Our Expectations vs. Our Reality at Dartmouth

It's been a pretty long time since I formed my initial expectations of college, but I do remember a few clearly:1. I would be a diligent student, because why else would you go to college anyway? It's school, so school would be my priority. I'd join clubs and teams but academics would always be my numero uno.2. I would wear clogs, and play ultimate and the guitar; everyone would wear clogs and play ultimate and the guitar. For some reason I thought that these were standards of college life.3. Drinking would be a non-issue for me: nothing new, but nothing daunting or exciting about it either.4. I would always rub the nose on the bust of that man in the Hop as per my tour guide's confident prediction.5. Finally, I was sure that Dartmouth would not change me. If anything, I thought Dartmouth would just make me more confident of who I was and what I knew. My reality, happily in some cases and unfortunately in others, has not matched my expectations: 1. A quick look at my GPA will tell you that if academics were my one and only love at Dartmouth, a mediocre lover I would be. I've taken classes that have altered my entire world-view, but it turns out that some of my most valuable educational experiences here have come about through my extracurriculars. College is about more than the classes, who knew?2. I do wear clogs, but I think the total number of clogs on campus is pretty solidly outnumbered by the number of Frye boots. I've only ever been to one ultimate practice and if the four chords I can play on a guitar had to be described by analogy to a human movement, it would be a pathetic limp. 3. Though alcohol itself wasn't novel to me, no number of high school parties at the hockey rink after hours or in unheated cabins deep in the woods (I'm from Maine) could have ever prepared me for a frat basement. The drinking culture here used to excite me; but now that the novelty has worn off, it scares me sometimes. 4. I've never rubbed Warner Bentley's nose...I actually don't think I've ever seen anyone rub his nose since my first visit, except for a picture of one guy on the homepage one time. 5. I've naturally changed in the little under five years since I decided to go to Dartmouth (I deferred a year), but Dartmouth has indeed had an undeniable hand in this change. More importantly, I've realized that stagnancy is not maturity, presumed certainty is not wisdom, and expectations are primarily useful for making you laugh when you look back and see how far off you were.