Last year, when I was but a wee second-semester first year, I wrote a 10 o’clock list about all the very important lessons I’d learned over the course of the preceding seven months. I stand by that list, but now — as a newly minted Kenyon “grown-up” with two full hours of sophomore year behind me — I feel it’s time to add a few words of semi-wisdom that eluded me last spring. But fear not, first years! Pretty much every single upperclassman will likely be making these mistakes right alongside you. Because none of us are real adults.

1. Don’t get partied out — I know the first few weeks of the year are a beautiful, dizzying whirlwind of house music and highlighter-streaked white T-shirts and warm beer, but save some energy for parties to come. Deb Ball awaits, and way off in the distance lies a magical event called Sendoff — which, if you get too jaded too early, you might mistakenly opt to spend in bed with a 4 p.m. hangover and a Netflix Instant Queue full of ‘90s-era rom-coms because “what am I going to miss, anyway?” Everything. Continue reading →