University of Dayton - MyLife

If but for this kiss to send us off

I came into UD a vagabond of sorts. Hair down past my shoulders and a shaggy beard as well. I wore tie dye, baggy pants, slept till noon, didn't speak my mind and was horribly, horribly out of shape. Both the first day and at the end of the first week of UD I called my parents to tell them I thought I would be coming home and that I didn't think the school was for me. Odd looking back seeing as I was crying while I was leaving and handing in my key. That year I started working out a little bit to try and better myself and started reading some books I never really had thought to look at. Most importantly I met Tim Tom Russell, a man's man if there ever was one. I ran lots of pranks with friends, ordered far too much food and had more laughs than the normal man should (I don't know how someone does that to a futon, but it was funny). Classes also were really not too bad.

Sophomore year I started to hit my stride I really felt. I met an apartment of girls that had great hearts and showed me a lot of things (including how to do a back flip). I started to jog around Dayton and see the city and also did my entrepreneurship project. That put me up against some of my biggest fears and forced me to address them and conquer them. Leaving my apartment at the end of that year was incredibly difficult because I knew deep down that it would be a year I would never get close to repeating. I had gotten to know my roommates Zach and Will very well and we had man a great times. From man burgers to cooking the Puerta Ricans breakfast, all the way to Mexican fiesta night and our end of the year turkey dinner. The final night in Dayton before I left we went to a Dayton Dragon's baseball game. Looking back, we had no idea how pivotal that night would be in the next few years. That year, even though it was in an apartment and nota house, was the my favorite year of living with people. Not to say the others weren't great. That year just had something magical about it, being able to run across a courtyard and see a French exchange student, hang out with the Puerta Ricans, run up the steps and see Ogre, Nate and Joe only to go across the hallway and see Wes, Patty, Flaute, Liz, Jamie, and Marissa.

Also during this year I decided to take place in the Asia study abroad program. Over the summer I went to 8 different countries in 104 days. There was a moment in a dance hall in the basement of a coffee house in Shanghai that will forever be ingrained in my mind. All I will say is this, if someone says they have a Phd. And refers to there occupation as being a "playboy", hang on because that ride is a very wild and interesting one. Then there was the hip hop opera we saw. That trip did more for me than any other three months of my life and if anyone has the chance get to know Wesley King in the school of business as UD. He started the program, is a great guy and bloody brilliant. That's all I want to say about Asia. Those memories are mine, sorry.

Junior year was a whirlwind. Living in my first house, living with guys I didn't know, having my own bathroom. Adjusting from getting back from Asia was something I had trouble my entire first semester doing in all honesty and that caused a good amount of friction between me and some people which was tough. That is how we learn though. We entered the Christmas light contest that year and lost, but I will say this, we put in the best effort that anyone could and I have no regrets. We had a many great football game get together and I even had a jam session on my birthday with some friends, which was a dream of mine. There are also one or two stories about my friend's house off campus that was in a garage. Including an arm wrestling contest with a man claiming to be Shawn Michals (the pro wrestler) cousin. Again, I'm going to keep those as my memories, but I assure you all there are more than a few good ones.

The new Recplex opened as well and personally I was not a fan at first. I really enjoyed the old dungeon work out room. While it didn't have as nice equipment, it felt like a gym Rocky would work out in and simply made you feel incredibly manly. The Recplex grew on me, but the old pac had a certain class that the Recplex never will. Class wise junior year offered me Jay Janney and his advice on new venture creation. Prof. Janny is a great guy as well, very interesting, unique and very smart as well. His class was like no other class I've. All of the entrepreneurship students would just yell across class to each other on subjects and it made for a great environment. Ending junior year wasn't that hard, but that was only because senior year was ahead.

