Back at school, the 'gods of fun' smile again

Well, it's that time again. Welcome freshman! Welcome back everyone else! Whether or not we wanted summer to end, it has, and now it's back to Princeton. Now is the time for us all to reunite and briefly share summertime experiences — and to then be thrown headfirst back into the saddle. To tell the truth, that saddle is looking pretty good, especially after a summer of, figuratively, riding bareback. One might think that the first summer home from college would be ground breaking in terms of fun and excitement. One might have told me that one was completely wrong.

I don't know why, but for some reason this past summer, the gods of fun decided to not simply ignore me, but somehow convinced their buddies — entertainment and activity — to ditch me as well. This is not to say that every one of my summers is always chock full of marvelous happenings or that I never have a second of boredom, but I suppose I had high expectations coming off of last summer. Freshmen, I know you know what I'm talking about! How great was it right after graduation? Parties all the time, the thrilling thought of college, the fun of buying new things for school and the fervent rush to see all your high school chums before you left, all crammed into three short months.

Sound good? It was! Did it happen again this summer? No! This summer was indeed chock full of happenings, but they weren't marvelous. In fact, they were downright annoying. Take June 11, for instance. June 11 was promising to be a great day for me. I was going to spend a day having fun in the sun and then see a concert. More specifically, I was going to be in a dunk tank while fans milled about waiting to see the 1980s band Poison. I was temporarily working for John Casablanca's Modeling Agency, of which my friend is a member. Not only would we get to be in the dunk tank all day, we'd also get to see the concert for free. It sounded like fun, and I liked the price.

All was going well, business was booming, and finally it was my turn to get in one of the tanks. I don't know how many of you have ever been in a dunk tank, but for those of you who have, you know it's not easy to dunk someone. The bulls eyes are pretty small, and it won't work unless it's hit dead on, and hard enough to push it all the way in. I certainly didn't expect to get dunked right away, especially not by the first guy that came up to my tank, and especially not with the very first ball he threw. At this point you may have guessed what happened. Unfortunately for me, I was not so quick on the uptake, and broke my foot when I landed. I was on crutches for almost a month. Yes, I broke my foot in a dunk tank at a Poison concert. That was fun summer happening number one, and it lasted long enough to knock out a month of possible other fun experiences, although I did catch the entire run of the "I love the 80s" series on VH1, which made it all worthwhile.

Fun summer happening number two was my trip with my family to San Francisco, which actually was fun in every way except one: It was darn cold! All of my cute outfits went to waste underneath a sweatshirt and scarf, and the wind, unbeknownst to me, had declared war on my hair. Whoever decided that Chicago was the windy city had their wires crossed somewhere. Anyway, we did have a lot of fun, and there was plenty to see and do in San Francisco, but I never thought I'd look forward to coming home to Connecticut from California to finally enjoy some summer weather. It's amazing how these things work out.

So, after this little overview of my summer shenanigans, it should be apparent to all that I'm utterly and completely ready to go back to school. Princeton held her arms out to me and I run to them, jumping with jubilation. Ask me how I am after a month of classes, and I'll certainly be cursing my return, but for now, I think I'll take time to bask in my temporary euphoria. Again, to all newcomers, welcome to Princeton! Soon enough, you will know and appreciate all it offers. For all returning students, welcome back, and brace yourselves for a spectacular year!

Noelle Muro is a sophomore from East Haven, Conn.