Dear Syracuse...

12/5/07

An open letter to Syracuse University

*note* This letter would have been written to our Chancellor Nancy Cantor, however I don't think highly enough of her to give her the satisfaction of making it into my blog.

Ok, so shes not getting the satisfaction of a second mention.

Dear Syracuse University,

We've been seeing each other now for almost 2 and a half years officially (we won't count our secret tryst when I visited back in the Summer before my senior year) and I gotta say, after all this time there have been a lot of things which have taken place which have both had me coming back for more while at the same time wondering who you really are. For instance...

How could you lead me on that first winter? Giving me the one of the mildest winters in recent memory did nothing but get my hopes that the winter months would be easy on me.

A foot of snow last April...APRIL!... left me feeling betrayed.

The food you offer in the dining halls seemed to decent (for lack of a better word) that first year. It was new and exciting. There was the Quesadilla bar was always reliable and the fact that the pizza you served was Sparro's was a pleasant surprise. Of course nothing beat Wednesday, because it meant that stir fry was on the menu.

However the honeymoon didn't last long, as the food became repetitive...both in selection and on my digestive system...and so it has gotten to the point where I plan on depriving you of the nearly 2 grand my parents pay for my meal plan.

The Athletics- once again, Freshman year seemed to be the peak of our basketball team, with the magical run in the Big East tournament on the back of Gerry McNamara and a trip to the big dance. The party was short lived with a first round loss, followed up by an utterly disappointing season last year when 24 wins were not enough to be selected by the tournament committee.

And the football team? Freshman year all we heard about was a new coach, a new offense and new hope? How did that work out?

3 season later, 7 combined wins. 28 losses. Way to go Daryl Gross (our inept athletic director).

Freshman year I could not believe how big and spacious campus was. I would go weeks at a time without really seeing the same face twice- although that may have been because it would be sometimes weeks between the classes I attended- and with 13,000 undergrads thats how it should have been.

But then my girlfriend broke up with me, and for the following 2 months I seemed to run into her more times on campus than I could count? And then when I figured a new year would change things, I got housing in the dorm directly next to hers.

Of course that became a blessing in disguise when we got back together and actually managed to survive all of sophomore year. But while you and I are stuck with each other for 4 whole years, she and I met our demise after only 3.


Alright, so it hasn't been all bad. In fact the trend actually reversed when it came to roommates.

Freshman year I was roomed with 3 other guys in one big open room, only to end up really being able to coexist with one of them.

Last year I chose my roommate, who seemed like an ideal choice- nice, quiet, didn't party much- but oh how wrong I was. While being all of those things, he had the sleeping habits of an owl, and chose to stay up until 7 in the morning doing his work, and then going to bed during the middle of the afternoon.

However the best thing that came out of that was meeting my roommates this year, who I can honestly say are two of the greatest people you'll come across- and Ross Kohan, who apparently is my long lost hetero-homo (take your pick, both apply) life mate. And next year Rossy and I (for those unaware, we have pet names for each other, and while his is rather unoriginal, he calls me Pookie, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy) will be living together off campus in a beautiful house all to ourselves.

And so after 5 semesters, I really am not sure what to think about you Syracuse. Things started off so well yet all of those seemingly great things freshman year quickly went away as the years have progressed.

Even my grades have followed suit, with a 3.3 first semester going as low as a 2.7 last year. And for those of you wondering, its currently at a 3.011...and sinking (damn you CSD 212)

But all in all, I always come back to reminding myself how much I really do love it here, and for all the shortcomings, I wouldn't want to be going to school anywhere else.

For better or worse, I know that everytime I drive back up here, I get off 81, i drive up East Adams street (oh the irony) and I get this feeling like- wow I really do love it here.

So I look forward to another year and a half of whatever you plan on throwing my way.

Thankfully it wont include stir fry anymore.

Love Always,
Adam