CODEN

UPEL STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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rebecca SHORTEN

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Another winter has come and gone. ‘Bout time isn't it? I know I'm getting sick of the snow. While I wasn't busy cursing at the fact that I've still got a drift, which no longer supports weight, in my driveway, I spent a bit of time reflecting on the school year.

I was going to write an article on the best and worst of 03/04, but I stumbled out of the gate for a simple reason - more than my average fre- quency of celebrations over the past semester have left a greater-than-usual number of memories faded (regrettably, too much of those blanks cen- tered in calculus -- what's the derivative of — sin(cos(x)) again?), so any "best" sam- pling would most definitely be heavily tainted. So I guess the list is simple. The fact that I enjoyed myself more is my "best of 03/04."

Everyone's bound to have at least one year at uni- versity where they let it hap- pen to them. Maybe it's by accident or maybe it's sadisti- cally intentional. Either way, as long as you come out the other side safe and without

having caused irreparable

damage to anything important —

(ie. relationships, credit rat-

ings, grades, etc.), why not? I've heard more than one pro- fessor tell me this year that "grades will only get you so far," "grades might get you your first job if you're lucky," or "only the exceptional mat- ters -- the exceptionally good

or the exceptionally bad." The

moral: you're only young once. Don't invest ALL your time in building your future. Waste some of it having some fun and rounding yourself out.

In five years I doubt I'm going to remember much from most of the classes I've had this semester. Actually, I'll be happy if I can remember the class material for two more weeks without going nuts first (I've begun waking up in a cold sweat hearing the echo of calculus derivative rules being listed from my sleep). Not that all these core courses weren't stimulating, thought provok- ing, and/or enlightening, but

they're never going to stand out as the highlight of the year.

Seriously though, I've seen it proven more and more lately that grades aren't the be- all and end-all of what one should hope to achieve in uni- versity. Proving oneself aca- demically is important but par-

UPEI Cadre April 5, 2004 page 2

ticipating in a diversity of activities and growing as a person, becoming a full- fledged and/or more well rounded adult, and seeing what's available in the world are equally as important facets of university, if not more so.

Bottom line? Study, but also eat, drink and be merry — for tomorrow, who knows?

Worst? Through the fog that is my memory, one thing stands consistent - the weather blew (groan). Between the sheer amount of snow that fell, the never-ending winds which played "the shifting dunes" across my yard all season, the bitterness in the house, and the sting of the bill for electric heat, a hectic schedule was made absolutely miserable. The possibility that this "worst of 03/04" may have been the cause of much merriment and thus my "best" is actually quite likely, a testament I'm sure a number of others could attest to as well.

So I leave you all with this: study hard, but not too hard. Good luck on exams and have some fun, but be careful. And don't do anything I wouldn't do - which pretty much leaves the door wide open.