Junior and Senior Red Foxes, we’re officially old. After four years of being a Marist student, campus is more of a second home than a place of education. Our time as college students is, depressingly, coming to a close, but it’s not over yet. We’re upperclassmen, so we finally get the perks we’ve been dreaming about since our dorm days:
1. We know our way around.
We’re past the days of decoding the abbreviations for every academic building and asking directions to anyone who is kind enough to provide them. No more sprinting through campus to make it to your class in Dyson, because you innocently thought DY stood for Donnelley, which is cruelly on the complete opposite side of campus.
2. Off-campus living
At this point, you’re either living off-campus or in upperclassmen housing on the wet side of campus. You can finally have a single room, blast your music as loud as your neighbors will tolerate, and have a bottle of wine in your mini fridge for those stressful days that are bound to happen.
3. Most of your classes are in the same building.
As a fourth year Comm major, I may as well pitch a tent in the basement of LT. I’m there half the day anyway…
4. Skip the lines
The crowded Poughkeepsie night-life is no longer on our list of worries. We’re finally old enough to have the privilege of going straight to Mahoney’s, rather than waiting an hour in the Darby’s line just to be denied because it’s too packed.
5. Who are all these people?
You’re beginning to recognize less and less faces during your daily strolls through campus. That’s because 75% or more of the student body is younger than us, and the upperclassmen we befriended as freshmen and sophomores are now graduates. On the other hand, at least the same people start showing up in our classes as we delve deeper into our majors.
6. We’re practically Pocals.
Alright, that might be an exaggeration, but we definitely know this city like the back of our hands. We could probably walk home from the bars if we wanted to, although I don’t advise that anyone try that.
7. Priority Points are insignificant.
We’re going to sports games, campus events and joining clubs for no other reason then because we want to. Plus, we now realize that we were previously bribed to be well rounded, academically, athletically and socially involved students when Priority Points were a thing. Well played, Marist.
8. Cab rides are just as fun as the party we’re going to.
We all have that one driver that has been with us since day one. At this point, several taxi numbers should be on speed dial and the drivers know us by name. TBH, I’ll be severely disappointed if Phatz isn’t at our graduation in May.
9. Introductions are emotional.
“What grade are you?” I’m a …*tears* …senior.
10. We know and/or lived in OLD Gartland.
OK, so New Gartland is insanely nice. Sure, it’s practically a five-star hotel, but will incoming students ever know what it was like to share a 10X10 space with five other people!? Will they ever learn how to share one bathroom among six girls, a bathroom that rarely had warm water and probably flooded every time the shower was on? I didn’t think so. (R.I.P. Gartland)
11. First Backstreet, now P-Ridge!?
Underclassmen will never experience the beer pong tournaments and $5 pitchers of seriously water-downed beer that is the legacy of Backstreet. And who’s Gia? Sorry girl, but P-Ridge will always and forever be our favorite drunk-eats destination. I am genuinely sorry for the freshmen and sophomores who are missing out on these infamous Poughkeepsie entities.
12. The countdown sign in Donnelley is suddenly relevant.
I used to disregard the sign, but now it stands as a constant reminder that I will not be a Red Fox forever. Every day that passes is another day closer to graduation, OUR graduation.
13. Denial is a definite.
I am not graduating in 8 months. I am not graduating in 8 months. I am not graduating in 8 months. Remember when 2017 seemed a lifetime away? Yeah, me neither.
14. We miss you, DJM!
No other class can quite understand how upsetting it is that we will not be receiving our diploma from former President Murray. I’m still hoping he’ll make a guest appearance.
15. Once a Red Fox, always a Red Fox.
People tell us all the time that the college years fly by, and now we finally understand. We may only spend four years as a Marist undergrad, but we live the rest of our lives as a member of the Red Fox family.