notes from the desk Super student?

Author: Joseph Bergan

I guess this is what I wanted. This is what I get for traveling to Europe in the fall of 2003 while 600 other Middlebury College students in the class of 2007 started their Middlebury careers. This is why I worked all summer long in the Arabic language school gaining extra credits, spending all the long, sunny summer days huddled over a computer monitor listening to Al-Jazeera newscasts.

I'm a senior Feb and a special student. For those who loaded their cans of tomato soup, crates of water, "Scarface" posters and egg crate mattress pads into Stewart Hall two weeks ago, maybe being a special super duper senior Feb sounds like an exotic escape - I do after all, live in an apartment off campus. I can cook Pad Thai if I want, and I do not have a CRA or RA fielding phone calls from my angry mother when I do not call home on Sunday nights. Yes, being a special super student does have its perks.

On the other hand, living off campus is not necessarily all it is cracked up to be. There was a certain comfort knowing that I could drive into Middlebury before the first day of school, stroll into Public Safety, and quickly obtain a key to a freshly painted, wonderfully clean new room. I have to pay for that Pad Thai, or come to think of it, everything I eat. I have a vacuum because I have to vacuum my place and wash my own shower. Last night, I was in Shaw's buying garbage bags. When was the last time you bought a garbage bag?

And yes, I do not have CRA's watching over my shoulder, but I have something far worse: neighbors, landlords and the Middlebury Police. That means if you throw a big, loud party, your landlord can kick you out. Off-campus, no one cuts you a break for blasting the new Kanye West CD at 1 a.m, and you can't just say "I'm in college" or "chill." There are real consequences.

I'm also a special student - that means I only have to take two classes to graduate. My days are mostly filled with lazy mornings and long lunches, but there is one huge setback. I feel like I do not know any of you. I go to class and I count four or five recognizable faces, all glaring back at me, whispering, "Why is he still here? Didn't he graduate?"

I guess these lovely features of our College only become apparent because I count my time here in weeks, not semesters. This isn't one of those "Middlebury sucks becauseÖ" editorials. I actually love living off-campus and I look forward to graduating and starting the next chapter of my life. I'm thankful for the bounty that Middlebury has and continues to bestow upon me. I just hope you cherish your free garbage bags.

Joseph Bergan '07.5 is a Focus editor from Middletown, Conn.