We all have dreams. Some dream of fancy cars. Cats dream of Fancy Feast. My roommate Dan dreams of T-Rexes laundering money. What T-Rexes have to hide, I don’t know. But I do know that I’ve always dreamt of driving across the country. That dream came true last month when I road-tripped from Massachusetts to Los Angeles, where I’m studying for the first half of my senior year. I’ve no time to waste, so I’ve outlined some goals to make this last year count, especially since I’m stuck in some quicksand in Death Valley. With these goals in mind, I hope to survive my senior year of college, and also this quicksand.

This year, I really hope to achieve personal growth. I’ve been working on it already — just last month, I updated my height on my driver’s license from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches. No longer will I be shorted by official Massachusetts State documentation. My goals are inches away, just like this vine I can’t reach that could really come in handy right now towards pulling myself out of this quicksand. So close.

I also want to build some meaningful relationships this year. I won’t always be surrounded by all my Syracuse friends. I want to make like LinkedIn and establish connections with people I can trust and share lifelong memories with. I did not make that connection with national parks guide Richard, who promised he was going to get help and has since left me here to die in this quicksand. We will definitely not be sharing lifelong memories. Just this one.

I’m also hoping to learn a lot. That is why I went to school, right? It’s hard to believe that I’ve almost completed a Bachelor’s degree from a great private liberal arts university — almost as hard to believe as how no matter which way I move, I keep sinking further into this quicksand, which I learned nothing about in any of my divisional courses. At least I know the phases of the moon. That’s useful.

But as this is my last year before going out into the “real world,” I’m really hoping to find myself. College is a spiritual journey of self-discovery punctuated by late nights with Domino’s and early mornings with crumbs in the bed sheets. I want to find the real me. I also want to find the feeling I’ve lost in my legs, and my chest, and my arms. My stomach is starting to feel less than comfortable, and I don’t think it’s the Domino’s.
But my biggest goal this year is to figure out my next step. I want to leave Syracuse with somewhere to go and something to do. A job would be nice. What am I going to be doing a year from now? I hope it’s not sinking in a puddle of wet sand until I can’t see anymore.

Maybe my next step is to work at a national park — it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be leaving here any time soon. I’ll take stupid traitor Richard’s job. I just need to pay better attention to where I’m walking. You’d think there would be a brochure about this: “What to do when you’ve fallen in quicksand, and how to graduate from college.” 

Maybe I’ll write that. I’ve got time.

Ian McCourt is a senior television, radio and film major. He does not recommend hiking in Death Valley, but Los Angeles is nice. You can follow him on twitter @OrderInMcCourt or reach him at iwmccour@syr.edu. 

Published on September 5, 2016 at 10:24 pm