Years lead to most notable experiences

By Yvette Herrera
Skiff Staff

Four years. Has it been that long? It seems like just yesterday I flew into Dallas/Fort Worth airport with my mom on an icy winter day in January. When I first came to TCU, not only was I taking a big step by going to college, but I was also leaving my parents in a country I call home — Mexico. I had spent years growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, and coming to college in the United States seemed like a confouding idea at the time. Things were different in the United States.

The first time I went to buy a pack of Camels at Albertsons, the lady asked for my ID. I couldn’t help but laugh. I hadn’t been carded for a bottle of Absolut Vodka since I was 16, much less a pack of cigarettes. So, when I gave her my U.S. passport, she told me she couldn’t take it. She needed a Texas ID.

So, first of all, I’m being carded, and secondly I show the lady an official U.S. document, stating I’m 18, going on 19 in only three months, but she still wouldn’t sell me the cigarettes. I immediately asked to see a manager while about five other people stood in line, frustrated with the fact that a 5-foot-5-inch, 95 pound, “Mexican” was complaining about not being able to buy cigarettes. Needless to say, I got my pack of Camels, and at the time felt the urge to smoke almost the entire pack.

Two months later when I tried to quit smoking and returned to Albertsons to buy a patch. The lady behind the counter suggested I buy the strongest one, being that I smoked about a pack of Camel Filters a day. So I bought the patch, and five hours later I found myself sitting in the waiting room of Harris Methodist Hospital. The nurse asked me questions like, “What’s your name?,” “What day is it?” and “How old are you?” When I told him I was born April 19, 1978, he responded by saying, “Oh, so you’re fixin’ to be 19.”

Confused, I looked at my friend sitting next to me, who grew up with me in Mexico, and said, “Que?” She explained to me that “fixin” meant “about to be.” I had just assumed the word fix meant to make something better. I had no idea Texans used the word for meanings other than those stated in Webster’s Dictionary.

I admit, I felt lonely when I first came to TCU, but as the years passed, I realized that my college experiences would become some of my best memories. In fact, I’d say I’ve learned a lot while at TCU. My first semester here, a freshman who lived in Colby Hall told me that women are supposed to put mascara on the bottom eye lashes, and not just the top. I also learned that you have to be 21 to drink in Texas, but if you walk down the strip, you’re bound to find a bar (Scooners) that will let you in the door.

I’ve gone nine weeks without doing laundry. Of course, the 20 loads that I ended up with took me an entire day to do. And, yes, that “freshman 15” is true. Of course, I think I needed to gain 15 pounds.

About 250 sheets of paper are used by one student throughout the course of each semester. That’s a total of 2000 sheets by the time graduation comes around. Of course, that doesn’t include all of the toilet paper, parking tickets, term papers and books we buy from the bookstore. All of this is enough to kill at least three trees by the time we graduate. That’s about 16 million trees that students contribute to killing while at TCU. For the love of trees ...
I will take my three trees and proudly walk across the stage May 12 in the Daniel Meyer Coliseum as the first to graduate in my family. As for the future, it looks like a long road.

What lies ahead is unsure, but I do know one thing. It’s been a notable four years.

Features Editor Yvette Herrera is a graduating senior news-editorial journalism major
from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. She can be reached at (y.m.herrera@student.tcu.edu).

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