As the final days of college approach for us graduating seniors, the inevitable “what comes next” question looms in most of our sweet little hearts and heads. This time can be both overwhelming and exciting, as we cling to fleeting memories of these past years in Collegeland.

For some, anxiety about life after university has transformed into apathy, or just plain fear of uncertain plans.

Perhaps it’s the fear of a future spent sitting in a box outside of your parents’ residence, after refusing to move back into their home, but lacking the funds to rent an apartment. Maybe it’s a feeling of apprehension to continue applying to jobs after feeling constantly rejected, quickly losing the sense that you’re a very special snowflake.

But continuously worrying about whether these decisions are right in the eyes of others is simply unproductive.

One particularly dreary Winter Quarter morning I found myself at the breakfast table practically crying into my bowl of cereal, beginning to feel the pressure to live up to expectations of what I felt I should do after college. After being accepted to every journalism graduate school I applied to, I realized the financial costs and simply the need for a break from school were barriers to going straight to graduate school.

In a recent standard post-graduation conversation with a friend, the “what are you doing after graduation?” question came up. “Dinner” he quickly replied, then paused and corrected himself, “Oh, you mean what I’m going to do with my life?”

This refreshing response demonstrates an hour-by-hour, day-at-a-time approach to managing the possibly daunting post-college timeline.

I guess mostly I’ve been scared because for the first time in our lives we have this incredible choice to do whatever we want. There’s no certainty of going off to school for four years. There’s no marking in my planner comparable to “History 111B test” on Jan. 25 that says “you will receive job offer from blahblahblah” on June 17.

I’ve sometimes felt like I needed to be a lawyer or a doctor to preserve, and support, the rights of women that past generations fought so hard for. At the same time, I’ve come to accept that it’s not necessarily about what you choose to do with your life, but ultimately, that you have a choice in the first place. These are rights that were being taken away, not privileges, and it’s really best to not constantly question what we choose.

We need to make choices because they’re what are not only best for us, but that also allow us to attain a chunk of happiness.

Sometimes the hardest person to be kind to is oneself and as difficult as it may seem, we need to be generous to ourselves as we stumble into the real world.

So, as we bike off into the proverbial post-graduation sunset, let’s try not to worry so much about what lies beyond after darkness falls and uncertainty replaces that very sure sun that was college.

In a piece by author Augusten Burroughs, he writes about how our bones came from stars, meaning we are all made from recycled bits and pieces of the universe. He states that it’s important to consider that billions of years before we were students and mothers and dog trainers and priests, we were particles that would form into star after star after star until forever passed. Instead of a star, what formed was life: simplistic, crude, miraculous.

He writes that after another infinity, there we were. And this is why for us, anything is possible, because we are made out of everything.

Take comfort in the fact that it’s okay to be a little wistful – all of your experiences will remain a tiny bit a part of you – like the calcium in your bones that came from the stars.

Take comfort in the fact that what awaits you, beyond this sun, though it may not be definite, is a bigger and brighter future that beckons because you really are a special snowflake, or rather a special star.

ANGELA SWARTZ wants to thank all her lovely co-workers, and other kind humans, for a wonderful four years working at The Aggie. She can no longer be reached at city@theaggie.org, but at akswartz@ucdavis.edu.

I had a hard time thinking of what to write my outgoing editor in chief column about. Below is the thought process I went through.

Oh man, what should I write about for my last column of the year? So much has happened during my term. Town halls, pepper spraying, protests. This was a pretty important year for The Aggie — I should probably write about that.

Or I could write about the San Francisco Giants. Yeah, that would be easy. I can talk about the Giants for days on days on days. I do check my Twitter every five minutes for breaking Giants updates. I am a little obsessed.

No, Jason, get back to the topic at hand. You can use this space to divulge the cosmic truth of student journalism. Describe the leadership and flexibility needed to succeed in a struggling industry. Talk about the adversity you faced this year, being a 20-year-old running a $200,000 business.

I could talk about the Foo Fighters! Oh, man, I love me some Foo. Remember their concert you went to with your girlfriend? They tore the house down. You have to admit, screaming “Everlong” to close out the show was probably your favorite concert experience ever. They have a lot of influential songs that you can use to relate to your time in charge. “Times like These” is about looking past the struggles and stresses of a situation and finding the light at the end of the tunnel. That has some cosmic truthiness to it, doesn’t it?

