Five Things To Do Before You Graduate From Ohio State

By Diane Kollman on October 9, 2012

If you think you’ve gotten the most out of your college experience, think again. You haven’t really lived until you’ve taken advantage of all the unique, fantastic and (mostly) free activities that Ohio State has to offer. Luckily for you, here’s a beautiful top five list of the best of the best:

1. Jump in Mirror Lake during Beat Michigan Week: Experience the joys of hypothermia and fight through masses of your bare-skinned peers by taking a late-night dip in subzero water. Perhaps I shouldn’t be advocating this pregame tradition, but what better way is there to show your school spirit than bathing in bacteria?

2. Take a cooking class at the Ohio Union: You can learn how to bake holiday-themed desserts, decorate cakes, cook vegetarian meals, and grill every food possible at the free cooking classes offered by the Ohio Union. You just have to reserve your spot on the list, show up and devour. Not only can you gain a skill that is actually applicable in real life (unlike swimming in a lake of waste), but cooking classes are also a great place to hang out with friends, woo the love of your life, or waste an evening you would otherwise spend eating microwaved Hot Pockets and reading Uloop Cracked articles.

A photo I took on my short-term study abroad to Ireland.

3. Study abroad: Explore exotic lands and meet people with awesome accents through OSU’s Office of International Affairs. With over a hundred programs and opportunities for research, internships and class credit, you can’t go wrong with choosing to study abroad. Many programs are open to all majors and there are a variety of short-term and long-term options available. You can even design your own program if you’re feeling particularly ambitious.

Travel fees can be burdensome, but Ohio State offers a number of study abroad scholarships, especially for those with financial need. Studying in another country allows you to practice your foreign language skills, discover a new culture, build your résumé, and broaden your perspective of the world. If you only do one thing on this list, STUDY ABROAD. You won’t regret it.

4. Attend an improvised comedy show: Campus groups such as 8^th Floor Improv and Fish Bowl Improv specialize in comedy of the “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” variety. The group improvises scenarios and dialogues on the spot, often taking suggestions from the audience. OSU improv groups usually host free shows during Welcome Week and perform in residence halls and the Ohio Union throughout the year. My favorite event is 8^th Floor Improv’s Facebook Show, where they create a series of sketches based on a public viewing of an audience member’s Facebook profile.

5. Participate in one of the Urban Gaming Club events: Dust off your old Nerf guns and join the slaughtering of flesh-eating hellions in UGC’s campus-wide event Infection. Zombies and humans face off in this weeklong battle for survival. But it’s more complicated than that: in the beginning, a few Original Zombies are unleashed into the mortal realm, and they could be anyone. You don’t know who to trust and who to slap with a stuffed sock. Find the time to relax and fart around with hundreds of fellow students amidst the stress of deadlines and exams.

Try new things, meet new people, and create stories appropriate to tell your parents. College may be about getting an education, but that’s no reason to forget that life is about living.