Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Your undergraduate Bucky List

50 things to complete before the best four years of your life come to an end
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Dear Badgers, you have in front of you a priceless compilation of knowledge, a holy grail of to-do lists. This is your Bucky List, a list of 50 things we highly advise you to indulge in before you don your cap and gown at the end of your undergraduate career and say goodbye to the University of Wisconsin. You see, when your senior year comes to an end, you’ll enter the scary world of post-grad life. As you grow old and less physically attractive, you’ll romanticize the past, fondly recalling all the reckless and life-affirming things you did.

Think of this list as time travel. Future You won’t have to worry 10 years from now about what you COULD have done as an undergraduate; you’ll already have done it. Even if you don’t complete everything on this list, you’ll still have done much more than any of our friends in the Twin Cities or Ann Arbor. So, dear Badgers, hang on to this invaluable list and stick it on your new mini-fridge. These four years will fly by; there’s no time like the present to get started crossing things off this list.

  1. Have sex in the Memorial Library stacks.
  2. Walk, run or bike to Picnic Point. (Bonus points if it’s across frozen Lake Mendota in the winter.)
  3. Try every coffee shop on State Street, determine your favorite.
  4. Rent a kayak through Hoofers.
  5. Eat a hungover breakfast at Mickies Dairy Bar.
  6. Raise your hand and answer a question in a 400-person lecture.
  7. Get on the Dean’s List.
  8. Have a conversation with at least one homeless person.
  9. Write a term paper the night before it’s due.
  10. Go to the Dane County Farmers’ Market and revel in the fresh vegetables, beautiful flower bouquets and the hot, melt-in-your-mouth cheese bread.
  11. Kiss Abe.
  12. Get lost in Humanities.
  13. Watch the sun set at the Terrace.
  14. Meet Chancellor Becky Blank.
  15. Attend the Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison’s version of Cannes with more than 150 films presented over eight days every April.
  16. Pull an all-nighter at College Library.
  17. Start “the wave” at a Badger football game.
  18. Sled down Observatory Hill using cafeteria trays from Liz Waters.
  19. Order a pitcher at the Terrace. Or several.
  20. Drink a fishbowl at Wando’s. Attempt the whole thing by yourself if you’re feeling reckless/brave.
  21. Call out a professor or T.A. for being wrong.
  22. Go to Devil’s Lake.
  23. Skinny dip in Lake Mendota.
  24. Spend part of a day chilling with animals at the Henry Vilas Zoo.
  25. Get @UWMadison to tweet at you or favorite one of your tweets.
  26. Pregame a final.
  27. See a concert at any of Madison’s many music venues — the Majestic, Orpheum, High Noon Saloon, Frequency, Overture, etc.
  28. Get an article published in The Badger Herald. There’s no better feeling than seeing your name in a byline.
  29. Get a two-dollar Long Island on a Thursday night at the Plaza Tavern.
  30. Go to the Mifflin Street Block Party: a sun-filled day in which beer is consumed for every meal.
  31. Vote in an election.
  32. Take part in a protest at the Capitol.
  33. Take a nap in College Library, usually after completing number 16.
  34. Take a nap on Bascom Hill on a sunny day.
  35. Attend a Badger hockey game — probably one of the rowdiest, most profane sporting events you’ll ever attend.
  36. Go to Freakfest on State Street and revel in the largest concentration of shitfaced Miley Cyrus look-a-likes on the planet.
  37. Get in a snowball fight on Bascom Hill after a heavy snowfall (and pray for another snow day).
  38. Explore Willy Street.
  39. Get a slice of Ian’s mac ‘n’ cheese pizza at 2 a.m. Start conversations with other drunkards while you wait in line.
  40. Scream a curse word in the quiet section of Helen C. White.
  41. Take a bike ride through the Arboretum.
  42. Take advantage of medical services/safe sex resources at UHS and Sex Out Loud.
  43. Have a picnic in James Madison Park.
  44. Make a bonfire at Picnic Point.
  45. Take a class outside your major just because you’re interested in it. (Gender and Women’s Studies 103 is highly recommended — if you can make it past the waitlist.)
  46. Get a librarian to help you with a research paper.
  47. Study abroad for a semester or summer.
  48. Drink free alcohol at fraternity/sorority parties.
  49. Make out on a Lake Mendota dock.
  50. Spend a summer in Madison. You get to experience all the greatness the city has to offer without the stress that accompanies perpetual coursework during the school year. Spending day after day on the Terrace makes winter completely worth it.

What’s on your Bucky List? Let us know with a tweet at @badgerherald or with the hashtag #buckylist. Or leave us a comment below.

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Correction: Number 48 was changed to reflect the alcohol-free nature of fraternity/sorority rush parties.

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