Resolutions for a senior's final days

Sixty-four days until graduation. Yes, I counted them. Sorry to all the seniors for putting it so bluntly, but the numbers do not lie. I don't know about you, but the mere sight of that number is enough to make me queasy. It's almost frightening how fast these three years have gone by, even after all of the countless dinners at Lower, the club meetings, final exams, and football games.

Usually, when haunted by the fearsome specter of graduation, I force my mind to block out all thoughts of warm May afternoons, mortarboards, black gowns, and pristinely landscaped campus gardens. Humming songs at the top of my lungs tends to help, as does thinking about the huge paper I have to finish before next week. I suspect that many seniors have similar rituals to remove all thought of the "g-word" from their minds until that date in mid-May.

Well, friends, I'd like to announce that I'm turning over a new leaf. Despite all my attempts to avoid it, the simple reality remains: I will be graduating in 64 days. Sure, I can labor under the notion that there are only 64 days left, or I can envision 64 new chances to make my BC experience above and beyond what I could have imagined. Sixty-four chances to meet a new friend, 64 opportunities to discover a new corner of campus, and 64 sunsets over Bapst library.

At the beginning of this year, I made a list of resolutions, designed to ensure that I truly lived out my remaining time at BC to the fullest. Some I have forgotten, but others I've kept. I present some to you now as a senior with only 64 days left to make the most of all that BC has to offer. Here it is:

1. Get to know freshmen. I can check this one off my list, as having gone on 48Hours and participating in 4Boston has allowed me to meet some wonderful freshmen. Class of 2011, I salute you.

2. Take a class in a new department. Check this one off, too. The PULSE elective I took in the fall was one of my best academic experiences at BC.

3. Explore Boston. I started this list off strong, but this is the point where my intention does not exactly translate to action. Maybe it's laziness on my part, but I have no idea why I never make the time to explore this city, which has so much to offer. Fortunately, I have 64 whole days in which to soak it all in.

4. Get involved in something different. A friend of mine, while she was an undergrad here, made a vow to participate in one activity each year that was different from anything else she had done in the past. How many Kairos retreats are left?

5. Go to events. How many times have I seen a flier, told myself that the lecture looked worthwhile, but never bothered to go? I won't be in too many environments that provide these events once I graduate, so this resolution is still on my list.

6. Get to know a professor. Although I wish I had sought out more professors throughout my years here, I have been fascinated by the lives of those that I have gotten to know. I have come to two conclusions inconceivable to the average student: They don't bite, and, believe it or not, they do have lives outside of school.

7. Appreciate my friends. Although I know my friends well, I do not know how much time I will have with them after graduation. I plan on having many long conversations solely to appreciate what makes each person I've met here so unique and such an integral part of my BC experience.

8. Graduate with no regrets. College is too short to wish I had done something more, or had different friends, or to obsess over not being able to do what I had hoped.

So regardless of whether I complete this list in the next 64 days, I hope above all else that I leave BC with fond memories, a lasting perspective, and wonderful friends that will leave me just as eager and enthusiastic at the end of my BC career as I was at the beginning.