Senior year. I don't know really what to write about it. The classes where both intense and fun because they were on subjects I genuinely enjoyed. Friend wise, I was living with 4 of my best friends. Through out the year there were some issues that arose that hurt pretty bad but that is part of living with people and you work through it. I never really did get the hang of living with people that well in college. I really did try though and I don't think I'm as bad with it as some (Jerrod) think. We had a parent's weekend hog roast that is one of the top 3 days of my life. I woke up at 5:30am after going to sleep at 3am and then stayed up till the following 3am. Few people can say they awoke that early to smoke a hog in the ghetto, but I can. My roommate Joe got up with me and if I do say so myself we made a tasty hog. On top of that all the people I care about and there parents came to my house for the meal. It was awesome. We also that year had a few intramural teams, though we got kicked out of every league for forfeiting too many games though. Many a trips to B-Dubs and Tim's and all of the great times on the porch of 440 Lowes will stick with me forever. Senior year was my last taste of something and I knew that all year.

The sad thing is, all year I never knew what that thing I was getting my last taste of was. Looking back I was wrong about what I was saying goodbye to. I wasn't saying goodbye to a care free life or any that. I was saying goodbye to being able to walk a block away and see 20 people I know, to walk house to house and see friends, to walk across campus and see someone I love. The worst part about this though is I spent a year chasing and saying goodbye to the wrong thing. Don't make the same mistake.

As of now I feel that I ran around a lot my senior year but didn't accomplish nearly everything I could have or should have. I have many great memories but feel that there was so much I didn't do. My one bit of advice is, if you are interested in something do it. I never entered the real estate challenge because I was scared I wouldn't be able to cut it. Looking back I should have. In college, you are untouchable. If you take on a project you can't do, the worst that happens is you get a poor grade. You aren't fired and you don't get penalized. That is my advice. If you see a project, a group, a goal, a feeling, chase after that and do it. The worst feeling to have after college is thinking that you could have done more if you weren't so timid. I grew a great deal at UD but it has taken a few months away to be able to see and say all this. Take my advice and run with it.

In looking forward all I can say is that with what has happened over the summer (just within the last last 7 days even), the fact that I'm still here fighting makes me feel that I can do anything. I stand now looking back at my transformation, for that is what it really was, and still have trouble figuring out how the hell I got where I am from where I started. I guess that's why I'm not as scared of the future as some are. I got from not being able to speak in class to being a spokesman for the entrepreneurship program and the university as a whole. I don't entirely know how, but I did it. I did it on my own wit and initiative. UD gave me the tools, the teachers and the perfect environment (it's the ghetto, not student neighborhood and it will always be that way) that nowhere else could. I won't ever be able to see UD as a school. In my mind it is a great deal more. UD was my first experience living with another person and my first real look at conflict in that environment. UD was a difficult class that I had to break down and admit I needed help in. UD was that long walk in the snow on a snow day to a bar, just so I could have one beer just to say I did. Sitting on my porch, grilling, seeing a smiling face while I'm walking to get lunch, that is UD to me. UD is a million memories I will never share, memories that only the people that were there will know about. Those memories that are so special you feel that by saying them that they will simply fly away, as though they never happened. It wasn't just a school and will never be. It's a state of mind, it's a friend and it is something I did not appreciate nearly as much as I should have.

Looking back on that day I sat on Stuart hill, near tears, scared that I really couldn't cut it makes me feel a lot of emotions. Sad, happy, excited, remorseful. As one senior said to me my first night there, four years goes by in the blink of an eye so enjoy every moment of it. Live by those words at UD. She'll take care of you if you do. I will end this email with the same words I left the Dean of the SBA with as I got my diploma. Take care of my school.

If anyone wants to know what I'm up to check out the Driving Miss Jerrod myspace (myspace.com/drivingmissjerrod). I plan to put a link on there to a solo project (I call it the L Stop Refinery) I've been working on over the last few years that I think is pretty decent so amke sure to look for that in the next week or two. Also on there I'll give some updates and maybe even a bit of contact info or something. God bless.

Peace, Love and Music,
Justin

Sep 1, 2007 3:54 AM Permalink