Time well spent (let’s go to Canada)

While I was jumping through hoops for one of my 50 college applications as a senior in high school, I was asked how I was going to spend my time in college. I hadn’t come up with an answer by the time the essay was due, so I went to the sole source of all things right and true in the universe – the Internet – and searched “how to write a college essay.”

I was never happy with it, but here I am at IU.

For the first time since, the question came back to me last weekend. But this time the answer came easily.

As a result of a decision three others and I made last Wednesday afternoon, we took off last Thursday night to begin an 11-hour journey to Toronto for its annual international film festival. We skipped classes and their assignments to make the pilgrimage we film snobs have been talking about making since we met each other.

Once there, we saw so many films that even us film junkies began to get fatigued. In one movie, all of us even fell asleep in the theater, snoring while the producers sat behind us. In my defense, all music and most sounds were absent in that particular indie flick. That was kind of awkward when the lights came back on, but can you blame us? The drinking age is 19 there and the movie started at noon.

By the time we were waiting in line for the last movie, only one person had a working phone – the others were either juiced out or stolen by a cabbie. By the way, even while they steal from you, Canadians are very polite.

As we’re standing there in line thinking about the trip home and the class work that awaited us, we began to lament one another’s workload. Suddenly, this woman in line in front of us turned and asked me, “How do you Americans spend your time at college?”

There it was again, that same question, albeit with a more condescending tone. I stared at my friend’s iPhone for a second, thinking “Oh God, looks like I need the Internet again.” But, while looking at him for a second and realizing where I was, I just smiled and looked right back at the woman.

I told her: “When you’re old and wrinkly and your grandkids are sitting on your lap, what do you want your first thought about college to be? For me, if the first thought that comes to mind is my GPA or some M118 class I’m missing taught by a professor with too many turtlenecks, then I’ve wasted my time.”

She looked confused – probably because of the M118 comment. Then I said, “But hopefully, with a bit of spontaneity, what’ll come to mind are all the cool people I met and all the good times we shared.”

Welcome back, everyone. Let’s not have a square year.