It never occurred to me that I could drink alcohol when the sun was out. Even when I first heard about Bacchanal I was suspicious that such an anomaly could ever occur: The concert is in the evening, right? You bring your problem sets, right?
Soon I started to believe the rumors. The fated day was just weeks away, the day I would consume alcohol and bask in the sun. So I prepared heartily: every assignment started early, every due date noted. Indeed, I could hardly contain my excitement for my first work-free Saturday at Columbia.
And my excitement was not in vain. There I was, stumbling down Broadway; I was on my way to listen to a musical artist who is known to encourage gaiety, even jubilance. And I felt jubilant.
I listened to tunes aplenty. My only feeling of guilt was about two hours in, when I saw a student walk into Butler, backpack in tow. I earned this day. I did homework weeks in advance to make sure I’d have time. I needed these lies to keep me sane.
But then the musical artist performed a song that I knew from the radio and I realized any guilt was certainly worth suffering. My guilt couldn’t take away from the sole fun campus day of the year.
And as I write this op-ed in Butler, I’m confident – no, certain! – that next year’s sole fun campus event will be even more fun than this year’s sole fun campus event. And that certainty gives me the strength I need to power through my Modern Algebra problem set. So until next year’s sole day of fun, Columbia!