I just remembered that concert was on Nov. 1! Oh, man, do I love that day so freaking much. It’s probably my favorite day of the year (non-holiday, and yes, I consider my birthday a holiday). Nov. 1, 2010 was probably the happiest I’ve ever been, no joke. Don’t believe me? I still have that game on my DVR at my apartment. Whenever I had a bad day — and there’ve been a good amount of those this year — I put it on and watch Edgar Renteria’s seventh-inning bomb, or Brian Wilson’s dirty cutter to close the game out. It always cheers me up.

OK, I need to focus. I should write about all the people that have helped me throughout the year. My dad, mom, sister and girlfriend listened to me complain about random crap throughout the year and only offered advice. My roommates would help me to relieve stress by playing basketball or raquetball or watching “Game of Thrones.”

Dude, “Game of Thrones” is a great show. HBO just knows how to make top-notch television. My friend from high school got me hooked on “The Wire,” too, so I watched all 60 episodes of the greatest show in the history of television (no joke) in the span of three months this year. Season five of “The Wire” is all about The Baltimore Sun and functions of a major newspaper; that’s relatable.

That would actually be a good column idea. I could write about how the skills I’ve learned this past year can translate to the real world. And by real world, I mean life outside of UC Davis. Yeah, that would be good. Like dealing with the Nov. 18 pepper spraying and managing its coverage? I’m sure I can think of a real-world translation for that.

I think I know what the problem is. There has been too much going on this year. I’ve gone through too much and gained too many experiences to fit into a 500-word column. I wouldn’t be able to do justice for what I’ve learned. As the great Ron Swanson says, “Don’t half-ass two things; whole-ass one thing.”

That’s what I’ll write about. I’ll tell my loyal reader(s) that there is no such thing as too much experience and if you have any opportunity to boost the resume, do it. That’s what college is all about, right? I think there’s some cosmic truth in that … I think … maybe …

Man, screw it, I’m just going to write about the Giants.

And that’s that for JASON ALPERT at The Aggie. It’s been fun, see y’all around.  

From daddy’s promise of that new two-seater to the comfort of having recently landed a real adult job, college graduation can be quite the cloud nine. Just as easily, the thought alone can be quite a nuisance. All it takes is that fear of getting your name butchered before you walk across the stage or the worry of finding a place to fit all those empty handles of alcohol memorabilia before your parents arrive to turn commencement into resentment.

Perhaps the unsure nature of it all is what causes these emotions. No one knows exactly how graduation day will pan out, yet everyone still imagines a plan — be it a bunch of baloney or not.

“I’m not looking forward to my mom’s face when she meets my boyfriend,” said Evelyn Larson, senior economics major. “She always frowned upon the idea of me having a boyfriend in college, and here we are, three years strong, and she has no idea that he exists.”

Larson hopes that her honors status, graduating with a reputable 3.6 GPA, will outweigh her surprise boyfriend. She plans on attending an early breakfast with her mom that morning, feathering her mom’s mood by reminding her of what a smart, beautiful and hardworking daughter she has.

“I hope some good food and a talk reminding her of how ‘I couldn’t have done this without you’ will be good enough preparation for what I’m going to drop on her when we get to the ceremony,” Larson said. “I think I’ll first introduce him as a good friend, and hopefully she’ll get the point. I hope she gets the point.”

Luckily for senior English major Matthew Hunt, his girlfriend and parents are already well acquainted.

“I don’t know if I’m looking forward to graduation as much as I am the day before when my mom, dad and girl get out here from Fresno,” Hunt said. “I haven’t seen them all in a few months. Hopefully my graduating will be the perfect reunion.”

After the commencement ceremony, Hunt plans to attend dinner with the three of them at a nice restaurant in downtown Davis or Sacramento, right before he ditches his parents for an intimate sunset with his girlfriend at the UC Davis Arboretum.

“Graduation is a big thing for me,” Hunt said. “That time at the Arboretum will hopefully be a time where my girl and I can reflect on our two years together as well as an opportunity for me to confide in her my emotions about closing this chapter in my life. It’s still very surreal now, but I believe at that moment I’ll be able to put this whirlwind called college into better perspective.”

But while some graduates relish in having etched out intimate plans, others are viewing graduation as yet another (perhaps final) opportunity to rage with their friends.

