Coming clean

Four years is not enough time to experience everything Duke has to offer. With only 20 days before graduation, I started thinking about what I may have missed out on.

I have the rest of my life (and plenty of photographs) to reflect on what I did do for these four years. But now, in my final lines published in The Chronicle, I want to advise underclassmen on the things I didn't experience and the lessons I have learned from those things.

(Some of the following advice and memories won't make sense. But that doesn't seem to be a requirement because The Chronicle staff box is our most-read feature and it never makes sense.)

I never toured Duke's Lemur Center. I was supposed to go for my second Chronicle article. Back when I was an ambitious freshman, I reserved a tour of the facility for me and my closest friends. Minutes before I was to meet them at the bus stop, one of the top primate staffers called my phone and informed me I should "dig deeper" and find out the center's secret, not just tour it. So I ditched my buddies for the article, which a higher editor later stole from me. Ambition stood in the way of creating a lasting memory with my friends. And a lack of ambition prevented me from ever visiting the world-renowned center again.

I never locked myself accidentally in the James Joyce bathroom. Nor did I pass out on the floor, forcing the management to bust down the door. This was one of my good friends (who in an unrelated way taught me never to believe everything I'm told). There has got to be a lesson in here somewhere.

I never wrote a senior thesis. I haven't met many seniors who can truly say writing one was a good experience. My friends who chose to put themselves through this literary or scientific torture disappeared for months. I was so worried about one that I checked to see how he was doing on a regular basis. College is about education-whether that be academic or social. Don't sacrifice one for the other.

I never attended a Carolina Hurricanes game. I also never went to the State Fair or a Cats Cradle concert. Somehow I was busy the nights my friends made these treks. Although I had fun at Duke and around Durham, I wish I had explored the Triangle more thoroughly.

I never traversed the Duke tunnels. Perhaps it was the unappealing thought of their sewer-like conditions. Perhaps it was rumors that Duke would suspend me for several years if I was caught. Recently one friend who is a current freshman returned from the underground labyrinth with a waffle maker. Fear (specifically of the unknown and of getting caught) should never stop someone from experiencing life-and getting a free breakfast contraption.

I never dreamt I would sing the "Captain Planet" theme song with its creator, Ted Turner. (Nor did I ever think the billionaire would ever jokingly threaten to punch me. and it wasn't because of my terrible singing ability.)

I never thought what I didn't experience would mean as much to me as what I did. Duke is all about achieving-even I fell into that trap at times. But as I reflect back on my college years, I find that part of who I am was shaped by learning from what I didn't experience or cherish at the time.

I never expected four years to go by so quickly.

I leave with four years of smile-inducing memories, lasting experiences and deep friendships. Between my pals who joined me in the late-night Cook Out runs and the early morning hallway chats, I know I will have a place to crash in almost every city in the United States. Although leaving is frightening, I realize I would never change anything during my time at Duke.

(Well, maybe a few nights.)

Steve Veres is a Trinity senior. He is the former news editor and current online editor of The Chronicle.