Opinion | College is the best time to go feral — take it

It’s crazy to think I’m graduating college in just two weeks when it feels like just yesterday I was moving into Bruce Hall. Looking back at the last three and a half years, I’m glad I took the opportunity to make as many fun memories as I could — especially when the first year and a half was during COVID-19. I’m kind of thankful for the COVID-19 era — death and tragedy aside — because that led me to have the friends I have now. We were all pretty much stuck in our dorms because no parties were happening. We unfortunately never had the chance to walk around South O in a group of 15 with an atrocious boy-to-girl ratio and look for parties. 

Trying to navigate college during a global pandemic was unprecedented. None of us knew what to do in that situation. My roommate at the time and I still wanted some way to make friends and meet the people in our building. So, we got the bright idea to print out our Snapchat QR codes and tape them to the elevator buttons on each floor. Looking back, that was a little cringe and weird. But that did lead us to meet the people on our floor — along with knocking on everyone’s doors trying to say hi and introduce ourselves. This then turned into us playing Wii Sports together almost every night. What started as an unconventional way to try to make friends turned into one of the best things I’ve ever done. 

In my almost four years here, one thing I’ve learned and would like to pass on to all the non-seniors is to please take this time to go feral. College is truly the best time to do stupid things — within reason and legality — and go feral. And by “feral,” I’m not referring to just partying and drinking. That is not the only way to have fun. I am also including spontaneity under “feral.” Go out on spontaneous adventures and do spontaneous things. It doesn’t even have to be super crazy or wild. Because there was quite literally nothing going on or anything to do, one night during my first year my friends and I said, “Why don’t we go out on a walk?” It was around 1 a.m. and the streets were pretty dead. We got to explore much of Pitt’s campus and part of Carnegie Mellon’s. I still have the picture we took in front of one of CMU’s buildings with the rainbow lights. It was one of the first of many pictures taken that year of my friends and me. 

Late-night walks became almost a daily occurrence our first semester of our first year. Though it wasn’t anything exciting, we did make a lot of fun memories out of it. It also brought us all closer as friends. What started off as a random impulsive idea turned into the reason I met some of my closest friends today. 

When you’re in your last semester and you’re looking back at old memories, what do you want to remember? The countless hours spent in Hillman probably stressed out, or the fun times with friends? This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t study, because you absolutely should. Grades are very important, and the whole reason why we’re all even here is to get an education, but don’t let classes and studying take over your entire life. We only have these four years before entering the real adult world. 

The things you can do in college will generally be socially unacceptable once you graduate, so make the most of it. Whether that’s pulling trig in the Mario’s bathroom because you had one too many Malibu bay breezes or falling face-first into the Frick fountain because you tried to climb it, college is all about making mistakes and having fun. 

One of the highlights of sophomore year was frat hopping at Carnegie Mellon with my roommates and somehow leaving Sig Ep with half a watermelon. Another time, I stayed at the SAE house till 4 a.m. because I convinced them to let me play Fortnite on their console. I swore that I was “goated.” I was, in fact, not goated at all. I had never played Fortnite on an Xbox or PlayStation before in my life — the only time I had ever played was when it was available on mobile. They all saw me struggle, which was quite embarrassing looking back now that I’m sober and no longer 19. But I’m also able to look back and laugh at myself for all the weird and random stupid things I did. 

These are what make college the supposed “best four years of your life” because never in our lives again will we all be this connected and close with all our friends. The only message and advice I want to leave with all you non-seniors is this. Take advantage of your time here. Go be embarrassing and crazy and feral. In a few years time, they will turn into fond memories you look back on. 

Kelly Xiong writes about all things fashion, beauty, personal health and sometimes pop culture. You can write to her at jux13@pitt.edu