The Cycle of (College) Life

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting at the table by the front window of Bongo Java, one of my favorite spots here.  Joe is sleeping beside me in the City Elite, oblivious to the hum of activity all around him.  I'm listening to a 70's mix on Spotify, so I can't hear the music playing over the sound system.  Likewise, I can't hear bits and pieces of conversations people are having over coffee at nearby tables.

It's kind of cool, though, to look around and see people talking - some animatedly - but not to be able to hear what they're talking about.  When I look out fo the front window on to the deck, I see tables of people - mostly Belmont U. students - talking and laughing.  A few (including my friend and resident  barrista artist, George) are engaged in conversations that appear to be a little more serious.  They're drinking coffee (all kinds of coffee drinks), smoking and talking.  A few people are sitting along, studying or working on laptops.

My favorite is the guy sitting on the deck, by himself, smoking a pipe while he works on his laptop.  He's clearly a college student, probably not even 22 years old.  Oh, did I mention he's smoking a pipe?  I see that here occasionally and it absolutely kills me every time.  I want to walk up to him and ask him if he realizes how utterly ridiculous he looks.  I also want to tell him that in 10 years, when he recalls that he smoked a pipe in college, he'll be embarrassed beyond belief.

There are a few "townies" at Bongo Java this afternoon, like Joe and me.  A couple of them have their dogs with them or are stopping by after finishing a run on Belmont Boulevard.  Mostly, it's students, though.

The students finish exams the day after tomorrow.  Graduation is a week from  yesterday.  Belmont's campus will be abuzz with actifity this week, as parents arrive to help their sons and daughters pack up their dormitory rooms and apartments to move home for the summer.  Other parents and family members will descend on campus to celebrate their son's or daughter's graduation.  When exams end, the students will stay out a little later and be a little (or a lot) more rambunctious as they celebrate the end of another school year.  They'll pack up another year's worth of college memories and say goodbye to their friends until they return to campus the end of the summer to do it all again.

By next Sunday, the students and their families will be gone and summer will be here.  In college towns  or communities with colleges or universities at their epicenter, the seasons pass on a little different timetable than in the rest of the world.  Here, in my adopted neighborhood, summer starts way early - in early May - after graduation, when the students return home.  Summer ends in early August, when fall semester begins and the students return to campus.

Bongo Java will close an hour ealier at night (10 p.m., rather than 11 p.m.).  Parking will be a lot better.  It will be easier to get a table at the restaurants/bars (P.M, Chago's, Blvd. Nashville and International Market).  Traffic will be a lot lighter, too.  It's nice for the first couple of weeks, but then I'll start to miss the Belmont U. students, probably because I feel a bit younger just being around them.  I like to think their innocence, their energy, their enthusiam rubs off on me.  At the very least, it makes me smile.

Happy summer, Belmont U. students.  Happy life, graduates.