All year, my friends and I have adopted an attitude towards guys/clothes/life that we privately refer to as “senior comfort.” I recently discovered that we’re not the only ones who’ve come up with this–there’s a similar term floating around the Ivy Leagues known as “swug” or “senior washed up girl.” Essentially, the concept is this: despite the various demands–real or imagined–that society may be placing on us as almost-Real Adult women (to, say, wear classy outfits or “have post-grad plans”) we’re kind of just doing whatever we want. If we want to wear sweatpants to the Cove, eat goat cheese straight from the package, or stay in watching our O.C. boxset instead of putting on a cute party dress, then we’re going to do it because it’s senior year and judgment be damned. In honor of senior comfort/swug life–and with the school year wrapping up– I decided to make a list of the top 5 things societally occasionally pressures me to care about that are simply not happening during my last few IDGAF weeks of college.
1. Fake Tanner
I’m a half scotch-Irish, half-Swedish, fully pale white girl. After 4 months of sun-less 25 degree weather you expect me to emerge from my dorm room looking like an Italian supermodel? Nope, sorry, not happening. I’ve made peace with my ghostly pallor and subsequent burn lines, and so can you.
2. Fake Emotions
I’m not going to smile when I don’t feel like smiling. And I’m definitelgoing to cry when I feel like crying. If that means openly tearing up while I read graduation emails or when my freshman year “dance party” playlist comes up on shuffle, then so be it. YOSO.
3. Looking Cute
Sure, I may pull out all the stops (read: put on a tank top) from time to time if I feel like it, but at this point just leaving my room before noon in some semblance of an outfit is an accomplishment. I could spend 20 minutes carefully drying my hair/putting on makeup/choosing the perfect accesories, or I could arrive at Peirce right before the lunch rush for my first meal of the day. The choice is clear.
4. Real Wine
I may or may not have been mocked at ar ecent dinner party for not knowing how to use a cork screw, but you know what? Franzia is cheap, you can buy a lot of it at once, and it pretty much accomplishes the same thing. Same goes for buying 5 dollar bottles in bulk or just buying cheap vodka and mixing it with cranberry juice, freshman year style. Show me a 20 dollar bottle of wine that can keep an entire party stocked in booze, and I will happily come around to your “adult” ways.
5. Real Life
What’s that? You think I should be looking for a job? I would, but it’s really nice out and I’ve had “reading outside on a picnic blanket with my best friend” on my senior bucket list for ages. And we have to do it at least 10 times or it doesn’t count.