After a full day of procrastination, spending the night in the Undergraduate Library, and finally getting a good amount of work done, my friend and I decided to head over to the Old Well at 6:15am to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. As we sat on one of the benches shivering in the 35-degree weather, we watched the pillars of the Old Well turn bright orange from the sun rising just behind our heads. That’s when I fell in love with Carolina (the head-over-Heels type). It took a few months, but it happened. It happened because of that experience, an experience that probably can’t be found in any UNC bucket list.
Although most UNC bucket lists give great recommendations to enhance your college experience, they all lack one very important thing – to make that experience your own. The four years you spend here at Carolina will go by a lot quicker than you think (how am I already a junior?), and many upperclassmen will tell you to make the most of your remaining years. So why waste time completing a checklist that tells you how to have the perfect Carolina experience when you could be making your own?
I chose to make my Carolina experience my own, and there’s not a bucket list in the world that would have been able to replace my memories over the past two and a half years.
After all, there are no formulas or step-by-step directions to having an amazing Carolina experience – other than simply deciding to do it your way.