This weekend over Fall Break I had the pleasure of spending a few hours at Lincoln Park Zoo. I hadn’t been there since my elementary school went on a field trip circa 2002. I actually remembered a few things about my last visit while I walked through the zoo, so it was cool to have those memories and to make new ones. I get really excited about animals, so I’m pretty sure I was freaking out most of the time (sea lions are SO COOL you guys!!!). I loved it.
However, after I left the zoo, in the midst of thinking of some really great animal puns, I realized something: college students are kind of like zoo animals. It’s pretty weird. But it’s also kind of accurate. Allow me to enlighten you:
College students are like flamingoes. You can often find us in large groups, but we aren’t always interacting with each other or we might not even realize that our friends are all within close proximity to us. You can observe this behavior most often at Van Wylen Library or Lemonjello’s; we are all there for similar reasons, but we are also all kind of in our own little worlds.
College students are like giraffes. Sometimes we just want to hang out, low-key, with a couple of our friends and eat food. Sometimes that food is in places that seem a little weird to outsiders at first, like a toy boat or at Applebee’s every night, but you get used to it after a while. Anything else would just feel wrong.
College students are like monkeys. We love to have fun together!
College students are like zebras. Sometimes we just need our alone time, even when there are two other zebras (or friends) hanging out around the corner.
College students are like chameleons. This guy was just hanging from one of his legs, not really looking like he was going to do anything, when suddenly his arms and legs started moving. It looked like he was dancing. In the same way, sometimes you can find us just hanging out, not doing too much, and then suddenly we come to life. At times, we even throw solo dance parties. Or group dance parties. Any kind of dance parties, really.
College students are also like lions (look closely at the photo to find them!). Sometimes all we want is a nap. After walking around the zoo for a few hours when this photo was taken, I think Larry and I were both definitely in lion moods.
Thanks for reading! Keep up with me on Twitter (@hopekathryn17), Instagram (@kathrynekrieger), Etsy (LakesPointCollective), or send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu!
“Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”
— Exodus 15:11