Joshua Dicini, a senior international relations major, said he could do all the retrospective stuff later. On graduation day, he’s trying to keep the party going.

“I don’t envision myself getting all emotional,” Dicini said. “I’ll probably wake up to my housemate Joey – who is also graduating – asking me how much water to put in the iron, since four years of college still hasn’t taught the kid anything. I know I’ll miss stuff like that later, so in that moment, everything is going to be appreciated.”

For Dicini, that same old song every high school kid was told came true: the friends he made in college will be his friends for the rest of his life. But he realizes things will never be the same as in undergraduate years, so graduation day and night will hold as his pre-nostalgic bash.

“My parents will be staying for a day or two after graduation, so I don’t think it’ll be a big deal if after the ceremony I want to have a few drinks and hit a few bars with my friends,” Dicini said. “Graduation day will be filled with laughs and frivolity; nothing productive, but just raw fun and celebration. My friends and I are going to live like freshmen once more.”

Larson has an inkling that one of her good friends might be throwing her a surprise graduation party.

“One of my younger friends, Tiffany, has been constantly asking me about my plans for graduation day from like start to finish,” Larson said. “It’s like she’s trying to find an empty slot or something. As much as I need to focus on this whole boyfriend thing, I would be stoked about a surprise party. I envision everyone in Davis who I care about to be there. That would be an awesome way to go out.”

While surrounding plans and circumstances may be altered, there is one thing that will surely occur during this spring’s graduation ceremony: graduation itself.

“The one thing that is certain about how that day will go is that my undergraduate career will be over,” Hunt said. “The word ‘over’ never gave me such mixed, ambiguous feelings before. It’s the same feeling I had when graduating from high school and going to college, except I’m in such a different place now. I wonder when will be the next time I’ll have this feeling.”

ISAIAH SHELTON can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Two weeks away from graduating, a few of my friends and I decided to re-live our middle school days and have a campout in someone’s backyard. It was a little bit different without parental supervision, free as we were to experiment (in true 8-year-old style) with lighter fluid as we figured out how to light the grill, and to accompany our s’mores with cold beers. “Never have I ever” was more of an attack against one another for the embarrassing things we’ve done than a getting-to-know-you game, and we changed our clothes without the discomfort of hiding newly budding breasts.

When my friends decided to put a scary movie on, I begrudgingly agreed, and then spent the next two hours complaining about it. When the internet froze with 30 minutes left to go, I let out a sigh of relief. We exchanged some snippy words and then a few laughs and we all drifted off to sleep. I awoke in a state of panic, still needing to write this column — that I had no idea how to write — and in an obnoxious flurry of stress I fled the house.

How do you sum up the best four years of your life in a few hundred words? I thought about writing this column in so many ways: giving advice, sharing what I’ve learned or reflecting on my experiences. But I realized as I was driving home that all I really wanted to write about was my friends.

My friends are the friends that I know will ignore me when I yell at them at 3 a.m. for making me watch a scary movie, and then laugh at me when we wake up. They’re the friends that will make fun of me relentlessly when I pronounce “Snooki” wrong and proclaim that the Super Bowl is a day to eat bagels, so that I no longer repeat such travesties. For the last four years, my friends have been my family, and they’ve taught me what it really means to live with no regrets.

Before there was YOLO, I was bombarded most nights of the weekend with “you can sleep when you’re dead” or “the night is young and so are we.” I was never allowed to sulk in self-pity for my “over-packed schedule” (was I serious, sophomore self?) and every night had to be accompanied by a theme. There were Arabian fiestas, old-school kickbacks and living room forts. We threw surprise parties that never remained surprises for long, and started a dance party wherever a dance party could be started.

But the best nights were the ones spent in our living room for hours on end, watching YouTube videos, making fun of lame Facebook statuses or harping on stupid comments by inept politicians. We talked about the Middle East, the future of antibiotics and gay marriage. We shared what we learned in our classes and challenged each other on our views on race, sex and religion.

My friends are world travelers and Davis-enthusiasts, comedians and good Samaritans, academics and completely crazy. They’ve proved me wrong when I told them their ideas were impossible, showing me how to dream big and go hard. They’ve taught me to go with the flow, to take chances and to let go of the little things. They’ve both let me be myself and helped me to become exactly who I want to be.

So why should you care?

