My Life at Skidmore: Brian Allan
My friend from home says 鈥淎ck!鈥� every time she feels uncomfortable. It鈥檚 a reference to the 鈥淐athy鈥� comic strip, in which a middle-aged woman deals with various 鈥渨omen's issues鈥� in a blatantly gender-normative fashion.
Though it has clear roots, my friend鈥檚 use of 鈥渁ck鈥� has proven to be a really relevant and useful tool for dealing with discomfort in the day-to-day. It鈥檚 the perfect way to communicate feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty for a variety of situations: You didn鈥檛 call your mom on Mother鈥檚 Day? Ack. You skipped class to watch Amy Schumer鈥檚 HBO special (a must-watch), but forgot that you had a quiz? Ack. You have no idea how to introduce yourself as a blog writer? Ack!
Regardless of how many times you scream 鈥渁ck鈥� into the night, we must forge on, so here goes:
I鈥檓 Brian, a senior here at Skidmore, with majors in English and Spanish as well as a minor in media and film studies. I鈥檓 going to be writing some stuff for Life at Skidmore, which is pretty dang exciting. To give you a little bit of perspective about who I am as a writer and a student, I鈥檓 going to run down a brief list of the things I really like about Skidmore:
The people.
Falling in love with Skidmore means falling in love with the amazingly bizarre people that go here, and there are a lot of them. This campus provides a great way to find a niche (my housemates are all fellow English majors, for example), but it鈥檚 also a really amazing way to branch out鈥攕ome of my best friends here are interested in neuroscience, theater, psychology, and anthropology, just to name a few. I鈥檝e also found the people here to be some of the most inclusive folks around; Skidmore is one of the few places where I feel that it鈥檚 true that what makes you weird makes you interesting.
The dining hall.
This one might seem clich茅, but it鈥檚 true. If you鈥檙e a student here, you know that our dining hall is pretty amazing. I鈥檓 a senior, and the awe that I felt when I first walked into the dining hall as a freshman is still alive and well. A lot of that has to do with my inability/unwillingness to cook for myself beyond the basic grilled cheese or bowl of cereal, but the claim still stands: our dining hall is crazy good. I鈥檝e had dreams about it.
The classes.
It鈥檚 a strange feeling to really want to go to class: on the one hand, it proves that you鈥檙e an academically-minded and sophisticated adult who鈥檚 ready to learn; on the other hand, it makes you feel like a massive turbo-nerd. Luckily, there are a lot of other turbo-nerds who feel similarly ambivalent about their affinity for their class schedule, so we鈥檙e not alone. Skidmore is a great place to be passionate about your studies, because, in my experience, most everyone here is.
The professors.
This is obviously deeply related to the college鈥檚 academics, but it鈥檚 still worth mentioning. There have been moments when a particular professor is lecturing or leading discussion when I stop and think that they must be some sort of higher power, something more than human, and I feel like a repulsive slug-thing in their presence. Still, they inspire me to one day no longer be a repulsive slug-thing, and that鈥檚 what really matters. Seriously, there are some professors whom I would briefly consider taking a bullet for, which says a lot.
The town.
Saratoga is an insane place to get to live for four years: there鈥檚 the food, and the nightlife, and the food, and miles of beautiful nature, and the food. Seriously, the food is unbeatable. I mean, Druthers? That place is magical. They serve a massive portion of mac n鈥� cheese, which as Americans is our right, nay, our responsibility, to consume. There鈥檚 also some really nice shops, ranging from small businesses like Northshire Bookstore to what seems to me to be the nicest Price Chopper ever built, out on Route 50. I鈥檝e never felt so impassioned about a grocery store.
Overall, there鈥檚 a ton of things about Skidmore that I love, which is why I鈥檓 so excited about getting to write about the school and the awesome stuff that goes on here. From this point on, there鈥檒l only be 鈥渁cks鈥� of excitement.
Brian Allan '17 is the 2016鈥�2017 student blogger in the office of Communications and Marketing. A double major in English and Spanish with a minor in meida and film studies, he has provided a unique student insight to life at Skidmore.