Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Support BG Falcon Media!
As part of BGSU's One Day fundraising effort, every dollar you contribute to Falcon Media will go directly to helping us continue to produce quality content. Every dollar helps. Donate here
The BG News
Follow us on social
BG24 Newscast
March 21, 2024

  • Visiting Author: Sheila Squillante
    Last week, the visiting author, Sheila Squillante, presented the art of creative non-fiction at BGSU. Last year, her memoir came out. From Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, Squillante visited BGSU, last week. Previously, she has published collections on poetry, but most recently, her memoir, All Things Edible, Random and Odd  was published in 2023. “I […]
  • Petrofiction Review: Oil on Water
    Here’s my review of Oil on Water by Helon Habila – a petrofiction novel which won The Commonwealth Prize and Caine Prize. For context, petrofiction stems from petroleum and fiction. A specific text that focuses on petroleum culture in political economics and environmental impact. Although Habila’s novel begins with a journalist investigating a kidnapping, the […]
Spring Housing Guide

Cynicism born out of whirlwind workloads

In high school, all my friends and I had a special tendency to dream: we would fantasize about the college education that awaited us beyond the walls of our “dreadfully boring” hallways.

Some were excited for the academia, some for the nerdy stuff, some for collegiate sports and others just for the partying. Everybody I knew who was college-bound had dreams of going completely independent at college and of going off to pursue their own interests. Myself? No different.

Personally, I was looking forward to studying my major and searching for unique extracurricular social groups and recreational organizations located on campus. I was also eager to go see local bands at Howard’s Club H, go meet new people, be an active part of The Chapman Community at Kohl and undergo a diet change.

But, before I came to campus in mid-August, I was focused on those things and those things only. During the first two weeks of class, I went to the Rec Center nearly twice a day, talked to a ton of new people and read books like a maniac.

Then, the homework finally hit.

The boatload of duties and obligations simply overwhelmed me (just like every other student on this campus), and to top it off, my developing philosophical views on life were challenged. Again.

However, in this incidence the challenger was not another human being looking to shove his or her self-righteous agenda in my face; it was my own mind. This time around, the mental debate was not limited to the confines of religious controversy; rather, it actually pertained to college life in general.

Namely, it focused on my general thoughts of: “Oh-my-jeez-this is not what I thought college would be like!”

When I say that I was surprised by college life, it’s not relating to the way-too-common freshman realization: “I have to do homework?

That sucks!”

My surprise is tied to the other way-too-common freshman realization: “Wow. I’m actually experiencing some noticeable feelings of pessimism about my life and my future. This sucks.”

Mmm-hmm. This is what life is. Every last one of the preconceived notions I had about college life (most of them positive), including all my philosophical views about consumer life in general, were dashed to the ground upon my entrance into college as a whiny freshman. Everything I thought I knew, though it was not necessarily proven false here at college, was not as profoundly deep as I had hoped.

Put simply, I finally came to the realization that I was truly just another diminutive cog in the infinitely colossal grandfather clock of human time on earth.

But don’t get me wrong; I’m not suffering from depression or anything related to it. Thankfully, these thought patterns are merely cynical thoughts relating to my human existence on earth and what I’m going to do with my life while I’m at the University.

Unfortunately, when I press fast-forward and zoom up to late January 2008, I still don’t have the answers to many of these questions (not very surprisingly, of course).

But the real question is this: why have such thoughts affected some of my friends in more serious ways than they have affected myself?

A handful of my personal friends here have claimed to experience feelings of regret, disassociation and even depression from time to time.

Although it affects some people more seriously than others (obviously, I was not hit supremely hard by such feelings of insignificance and utter confusion about life), everyone still experiences the detrimental effects of pessimistic philosophical thought at one point or another; such effects simply manifest themselves in different forms and affect people in differing ways.

Sometimes it seems like we just don’t have enough time to get projects and assignments completed. Sometimes we experience relationship problems, affecting our sleep patterns and our academic performance. And sometimes, we just don’t care about missing that 8:00 a.m. class because we’re all fried to the bone from staying up until 3:15 a.m. to study for our midterm exams.

If there is only one thing I can conclude about college life, then this is it: it is a 24/7 struggle to get things done on time. From all-nighters to finish those English papers, to blitzing from class-to-class through the bitter BG winter cold, to all-night cram sessions for upcoming math finals, college life (if taken seriously) is one big struggle to take care of things on time.

Hey, at least the homework helps us keep our minds off of the more, well, unpleasant stuff at college, right?

Hmm. Guess not. Well, there’s another question for the pile already accumulating in my head.

Speaking of which, I’ll see you all next week; I’ve got some mind cleaning to do.

Leave a Comment
Donate to BG Falcon Media
$825
$1500
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Bowling Green State University. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to BG Falcon Media
$825
$1500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All BG Falcon Media Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *