BY KENDAL RINKO

In print | Published January 29, 2009

At the beginning of this year, my friends and I sat down and reflected on our time at Swarthmore. Had we really made the most of the past three years? Will we graduate at the end of this year, feeling as though we had done everything we wanted to do? Further, as we head towards grad school, hop on planes around the world or march forward into the corporate world, have we made sufficient fools of ourselves in this Swarthmore bubble? Have we danced on enough tables, played ASSassins to the extreme (does going to class in a towel count?), gone to Sager in little but mere pasties, attended a passionate protest and sat down with a philosophy professor to ponder the meaning of life? Have we joined the nudist club for a walk in the Crum Woods, participated on a club team, moved our bodies to the rhythms of African Dance I? Have we tried out for a play or participated in a Boy Meets Tractor skit, pioneered the Pterodactyl Hunt or ever done Crunk Fest? Moreover, have we stretched ourselves to the max, “living the dream” of college to the quirky extremes of this Swarthmore playground? 

While I have done many of the things above, I have not done them all. This semester, however, amid thesis writing, job applications and the endless hours in McCabe, I will. And, you, my dear Swatties, will have the privilege to follow along in this last little Swarthmore journey of mine. I want no regrets, for when will I ever be in a place like Swarthmore again? This semester, I encourage your suggestions and your participation in this journey, so please send ideas and ask to take part. I am taking a Senior’s Pledge to discover every last thing I can about this campus and utilize every last space I can find. A final ode to Swarthmore; let the journey begin. 

This week’s bucket list item is one I never thought I would have the courage to do until the last night of finals last semester. (Now, ahem, in writing, I would like to add: I neither confirm nor deny my actual participation in this act). While I had not intended for this bucket list item to be crossed off so soon, or in such cold weather, the time was right. Walking back from McCabe to the cinder-blocked halls of Hallowell at 2 a.m., I came across three senior women singing “Elephant Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge on the steps of Parrish. Never passing up a moment to procrastinate, I hopped up the steps to join them, despite my shivering joints and numb fingertips. Our singing led to a group “ooooooohhh niiine!” and stress-relieving reenactments of the infamous midnight scream. Aside from the stressed seniors in Parrish Parlors the campus was silent, and the sense of freedom standing at the top of our campus, looking down, was an overwhelming rush. Infused with this rush, I suddenly had the urge to run through “my campus” full throttle, as I realized that come June 1st, it will no longer be “mine.” Perhaps the stress levels had gotten to me or perhaps I had become the most sane I had been in a long time, but before I knew it, two of us were stripping our clothes off and running along Magill Walk in our underwear. The other two, more sensibly, declined to run around in freezing weather and run back up the hill at the end.

My friend and I ran down Magill walk, shouting to the heavens and only too late noticing the late-night biker rolling across campus (however, I’m sure our magnificent bodies are forever etched in his mind and greatest fantasies — hello again!). Quickly forgetting about him, we continued on our run, slowly stripping our undies and embracing the thrills of pure, natural and naked freedom. Our midnight run was shortened, however, by a close encounter with the frats. While stripping down to nothing was not necessarily a conservative act, my modesty was not ready for a public viewing. Back at Parish, my friend and I quickly slipped our clothes back on to avoid pneumonia, and we four senior girls all went our separate ways to continue our long night of writing.

Whoever could have thought that running, my all-time favorite stress-reliever, and nudity could combine to be so rejuvenating?! What a thrill! And, almost as though it had never happened, I was back at my desk at 3 a.m., ready to write the last final paper of my last fall semester. But, before returning to the keys of my computer, I pulled out the 3×5 card that has been sitting in my top drawer all year and, with a red pen, crossed out one more thing from my special little bucket list. The bar has been set, and I am ready for the next adventure. Care to join me?

Kendal is a senior. She can be reached at krinko1@swarthmore.edu.

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