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Clio McConnell, CAS Classics senior

May 7, 2015

While I was unpacking in my freshman dorm room in Brittany Residence Hall — this is before it was swanky — I decided to pop in a movie. As a nostalgic sort of 18-year-old, I was determined to choose exactly the right film accompaniment for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After a bit of deliberation, I picked “Big.”

For those who haven’t seen this 1988 cinematic masterpiece, it is about 12-year-old Josh who makes a wish to be big and wakes up the next morning as 30-year-old Tom Hanks. Understandably troubled by this development, Josh tries to find the magic wish-granting machine in order to retract his request, but to no avail. With a little help from his friends, Josh finds a great job at a children’s toy company and an apartment big enough to fit a full-size trampoline. He eats whipped cream straight from the can and spends a lot of time at FAO Schwarz. Despite his good fortune in adult life, Josh longs to be a kid again. He finally tracks down the machine and makes a new wish, giving a bittersweet ending to the adventure of a lifetime.

As a now-graduating senior, the parallels are almost too obvious, even without mentioning the fact that I would kill to find a fun job and a gigantic apartment. There is a certain conception of college as a wish-granting machine — you should enter ready for adventure and exit prepped to be an adult. The reality of college isn’t so different, but it is easy to get ahead of oneself.

Josh thought the easiest way to make it to glamorous adulthood would be to just hit fast-forward, and that’s a huge risk at NYU. The brochures love to tell us that we’re “in and of the city,” but that doesn’t mean we should live exactly like New Yorkers. We hear that it is hard to find community on this “campus,” but that just makes it too easy not to try.

Unlike Josh, we don’t have the option to reverse the aging process, which means we have to enjoy things as they come along. At NYU there is a temptation to skip ahead and get several internships, a job and an apartment in Brooklyn. The challenge is remembering to enjoy the undergraduate experience, however unconventional it may be at our school. You may have come to New York looking forward to the life of 30-year-old Josh, but take a lesson from his 12-year-old self: don’t grow up too fast.

There are milestones to pass here as there are at any other college: getting your first tattoo, weathering your first hurricane, living in your first apartment, writing your first published work. Let NYU be a phase of your life rather than just a machine that spits you out with a purple stamp on your diploma. Take classes you like, don’t over-schedule yourself, maybe even find time to visit the giant piano at FAO Schwarz. Being a student should be your first objective — leave the big stuff for later.

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