A friend asked me a brilliant question the other day. She asked me what it was that I could regret about my college years.

It's the kind of question that you could ask someone about any particular part of his or her life — or perhaps about his or her life in general. Her question struck at me and set me back a second though, most likely because my college career indeed is drawing too quickly to an end.

At once, I am consumed by the thought that I really am nowhere closer to knowing what I want to really do with my life than the day I first set foot on this campus. What is important, though, is that I am miles closer to understanding who I am and what I really want.

And that idea I will propose, is where I really am so much further ahead than so many others I have known in my time at Penn State.

Everyone loves to write their final column as if they have come to some brilliant revelation during their college years and now must bestow such knowledge on the masses. I promise not to do that. I would much rather reflect on the good choices I did make and in turn, my argument will be made as you read and think about the choices you have made and continue to have the opportunity to make.

I made the wonderful choice of trying so many things while I was here. I suffer the flaw of not being great at anything, but being pretty good at a lot of things. Each year has been like a different phase of life, with different ideas, different motivations, different organizations and different friends. I've spent all four years with some organizations, and just a semester or two trying others out.

I began to really care about my community. I stood on the corner of Beaver Avenue and Locust Lane during two riots, and I will always remember those as two of the saddest nights of my time in State College. This place can give so much to you if you are willing and open to take it. Why would anyone do so much to destroy it?

I allowed people to challenge me. There are certain people I have known who for better and for worse have challenged me down to the root of what I believe. Sometimes they put you through hell but they show you to your own soul, usually without even trying. I've known three of those people at Penn State.

I went to the Saloon every Thursday night for two years and saw JR and Sharon play. Why a good choice? It's just gonna be worth it for the way I'll feel when I walk into the place 20 years from now. The memories by their nature will be cloudy, but they'll be good ones nonetheless.

I didn't allow Penn State to be a sub-par, packaged education. There are some amazing professors (actually most of them don't really hold that title, ironically) at this university. And I found a few of them. I can't say much more about this, except that if you don't take Sam Richard's Sociology of Race and Ethnic Relations before you graduate, you are doing yourself the greatest disservice you possibly could. All you engineering and math majors out there — stop complaining about TAs who can't speak English — take a class that will change your entire way of thinking and will probably change your life. And there are others out there . . . if you've ever seen Jose Texidor retry the O.J. Simpson trial on the chalkboard or had a chance to take acting tips from Charles Dumas you know what I am talking about.

I've opened my mind to the people around me and the experiences that we don't have in common. I've skipped a class and took a nap on Mount Nittany. I've even been in Pattee Library a couple of times. I've done a lot of things that I'm proud of and quite a few that no one really would be proud of.

Will your college career be summed up by going to class and burying your head in your books every night or by sitting in your apartment and drinking with the same three friends night after night? Will your only statements be about Penn State and how much it sucks and how little it did for you? Were you really just a number?

I may not be all too sure of what exactly comes next, but the most important thing I've learned is that I don't have to worry about it.

My friend asked me what it would be that I would regret about the past four years. I would revise my answer to say I regret spending any time regretting anything at all. Peace.