It’s hard to believe that I’m finally in my senior year! It still feels like just yesterday I wrote my first blog post as a timid freshman. Now I’ve made two films, sung at Carnegie Hall, lived in Vietnam for a month, made some lifelong friends, spent great time with them in Chicago and LA, and overall made memories I’ll always carry with me. But my time at Oberlin is not over yet! I still have two more semesters to live it up. So here’s my senior year bucket list of things I aim to do before I walk in my cap and gown!
1. Live in a co-op ✔
My first bucket list item I’ve already completed: live in a co-op! I’ve already dined in a co-op, but this will be my first time doing co-op housing, something I’ve thought about since one of my freshman friends told me that one of the reasons he chose to go to Oberlin was for the co-ops. I felt like it was something I would have to be a part of eventually. Last year I was with Brown Bag, but this time I wanted to go full in and live in a co-op as well. Now I’m living in Keep and so far I LOVE it. The meals are delicious, cooking is so much fun, the building’s adorable, and everyone is so friendly. If you’re coming to Oberlin and worried about making friends as a freshman, try out a co-op. You’ll have a whole community instantly.
2. Go to every building on campus
Even though Oberlin is a small campus, it has a LOT of buildings. I honestly think it might have more than a lot of colleges, because many colleges have big buildings to go along with their big campuses that level out to only a few main spaces. Oberlin, on the other hand, has a plethora of relatively small buildings new and old that each house something unique. We have our co-op houses, dorms for different identities such as Asia House and Africana House, and buildings for different departments, such as Severance for Psych. I feel like every year I learn of a new building I’ve never heard of. How can I call myself a fourth-year if I haven’t traversed them all?! I’m gonna print out the same map of campus I was given during my freshman orientation and check off each building I’ve set foot in.
3. Take vocal lessons!
Ever since I got to Oberlin I’ve made sure to get involved with the amazing opportunities everyone, not just the Con students, have, to engage and expand their love (or beginnings!) with music. I have had some wonderful experiences singing with Musical Union and learning to play the viola da gamba over Winter Term, but I really wanted to take full advantage of the doors open to me to work on my instrument of choice: my voice. Even though I’ve been singing my whole life, I’ve always been in ensembles and quite shy about singing on my own. With the Con housing world-class voice professors and students, I had to look my fear in the face and say, “Hey, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. How can you not take it?” By taking secondary lessons with a student teacher, this year I hope to really grow my confidence and hone my skills in my tone, projection, and style. I particularly want to take jazz voice lessons because I always love attending the Jazz Ensemble performances, and what a treat it would be to learn from some of the singers I’ve heard on stage! Also, when I told a fellow Musical Union member about it, she commented on how voice lessons will never be as cheap as they are in college, and she’s totally right. Also, when will I have the free time to do voice lessons again? It’s an opportunity I just can’t pass up.
4. Dance, dance, dance!
This bullet point is both literal and metaphorical. Last year I saw the dance department’s Spring Back performance and thought okay, this is kind of awesome. How can I join? Fortunately, there are many dance related excos for beginners like me, so this semester I’m taking FosseCo to stretch out my limbs and get in the groove. But really this is related to the idea that I just want to let myself have FUN! This may be the last time all of my friends are in one place, that I can go to free events almost every single day, and that I don’t have to worry as much about work and bills and yada yada yada, so I want to try and not to take things too seriously, to go to whatever piques my interest even if I’m tired or apprehensive, and to enjoy the unique, awesome experience that is college.
If you’re thinking about going to Oberlin and have a bucket list for your college experience, comment it down below! I’d love to hear :)
