COLUMN: College life–isn’t it all just one big soap
Like the sands through the hourglass, so are the “Days of Our Lives.”
Sounds familiar I am sure. So many of us grew up having had our “Days” phase. And why not? I mean soap operas portray life as we all imagine it, don’t they? Beautiful people in beautiful places doing extraordinary things. True there are the baddies who like to ruin everyone else’s day, but that is real life, too.
Isn’t it?
And you cannot sit there and tell me that there is no drama at Utah State University.
After all, college is, in a lot of ways, just an extension of the whole high school game playing: “Does he like me?”
“Totally. He is going to ask you out this weekend.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I heard his roommate talking to this other guy in The Hub and he said that it was going to happen this weekend.”
“Oh my heck! What am I going to wear?”
And so it goes. One big soap.
And then there are the day-dreamers who sit in class wanting to be somewhere else, like say, “Paradise Falls” with all the “Bold and the Beautiful” people wondering why they are sitting in a trig class when there is only “One Life to Live.” Day in and day out, drifting to “Another World” while the professor rambles on about integers and postulates.
Of course there are those who follow the “Guiding Light” to the institute building to look for their eternal companion. They must not be deceived by “The Young and the Restless” who populate the campus with their immoral ways. In truth it is “Ryan’s Hope” to find that special girl who will be his “Loving” wife, and he will stop at nothing until he finds her. It is his dream to be able to walk into their “Dallas” home and ask that important question, “How are ‘All my Children?'”
But as the weather turns on and off like a switch, we keep trekking to class only to see ourselves in far off places. Even while in the anatomy class, it can be hard to focus. For that pre-med major it is all about the day when the dream job at “General Hospital” will open up. With a secure job, it would be time to buy that perfect bungalow over on “2000 Malibu Road” in “Santa Barbara.”
With Spring Break looming just around the corner, we are all looking forward to getting away to “Sunset Beach” where we hope to give in to our “Passions” and, failing that, at least come home with a new tattoo or naval ring.
But instead, we all sit here in our classrooms while “The Secret Storm” rages inside each of us, every one consumed with the “Search for Tomorrow.” Will we end up at “Port Charles” working at some seedy, little fish restaurant while trying to figure out how to get to “Knots Landing” to visit our rich relatives the “Titans.” Or will we end up in “Melrose Place” sipping designer water in a corner coffee shop talking with all of our important friends who wear nothing less than Armani?
No, we are students at USU and life is good. We endure the endless torments of the weather, the insufferable droning of our teachers and the relentless stack of homework. And on that full moon, we find ourselves in luck with the first date we have had in weeks.
We stand at the “Edge of Night” looking at “The City” from the top of Old Main Hill wondering if this really can be the culmination of our existence. And then we turn and kiss the person we are next to and realize we have become a True Aggie and there is NOTHING greater “As the World Turns.”
And like I said before, like the sands through the hourglass …
Justin Berry is working toward his second bachelor’s degree in theater performance. Comments can be sent to justinsb26@hotmail.com.