Good advice is worth repeating twice -- or more. When I first got to university -- after four and a half years as a McManager, and a short stint travelling -- someone told me that the best part of being a student is that you're allowed to make mistakes.

From the $2,300 worth of dropped classes to the countless published typos I've made (I'm sorry dear, sweet readers) I've realized how true this is. If I hadn't stumbled up those long stairs to the Gauntlet office as a disoriented first-year, I would never have gotten to where I am today -- agonizing over what cliched advice I can impart as deadline creeps closer and closer and getting ready to quit (or "pause" as my mom prefers me to say) school to work as an overworked/underpaid journalist in a new city.

But, seriously, university is the time to try everything you can think of, from how much Den beer you can drink while still standing to attempting that bazillion-page research paper on the thing that interests you most -- you can worry about the mess you make later. And, what doesn't kill you . . .

Having a plan is a great way to make sure you rise above your lazy self, at least for me, but the best adventures I've had are the ones that have popped up along the way. I never planned on being a writer, but as a poli-sci kid, the one thing I knew I wanted to do was help people get informed about the world they live in.

Being involved in the community around you -- on campus that could be through the Students' Union, TriMedia or even the Video Game Club -- creates empowerment to help make the changes to the things we all complain about. As class sizes grow and the province attempts to backtrack on their promise that tuition would be linked to inflation, students should take care to guard their quality of education. It's not hard, pay attention to your Students' Union, who speaks for you to the government, watch what administration says and then what they actually do and vote -- at the very least.

At risk of losing what little respect you may have had for me, the young Aerosmith fan in me (and the realization that as this is my last student "journalist" piece, I'll never get away with this many cliches again) can't help but say life's a journey, not a destination.