BY KENDAL RINKO

In print | Published April 16, 2009 — Updated April 17, 2009 15:55

Have you ever had a great idea, asked your friends to go on the adventure with you, and received a depressingly cynical, “Oh, but so-and-so already did that”? Well, my friends, just because somebody else did that, does that mean you shouldn’t? My Swarthmore bucket list included “playing a prank on a tour,” and when I called a few friends to partake in this adventurous task, do you know what they said? “So-and-so already did that.” One, did “so-and-so” already do our same prank? And two, even if “so-and-so” already did that, does that mean we have? Does that mean we can’t? Just because someone has already climbed Mount Everest, does that mean I shouldn’t dare? Just because I have already worn a towel to class, does that mean you shouldn’t, if you are inspired to do so? (Have I pounded this in yet?) I sure hope not!

My bucket list is filled with activities that others have done before me. Does that make it any less exciting when I do it? Heck no! In an effort to boycott this mentality which, for me, is just a sad excuse to cop out of having your own fun in fear of being a “copycat,” I am not going to tell you about my tour guiding escapades this past week in hope that it will encourage you to carry out some of your own amid the laaarge groups of tours this week. You’ll just have to ask me about my hall’s naked tea-time in the lounge, to which a shocked mother replied “Ohh my stars!” and asked the tour guide, “Is this normal?”, to which the tour guide shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Oh this, this is our daily morning tea time. Would you care for a cup? I’m sure we have extras.” But, you’ll just have to ask me about that, since I wouldn’t want to keep you from seeing the unique reaction of a different parent to your own bold Earl Gray morning wake-up. Maybe the next mother will actually join you for a cup. The results will always be varied and unique, because we, as individuals and collective groups, are different and unique.

I began writing this column to encourage myself to step out of my thesis-crazed world and have some fun; however, I also write this column to encourage other students to have some fun too. I would sincerely hope that my crazy adventures would not prevent you from carrying out your own because “so-and-so already did that.” Where is the fun in that? Have you seeeeen Dartmouth’s “Drinkin’ time” (look on youtube!)? Do you think there haven’t been tour pranks in the past? Of course there have been! Does that mean we, Swarthmore College, should not show our true colors by pulling our own? Of course not! We are a very different contingent of individuals and anything we do will have our own special touch. Do not disappoint me and deprive yourselves of fun because “so-and-so already did it.” If we used that excuse every time we dreamed, where would we be?

So, this week, I am going to talk about a very simple way to “take a break,” one I hope most will replicate if so inspired. Passing a 50-person tour this past Friday (high school spring break — our population doubles!), I bumped into a dear friend of mine. He, in an effort to “de-stress,” decided to take a tour of campus and encouraged me to hop on board. So, for the next 40 minutes, I followed a tour guide as she struggled to engage a very bored group of individuals (with 50 people, it’s inevitable). My friend, let’s call him Remmy, and I proceeded to stand in the back, looked for the opportunity to call “shenanigans” on any “embellishments” from our guide and also had fun making fun. We conspired to raise our hands and, hidden behind the crowd, ask questions like, “So, I hear crunkfest is next week. What’s that?” or “I like smoking pot, what’s the school’s policy on that?” etc. Let’s just say, there may or may not be an innocent yet thoroughly shaken tour guide victim out there. While we followed the tour, Remmy and I also had fun reminiscing with one another about our own experiences here, joking about the quirks, retelling amphitheatre stories, and pretty much taking a moment to remember “why we love Swarthmore.” We even had a girl recognize our student status and ask us questions. Remmy and I became her personal guides and, in her decision between Swat and a much larger, science-based institution, our “helpfulness” (and honesty) won her over (we think).

But, through this experience, I was taken from a high-stressed day to a time-out tour of the very special grounds on which I’ve had the opportunity to live and grow roots these past four years. Talking with a few visiting alums this past weekend, I asked about their experiences being back on campus as “non-students.” One summarized the group’s sentiments in saying, “I still feel very connected to this campus. I still feel like this is ‘my campus’ when I’m here.” This gives me new hope, realizing that I, too, can continue my own connection even after I am no longer a resident. For we have all created our own histories here. And taking a walk through campus, with a trained tour guide leading the way, gave me that fresh (although still jaded) sense of what it feels like to experience Swarthmore for the first time (remembering how my impressions of the tour guides always influenced my final feelings about a school). It reminded me of why I came here and what I’ve done since I’ve been here. I am part of this continued tradition and damn proud of it. So, I must ask you to think once more, “If others have already ‘done Swarthmore,’ should we not?”

Kendal is a senior. You can reach her at krinko1@swarthmore.edu.

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