I consider myself a smart person.
I get good grades, and I have common sense. However, there are just some things about campus life I simply do not understand.
Like, for instance, why the cafeterias are only open for a short time on the weekends, why the dollar store doesn’t take my QuickCash and why the classrooms are kept at arctic temperatures. But above all that, what confuses me the most is how people can live and breathe without paying attention to their bodies’ needs.
I was in line for dinner the other day and was talking to this really nice girl in front of me. She turned to me and said “God I’m so hungry, I haven’t had anything to eat all day.”
I stood there with my mouth wide open. It was 6:23 p.m., dinner time, and the girl in front of me was telling me she hadn’t had a decent meal all day. I asked her why and she said she had forgotten to get something to eat. How do you forget to feed your body?
Call me high maintenance but I have to eat at least three meals a day. If I skip a meal, I get really fatigued and I simply don’t feel well. How do people get up in the morning, have only a Pop Tart, go to classes all day, and then maybe get a meal that evening or nothing at all? How do their bodies function if they are not fueling themselves?
I eat so much I find it hard to understand how someone could simply “forget” to eat or skip meals. I have so many snacks in my room I would have to be blind to forget to eat. Besides, who doesn’t love to eat?
For the first time in my life, I am living with a roommate. Thankfully, my roommate Kelly has made it a very easy transition for me, and we are getting along just fine. Just the other day I told my roommate I was going to bed and she chuckled at me.
It was around 12:30 a.m. on a school night and she chuckled at the thought of going to bed so early. In high school I went to bed no later than 11 p.m. during the week. I kept my body on schedule in order to have enough energy to wake up for school the next morning.
That night Kelly stayed up and studied. She didn’t go to bed until 2 or 3 a.m. that night and we both had 9 a.m. classes the next morning. I awoke well rested with eight hours of sleep under my belt, and Kelly only got about five. Naturally, someone who only got five hours of sleep would be exhausted or crabby but Kelly was not that way. In fact, you could even have said she was more awake than me.
I’m legitimately jealous of people with these superhero skills. The ability to have energy without eating or sleeping is something I wish I had. Imagine all the hours in my life I would have if I didn’t have to sleep or run to the cafeteria for lunch. I could probably run for president and still have time to earn a college degree. Too bad I’ve been wasting my time eating brownies and having really nice dreams.
Madeline Gregory is a freshman journalism major from Downers Grove. She is a Scout reporter.
Direct questions, comments and other responses to mmgregory@mail.bradley.edu.
