Déjà vu

Korrin B.

April 9, 2011 - 11:30 PM

My freshman year during spring term 2007, I spent a majority of my time on the floor of my dorm hall's lounge. My friend, Tiffany, usually sat at the lounge's table, like a more civilized person would. I, however, chose the floor because I needed ample room to spread out. I would have the whole floor of the Parson's lounge covered in various photocopies I had made from sources in the Special Collections Archives of the library, several books on African-Americans in Oregon, and countless white, lined pieces of paper I had scribbled various outlines on. Also nearby me, I had handy my Bach flower remedy for stress relief. I spent the term writing my final research paper for the Honors College history sequence. Tiffany was my study party pal. She'd work on her projects down in the lounge as well and we'd take various breaks together to snack on tasty foods or goof around on my MacBook's Photo Booth application. My research paper was titled, "The Urban League of Portland: Ending World War II Discrimination in the Name of Democracy," and ended up getting me an honorable mention in the Honors College 2007 History Essay Contest. The Honors College said that the spring research papers for the history and literature sequences were meant to help prepare us for our eventual thesis.

Five years later, here I am - same situation, different topic. I met Tiffany in one of the rooms of the Knight Library today for a good, old-fashioned study party. We were lucky to have a room with a very long table, so as soon as I got there, I began to spread out my things. Soon enough, I had interview transcripts, government data, and various scribbled notes spread across a majority of the table and I got to work writing the results section of my thesis. By my side was my Bach flower remedy. Pretty soon after, Tiffany busted out the snacks and it felt just like old times - except that my research paper this time is significantly larger! We stayed in the library for six hours, until they finally kicked us out. We both got a lot done and I remembered how nice it was to have a study buddy. My thesis has killed my social life a bit and especially this month I will have to be cooped away. Getting to study with Tiffany like old times was a lot of fun. I forgot how nice it is to have someone there to take talking breaks with.

I find myself getting more and more nostalgic as this final term flies by. It was neat to look at today's study session as kind of coming full circle with my collegiate career. I began sprawled out on the dorm lounge floor writing a paper to prepare me for my thesis and I'm ending sprawled out in the library writing my thesis. It has been an incredible journey.