I tell you all this because college is so much more than your classes or your internships or the diploma you’ll get at the end of it all. College is about finding yourself and consciously molding yourself into the person you always wished you were — and friends are a big part of that. Find friends that will push you out of your comfort zone, but make you feel comfortable doing it. Seek out people who complement you – who bring out the qualities you lack but wish to have, or have, but that lie latent after the stifling pressures of your high school years – and you’ll find you’ll begin to feel more complete.

And when you do, leaving college will feel a little less scary because you’ll know you’ve gotten everything out of it that you possibly could have, that you’ve conquered it all and you can’t fail; and if you do, it won’t hurt quite so bad because at the end of the day you’ll know that you’ll always have your friends.

MELISSA FREEMAN can only offer her perspective. Tell her what you’ve gotten most out of college at mnfreeman@ucdavis.edu.

We all have those friends who flaunt their “free time” at us, claiming they never go to class and still manage to maintain a competitive grade-point average. As you examine the dent in your nose from falling asleep on your textbook, that soon-to-be-enemy-of-a-friend thumbs his or her perfectly undented nose right back.

It is quite the mystery how these oversleeping, bright-faced know-it-alls successfully complete college by attending a fraction of their lectures.

What’s most surprising about these students is that they are not at all shy about admitting their tricks of this special academic trade.

“I have literally only gone to [Nutrition 10 once] before the midterm. I got an A. Not only do they tell you everything on the exam, but they also don’t change tests year to year and section to section. Teachers don’t really teach you. They put everything on a PowerPoint,” said Antonia McKee, a sophomore sociology major.

Maureen Clemons, a sophomore human development major, noted that her method is a selective one, where she will only attend lecture if the professor does not have sufficient slides or if a participation grade is involved.

“Many people have realized that you can review certain professors’ material post-lecture, and therefore refrain from attending lecture altogether. There are the rare cases, though, where the professor simply speaks from his own notes the entire time or grades participation. I will attend in such instances,” Clemons said.

Those who are simply content with practicing diligent study habits – attending class, doing the reading, visiting office hours – find issues with their peers’ techniques.

“I just don’t get it! He’s an honors student and yet he goes out on the weekends, has a good time, and still gets good grades. Wow, how is that possible?” said Aarti Sharma, a sophomore mathematics major, in regards to another student.

Some teachers support, but maybe don’t condone, the type of student who can skip class and keep up.

“I don’t think it’s easy to get a good grade without attending class but those data are hard to come by. I am completely OK with anyone who can get a good grade without attending class,” said Sharon Strauss, an evolution and ecology professor, in an e-mail interview.

Her opinion may be in the minority, as some professors make it a point to conduct lecture such that participation is necessary, not optional.

“Most students attend regularly because I emphasize at the beginning of the quarter that they will need to in order to succeed in the class. It is absolutely not possible to get a good grade in my class without attending lecture,” said Seeta Chaganti, associate English professor, in an e-mail interview.

Distinguished statistics professor George Roussas maintained that the student-teacher relationship offers intellectual benefits otherwise forfeited by those who do not frequently attend both lecture and discussion sections.

“It takes interaction with the instructor to explain the fine points; a student may have great difficulty in doing it alone. Furthermore, discussing exam questions requires thinking, which students regularly attending classes acquire. The same may not be argued for not regularly attending students,” said Roussas in an e-mail interview.

Hannah Kearney, a first-year materials science and engineering major, found this to be true when her roommate, after not attending her Spanish class since the first week of school, fell behind and missed assignments only presented in class.

Kearney expressed concern when she noticed her roommate was in their room from noon to 6 p.m. instead of attending scheduled lectures.

“I was baffled. And it’s not like you can get away with not attending those classes. She is graded on participation and has in more than one instance not known about certain homeworks,” Kearney said.

All three professors have found that more students are present on days of examination than on any other day of class.

“I guess it’s inevitable, but there are generally no more than one or two students (out of classes of 70-120) whom I haven’t seen all quarter and only see at the final,” Chaganti said.

Strauss claims that if the class is scheduled early (before 9 a.m.), many students fail to attend. When thinking about how to remedy this problem, she said there isn’t a perfect solution.

“In an anonymous survey, I would have to ask students to report accurately both their class attendance and their expected grade,” Strauss said. “Perhaps classes with clicker questions could evaluate this relationship; however, classes with clicker questions tend to have better attendance, so they would be a biased sample.”

CHELSEA MEHRA can be reached at features@theaggie.org.