The sun is setting on my time at KU, hence the photo. As a senior graduating in about 10 extremely short weeks, I’ve started making a mental list of the things I want to do on campus/in Lawrence before my time here is up. It’s time for my mental list to become a posted-online list. I won’t call this “the top 7 things” because everyone has different thoughts on what the best things to do would be, but these are pretty standard KU/college in general things to cross off your bucket list, so you might find a few you’d be interested to join me in. In no particular order—just as I remember them:
– Eat lunch at The Wagon Wheel Cafe. That seems totally normal, and so many people have gone to lunch at The Wheel, but I never have. Wang burgers are monumental, I hear. The guys on SportsCenter are fascinated by them. Apparently, when the men’s basketball team used to beat teams by 50 or more points, The Wheel would give out free burgers the next day. That sounds awesome. I don’t know if they still do it because we haven’t won by 50+ in a while, but there’s still hope. You better believe if that happens this season, that’s the day I’ll be there, and you should be, too. Since that’s pretty unlikely, seeing as this is grind time for our team and every other NCAA Division I team, I’ll probably hit it up some sunny afternoon in the spring. Just as good, right?
– Drink alcohol in class. At first I thought I just wanted to drink on campus, but I did that during football season a time or two. Oops. This one I think is pretty easy. Lots of people have done it. Just mix up something delicious, and put it in a water bottle. If you’re really brave, mix it right on campus. No one will see you whip your flask out in The Underground at lunch, so grab a fountain drink from there or a juice from the Hawk Shop or whatever, and mix it on up. Then causally sip during your next lecture, and slowly let that teacher you’ve never listened to anyway fade away.
– Take a dip in the Chi-O fountain. Maybe I secretly want to be Greek. I think the Greeksters do everything I’ve mentioned like, multiple times a week. At least they do in the spring. Don’t they?
– Blatantly leave class early. That sounds rude, and I honestly kind of hate when people do it, but doesn’t it just make everyone in the room so jealous? Sometimes you’ve just had too much of a boring lecture, and it’s time to go. Especially when that class is eating into your lunch hour. Not that I have a particular class in mind or anything… Anyway, I’m just one of those people who always follows the status quo. I don’t often go against the grain or draw attention to myself, so I haven’t really done anything like this. This bucket list item would be best done in a defiant way if you really want to make it count. I probably don’t, so I’ll just sneak out in the most graceful way possible, which will probably mean I’ll be stumbling over people’s knees and tripping on backpacks on my way down the row. Oh well. Doing it big.
– Have a drink at every bar in Lawrence. My friends and I have already written this one down, so sorry for two-timing on my “mental” list, but do you realize how many bars there actually are in Lawrence? So many. Like 70 something, I think. We have a spreadsheet with them all listed. You’re (more than) aware of the main bars, like the ones in the student ghetto or on Mass—Louise’s, The Hawk, The Sandbar, The Bull, etc.—but have you heard of Crimson and Brews or Conroy’s? Yeah, me either until this bar challenge thing. The rule is just that you have to have one drink. Walking in and out doesn’t count. Paying cover, hanging out for a while and then leaving doesn’t count. I don’t know why you’d do that anyway, but it’s not allowed. Order a drink, drink it, and then you can do whatever you want. Leave, have another, have many others with strangers, whatever. Your choice. You’re one step closer to completing the challenge. Good work.
– Speaking of drinking with strangers… Buy a drink for a stranger (read: strange guy; sorry strange girls). I probably should have done this before, like most of the things on this list. I’m a late bloomer, I guess? Anyway, it’s kind of like repaying all the men out there who have spent countless dollars on us, forever failing to impress us even with their sorta cute outfits and almost smooth greetings. I’ll probably end up as nervous as they usually are when I finally purchase a drink for a stranger. Let’s be honest; it’s kind of an awkward interaction, especially if it’s early in the evening and the liquid courage isn’t yet flowing like it should. This one will probably be easier and more effective for girls who aren’t in a serious relationship like I am, but I think I’ll explain my motive to my boyfriend beforehand, and he’ll appreciate that I just want to pay back the lesser gender with a simple act of kindness. Single ladies, live it up, Sadie Hawkins style for almost-grown-ups.
– Walk through the Campanile. Obviously, I never have because that would be horrible luck, and this is really the culmination of all things KU, so how could I not? I mean, I AM going to graduate, and so are you, so you’ll be in this same boat. It would be weird to walk around it while all my friends walk through it. I don’t want to be weird. So I’ll do this, the final thing on my list, as the final thing on my list… because that’s how the timing works out. Can’t really squeeze much else in between walking through the Campanile and actually graduating. I guess I could run over to the fountain after walking through the Campanile and before walking down the hill, but that would be weird. And like I said, I don’t want to be weird… and I really don’t want to get my hair wet on graduation day.
So there’s that. I’ll probably think of more as my last 10 weeks play out.
What’s on your KU bucket list? What should I add to mine?