Top Ten Things to Do Before College Graduation

"No more school, no more books. No more teachers' dirty looks." About four years after enrolling in your first semester at college, this song begins to sound pretty sweet. But your college graduation not only means the end of some of the things you hated about higher education; it also means the end of the things you loved, from hanging out with friends to cheering on your favorite sports teams, to just lounging around the student union. And while you can still do all those things after you graduate-though hanging around the student union would be, admittedly, a little weird-the truth is that as you approach graduation day, and that mortar board cap starts to look a little fiendish rather than fabulous, you'll want to have made memories to last a lifetime, and find small ways to remember your college experience. Here are ten ideas of how to make sure your college years are remembered as some of the best of your life!

1. Invest in a T-shirt. Stop by your college's bookstore, or wherever most of the college or university's merchandise is sold, and buy yourself something wearable with the school's name or logo on it. Buy the shirt of your favorite sports team from your college, or, if your dormitory's create them, the shirt of your favorite dorm. To make it a memory, instead of just apparel, grab some sharpies or fabric paint and have your friends, teammates, classmates, and even professors make their mark! Pull this special shirt, hoodie, or pair of sweatpants out whenever you want to remember "the good old days," or wear it proudly during the week.

2. Try something you swore you'd never eat in the dining hall. Admit it ... you've always sort of wondered what made the mystery meat so mysterious. Maybe there's a desert that always sounded gross but you never bothered tasting it. Maybe your school hosts ethnic food nights, and on those nights you usually order out or boil up some Ramen. Whatever your excuses for not trying these foods, forget them for a night, and convince a group of friends to join you in trying out that odd looking purple thing on the food line. Maybe you'll love it. Maybe you'll hate it. Maybe you'll throw it up later. Whatever your reaction, remember the moment that food first touched your mouth, and the looks on all your friends' faces as you share that terrifying moment together!

3. Revisit your freshman dormitory. For a lot of college students, your floor mates from your freshman dorm are the friends you keep for the next four years. Even if that's not the case, take a stroll through the dorm you stayed in your first year of college, remembering how it was when you first moved it and while you lived there. If you can, stop in to your freshman room, meet and greet with its new residents, and don't be afraid to give them some encouragement. If your freshman dorm was the worst place you ever lived, and you never, ever want to go back there, revisit your favorite dorm or apartment, or the room where you first met your new best friend, your significant other, or your favorite Resident Assistant.

4. Walk around campus, visiting every academic building. Even the academic buildings of your college's campus are memories in the making. Take a stroll, either by yourself or with friends, to every academic building, especially the ones you never stepped foot in before. Try to remember a special moment you had in each building. Make a new memory in the buildings you've never visited. Take pictures of your classrooms, the front doors, that statue in the atrium you passed everyday, et cetera.

5. Have a friendly chat with a professor for no other reason than to make a memory. Stop into the office of your favorite professor, or your advisor, during his or her office hours, and just have a friendly chat. Don't talk about grades, or even the class. Tell her what you'll miss most about her, or the school. Ask him what his favorite memory of college was. During one of my last weeks of school, I walked to class with a professor, who was also my advisor, by sheer chance. We just happened to be going the same direction, but for the first time in four years we had a non-academic conversation, and it's one of my favorite college memories! You never know what kind of stories your professors will share.

6. Adopt a campus location. Walk around campus and find a spot you can call your own. Pick a bench, a workstation in the library, or a table in the cafeteria. Make it a rock, a tree, or a space in the student parking lot. Claim it with your right foot, or a sharpie. Okay, don't use a sharpie, but make a ceremony out of it. Take a picture of the spot, whether it's a hilltop or a washing machine that never worked in your dorm's laundry room. Invite your friends to participate, and walk around until each of you finds a place to claim. Pick individual spots, and a spot that "belongs" to you and your friends as a whole. For a group spot, consider something like an elevator, a dorm's lounge, or a table at the student union.

7. Take a class because it sounds fun, not because it's required. Even if all your required classes had memorable moments, the class you took just for you will always be a special one. Make it a daring venture on your part. For example, if you've never sung a solo, or refuse to sing anywhere beyond your shower stall, take a music class where you'll be required to do both. Or make it something you love, but never had time for. If you love kids, take a children's literature or elementary education class. Of course, if you're taking the class just to make a memory, you might consider taking it as a Pass/Fail course, so you don't mess up your GPA!

8. Pull an all-nighter somewhere other than your dorm room. This is one to try out when you don't have major academic requirements to be met anytime soon! Get a few friends to join you for an all-nighter in the library, an academic building, your dorm's lounge, or the student union. You could study, if you'd like, for part of the night; believe me, by mid-morning you'll be spending more time goofing off than thinking about your books! Or, take your laptop, or a friend's, and watch movies all night. When I was in college, I was finishing a paper in the wee small hours of the morning in an academic building. As I headed back to my dorm, I happened upon a group of students who were having a Japanese movie marathon in one of classrooms. Whatever you do, keep it safe, and don't do anything that breaks campus rules; the last thing you want to do is make a disciplinary memory!

9. Skip a class. This is not for those of you who are going to fail a class if you skip; know your professor's rules about missing class sessions. However, a lot of professors do have leeway for students allowing them to miss a day or two. I had one professor actually suggest to his students that they save their absences for the last week of school, when classes would be spent reviewing for a final or turning in final papers. It sounds a little like a cop-out to "skip" a class when you've already been given permission to miss it, but for some students it will be the first time they've missed a class without good reason, and it can be very liberating! Spend the time you would have been in class taking a drive around the town or city closest to your campus, visiting a place you've never been, or just walking around campus enjoying it like you've never had the chance to before. Just don't over do it; I'm talking about skipping one class, not a week of classes!

10. Talk to a friend-crush. A group of friends of mine introduced me to the term "friend-crush" my senior year of college. A friend-crush is a strong desire to be friends with someone you don't know just because you think he or she is cool, but you don't have the guts to talk to him or her. Now's your chance to take the friend-crush the next step! Take a deep breath, walk up to that person you've always wanted to say something to, and just say something. Chances are you might say something embarrassing. He might think you're the weirdest person on campus. She might laugh right in your face. Or you might start something! You never know where taking that first, wobbly step towards getting to know someone will lead you. And remember; all your friends were friend-crushes at one point! If you want to be really bold, talk to your college crush. That's right; say something to that guy who always made your heart skip a beat, or the girl you nearly walked into a wall over! Just have something said, so you won't go through the rest of your life wondering what you could have said but didn't have the guts to!