When I started to think about putting fingers to keyboard for this column, I tried to think of some big sweeping theme that defined my Notre Dame experience to elaborate upon. Nope, that won't work.
There have been so many highs and lows, twists and turns in my time at Notre Dame, that to characterize my experience under the Dome in 600 words or less would be impossible. So I decided to streamline, remove all the fluff. I would like to think that the people who made my experience here what it is know exactly what I'm talking about. So here we go.
Finding out I got into Notre Dame sitting next to Lauren. Standing next to the Basilica when I found out she got in. Chuck and Blair take Notre Dame. "Go Irish, Beat Wolfpack." Falling asleep in freshman math class (or skipping to buy Lady Gaga tickets). Applying to transfer. The fruit/vegetable comic. Alexis. St. Patty's Day. Bringing 200 lbs. of luggage back over Christmas Break freshman year. Meeting Farrah from "Teen Mom" at the airport.
Teenage Dream Week. "Go Harry, Beat Voldemort!" Headbands. Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam. Observe and Report. Delta News. Mr. Fishy. SBCS. "Bridesmaids." Winsome making eggs in NDH.
News Writer. Production One. Production Two. Assistant News Editor. News Editor. Assistant Managing Editor. Seth Meyers. "Gay Students Discuss Coming Out at Notre Dame." Boston for the election (barely). Meeting Fr. Hesburgh. ICPA. The Observer office. Deb. GandC4ever. Leaving dark chocolate in my mailbox. Bruno's Night. SYS. Beer Pong Tournament. The Rover and Scholastic - LOL.
Appalachia. New River Gorge. Ranger Mark. The Demon Horse. Country Roads. "It's a thing." "Breaking" parietals. Water Olympics. S'mores. The Tampa Girls. GW. Sleeping over in the dining room.
Rome. Italy. Absinthe. Joutfits. Joccupy Rome. Google Translate. "BOOK IT!" The Booze Cruise. The Eiffel Tower (both types). Food pictures. Selfies with the Mona Lisa (actually in general). Frizzante. 201 minutes in Siena. "Here's the thing ... " Nutella. RyanAir. Waking up in Paris, in class in Rome two hours later. AS Roma. Giolitti. Dar Poeta. Bottom bunk. JCU Gladiators. The Heineken Experience. KarlovyLazne.
"Good Girls Go Bad." "Bad Romance.""TikTok." "Teenage Dream." "Moves Like Jagger." "Born This Way." "Where Dem Girls At.""Titanium." "Call Me Maybe." "Young & Beautiful." "What Dreams Are Made Of." "Die Young." "Dancing on My Own.""Unwritten."
Every Syllabus Week. "Happy Senior Year to YOU!" Blackout Swans. Finny's Stage. $2 Sex on the Beaches at Fever. CJ's (just kidding). Vesuvio's determining how well your night went.
CCD and the A-Team. NBC, New York in the summer. San Diego in the fall.
The Ireland game. Disneyland and the USC game. Being sick in bed when K-State and Oregon lost. Florida with the Jupiter Crew. South Bend to South Beach. The Best Day of Our Lives (before Roll Tide happened).
Killing it at the Holy Half. Finishing the Hesburgh Challenge. Freaking out about jobs. Cats, pizza, being single - they're all linked. SWUG. Basic. #Blessed. Pigtostal. Civil War. "The Hills" marathons. "Let's get one thing straight ... "
Long runs around campus. The second floor of the library. Tailgating on Game Day. The Basilica and the Golden Dome at sunset. Four years (actually a lifetime) of friends and family.
Go Irish, Beat the Real World.
Sam Stryker is a senior majoring in Film, Television & Theater and Medieval Studies (and isn't sure which makes him a more attractive job applicant). He would like to thank his family for all the love, support and sassiness that have pushed him these four years. He would like to remind everyone to live every week like it's Shark Week. Sam can be reached at sbstryker@gmail.com
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
