There’s No Such Thing as a “Bad” Decision

In the past year that I’ve run this blog, I’ve made some very… interesting decisions.  I’ve learned such vital life skills as how to use the campus bus system, what items to grab in the instance of a fire drill, and the importance of eating 3 meals (but not 4, as seen in my post about late night).  I’ve learned that kids can be some of the most vicious people in the world.  I’ve learned that I don’t need to take my phone everywhere, that I’m not destined to be the world’s next greatest chef, and that chem lab will forever be one of my worst enemies.  I’ve also learned that generosity can be found everywhere you look, from a kid on the corner with a can to engineering faculty who take time out of their weekend to teach Girl Scouts the joys of math and science.

You guys deserve a medal for reading through my blog posts all semester (even though you had to in order to get a good grade)

It’s crazy to me that my freshman year is almost over.  I used to feel like this tiny, scared freshman from a little town in Northwest, PA who was thrown into a crowd of 300 (and later 45,000) strangers who wondered how she’d ever survive.  I still feel like that sometimes.  But I also wouldn’t trade this year for a year anywhere else.  I’ve come to love the community and simultaneous anonymity that come with Penn State.  I love the football games, the atmosphere of the honors college, the countless friends and acquaintances I’ve made, THON.  Although some of my classes are kind of unbearable, I actually enjoy those too (sometimes).   I still don’t like the snow, but I’ve learned to deal with it (by buying cute winter boots of course).

At one point, I told myself I would never go to a school as big as Penn State.  One year later, and I don’t regret my decision one bit.  So if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my “Reverse Bucket List,” it’s to never say never.  I know that’s such a cliche thing to say (seriously, if The Fray have a song written about it, I think it’s definitely cliche), but I’ve learned a lot of valuable things through the mistakes and questionable decisions I’ve made during my freshman year.  I can say that I’ll “never” do them again, but I think it’s safe to say that I’ll never stop making bad decisions.  And that’s okay with me!  I’ve learned never to let the fear of making mistakes or making a fool of myself keep me from trying new things.  And that’s something I think is really important for any college student to learn.

So now let me ask you a question.  You’ve all spent the past semester reading my blog and my bad decisions so now I want to hear some of yours!  Comment below and tell me about one funny or unfortunate (probably funny now) incident that you’ve experienced this year!

3 thoughts on “There’s No Such Thing as a “Bad” Decision

  1. I liked that you ended your blog with asking us to post something unfortunate that happened to us in this past year! I guess I could say that the most unfortunate thing that happened to me, that I now find funny (due to my bad luck), happened at the beginning of my fall semester. I was driving back from a trip to visit my boyfriend at Scranton, when half a tire came flying at my car. I had to swerve around it in order to avoid a bad accident. Not five minute later, the same thing happened to me again. At this point I was so freaked out that I sped up a little bit because I did not want to be driving any more. Sadly, a cop noticed me and pulled me over. The funny thing? He was a state trooper and had he not been I would not have gotten a ticket, as I was only going 9 miles and hour above the speed limit in a 70. Ah, the memories. I can say I hope this never happens to me again.

  2. So my most unfortunate event actually just happened recently, Tuesday in fact. Typically I leave before my roommate in the morning because I have earlier classes than her, but this past Tuesday I was running late and she left earlier than normal so she left before me. I had run that morning so I went to go shower right before she left the room. Upon returning to my door I found that it was locked (force of habit for my roommate) and I was left standing outside in only a towel and shower shoes with my caddy, no key, and no phone. All of a sudden my worst nightmare of having to walk across campus to the commons almost completely naked was about to come true. I was in a panic when the cleaning lady came walking down the hallway. I explained to her the situation rapidly, and she was generous enough to run and get me a key to save me the embarrassment. Needless to say, I will never shower without my key again because with my luck next time the cleaning lady won’t be around to save me.

  3. Where do I even begin? Your posts have always been a great read and has provided me with some pretty relatable stories to my own unfortunate decisions. However, as you mentioned, without these mistakes, I probably would still be that awkward freshman that walked onto campus in August. From ridiculous conversations with friends, to simply getting caught with the flow of college life, my days are riddled with “mistakes” and “unfortunate” events. However, I don’t think we should see them as unfortunate. In many ways, I am lucky to have the ability to make these mistakes, because without them, how will we ever improve or have funny stories to tell our friends.

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