The last Cadre of the 2004-05 school year. For some of you this will be an emotional moment as you ponder this, your final year here at UPEI and how it has compared to your first 4 (or 5. or 6. or 8.) years here. For others it will be an opportunity to look at the past year of challenges faced and victories won. Of highs and lows and in-betweens. For still others you will be thinking “Shut the hell up Ryan. I hate you.”
Point taken.
What I learned this year at UPEI:
- I learned this year that the sole duty of some workers in Kelley Building seems to be standing outside and smoking 7 out of 8 hours every day.
- That being incredibly stupid is an asset, especially if you happen to work for Magic 93.
- That climbing over buildings instead of walking around them, while a time-saver, is also probably not the best idea, and when drunk, is at least twice as hazardous.
- I learned through word-of-mouth that jumping through windows at the Legion is neither as enjoyable nor as rewarding as it may at first seem.
- I learned that Backstreet’s back and that puking is not restricted to the sick.
- That renovating a building can take longer than it does to build another one twice its size, and that the most important part of a renovation project is to ensure that noise and inconvenience always takes precedence over doing actual work.
- I learned that high school students are at least 10x stupider than when I was there. And they’re getting worse. I learned that I can come up with at least a dozen ways to stop them from throwing snowballs at restaurants. I learned that most of these were illegal.
- I learned that acting as a sledding ramp does not work and can be tremendously painful.
- That many students feel that getting to class on time is more important than crossing University Avenue at the crosswalk, like a sane individual.
- That only through ignorance do we hate. I hate the French language.
- I learned that as much as I often resented Moron’s when it was open, since it closed I now have a pain in my stomach telling me that something inside me has died. Either that or I have an ulcer.
- I learned this year that the UPEI Student Union is corrupt and full of power-hungry individuals who care about nothing more than screwing with the lives of all students. Either that or someone has an over-active imagination.
- I learned that raising awareness about pedestrian safety by pretending to get hit by a car and laying on University Avenue for half an hour and getting hauled off by an ambulance pisses people off.
- I learned that complaining about tuition, parking, George W. Bush, the weather, etc. pisses people off.
- I learned that using an ‘R’ with a little circle around it as a representation of your signature pisses people off.
- I learned that no matter how well-intentioned your actions, no matter how hard you try, someone somewhere will get pissed off at you for not doing enough. Or for doing too much.
- I learned that I no longer care.
- I learned that I can go to a class for 3 hours a week for 4 months and not learn a damn thing.
- That an all-nighter and some quality bullshit often yields the best papers. That hard work pays off later; sometimes, procrastination pays off now; always.
- That “It is better to do little well than a great deal badly.” (Socrates). While this may be true, I learned that I am much better at the latter.
- I learned that it won’t be the failed exams or that book you didn’t read or the 8:30 classes that we’ll remember, but rather, Trivia Wednesdays and Fajita Fridays. Those random friends you made on that Pub Crawl. Those idiot car-parkers they made fun of in The Cadre. The night class they cancelled because everyone was too drunk. That jerk that kept on shutting off the lights in the bathroom, the crush in your class, or the people that just made you smile, like that kid that jumped off the Library.
And so, with all we’ve learned, and as we leave our school for another year, perhaps this time forever, let us remember to embrace the good times, to learn from the bad, and whenever possible, to raise a glass in celebration of another year gone, another course earned, and another summer break in the company of friends.
Have a good one!
