When I started college, my friends and I made “college bucket lists”. We wanted to make our four years unforgettable, so we filled our lists with every first we wanted to have. Every experience we hoped to have during our time in college, we wrote it down.
Before real life started, we wanted to check off every single whacky box.
It doesn’t matter how simple or how crazy our bucket lists were. They were ours. They were full of our different, unique firsts.
A bucket list evolves and changes as you grow. Throughout your whole life you are going to develop new mindsets, new lifestyles, new priorities, new opinions, new hopes and dreams. During college, you might want to experience things like having your first drink or getting your first tattoo. Ten years later, maybe all you’ll hope to accomplish is parenthood or owning a house.
No matter how insignificant and small the contents of a bucket list might seem to some, to the person writing it, it’s their light. It’s a list of the things they want to experience and feel during their lives.
Throughout college, I checked a lot off of my bucket list. In this small span of time, I felt a flood of exhilaration and joy. That feeling is still with me, each time I think back. It never mattered how small the experience was. The fact was that I said I wanted to do something, and so I did. I did for nobody but myself. I have zero regrets from my past few years.
Saying that you want to do something for yourself, and then doing it, is a feeling that stays with you. Your first spring break trip, first time finding the right job, learning a new language, whatever it is you hope to do, it feels incredible to actually do it.
Bucket lists are traditionally filled with crazy things that would be convenient to do before you die. They’re typically written with a slightly comical, hyperbolic tone. Why is that though? What’s keeping you from doing these things?
Right now, even though “real life” has very much started, I can’t shake my desire to travel the United States. I want to take in everything that the country has to offer. I want to find out what there is to do in Nevada on a Friday night, talk to someone with a Wisconsin accent, try new foods, meet interesting, new people, go to a music festival in Utah!
It is my hope to road trip out west. I want to take in every second of the changing scenery the farther I go. I’ve never been further west than Chicago. As of right now, December 2018, I have gotten very familiar with the following US states: Ohio, Kentucky, and Maine. THREE STATES! Although I’ve visited the whole northeast and midwest, I haven’t been able to take in other places like I’ve been able to with these three.
My goal is to spend more time in new places. Despite that goal, I’ve already been to so many incredible places in the Unites States! I want to tell people about them!
If you’re a bored Ohioan, never fear! As a past resident of over ten years, I’ve got cool Ohio activities to share FOR DAYS. I’m going to start by scratching the surface with what I know. I know Ohio, I know Maine, and I know Kentucky. Although I want to share my stories, I also hope to create new ones.
My dream is to travel the country and share the intricacies of the 50 states that make up this large community we are all a part of. We’re all so different but also so similar. I want to experience what every different place has to offer. I want the new experiences and the spontaneity that you can have in life. I want to live my life and take it all in.
DISCLAIMER: I promise, despite our college bucket lists, we all graduated in four years and had very successful academic careers! STUDY NOW, PARTY LATER!
White Rose Buckets 