Reflecting on Cobber moments

Graduation is just around the corner, and those of us who are getting ready to leave Concordia are most likely feeling quite nostalgic. I found it hard to express the many little things I will miss about Concordia, so I have compiled a collection of Cobber Moments which I began in sophomore year and have now, in light of my impending graduation, completed. Enjoy.

1) The Beanie. When you’re a freshman walking with your clubbies, sporting those lovely yellow beanies, and suddenly you feel a tug and turn around to see a guy running off with your beanie in hand. You yell and you yell but he does not turn around. Thus the animosity towards the Dragons begins. (Even creepier is when that dude finds you on Facebook and asks to be friends…)

2) The Dining Service Mints. Have you ever notice how those DS mints last forever? Emily Carlson ’14 knows the feeling well. “I always put one in my mouth” she says. “And then I find myself later saying ‘what….how am I still sucking on this mint?”

3) The Awkward Walk.  You know all those long sidewalks across campus, like from the music building to Knutson? The walks where you can see whoever is coming toward you from half a mile away?  Yeah.  You know the place.  Ripe for awkward encounters with those casual acquaintances. Worst case scenario: you both make eye contact long before you are in acceptable hearing distance.  Then you both have to knowingly kill time, until at last it’s socially acceptable to say “hey”. Or you can do what Sam Odegard ’14 does and just have a dance-off.

4) Getting Scared by the Bell Tower. When the bell tower finds it funny to wait until you are right next to it, preferably on the phone, and then it goes off and scares you crapless.

5) Post-Winter Joy. The moment it hits 30 degrees and the entire student body is outside, covering Olin, tossing footballs, walking to the Red River to gawk at the flood. This year, seeing how it’s still snowing in April, it hits 20 degrees and people are in flip flops and t-shirts, singing Hallelujah in the streets (in six part harmony, of course.)

6) Choir Chaos. Realizing choir just got out and sprinting to DS in the hopes of snagging a seat before the musical swarms set in. Or worse, when choirs have mass rehearsal and the line for DS is all the way past the Info desk, and the line for the sweet-n-sour chicken is past Bliss. Madness!

7) Singing “Alone”. Making eye contact with someone as they are singing loudly to themselves because they thought they were alone. Or better, when you’re the one singing. And singing very loudly. (This happened in Hoyum all the time.)

8) Awkward Library Encounters. When you are in the library at a desk that is split down the middle so computers are facing both sides, and someone you know walks up and takes the computer opposite of you. Their face is right in front of you as you sit down, but do you look up? Do you say “hey”? Without fail, I always look up at them, and then look away right when they look back, and this happens a few times, until I just keep my eyes down, feeling guilty.

9) Cornstock. When Cornstock rolls around and you walk through campus and keep hearing “USA! USA!” The only day when Concordia turns into an amusement park (besides maybe Homecoming.)

10) Cobber Lore. We know them well, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the legends of Concordia.

•Don’t walk under the bell tower alone, or you’ll be alone until you die. Or walk under with someone and you’re bound to be married.

•There is an 80% chance you will marry a Cobber. And then get married under the bell tower.

•If you rub the statue outside of Grose called Ole and Lena, you’ll have good luck on tests.

•The haunted places in Concordia: Fjelstad (someone once told me they had their socks rearranged by a ghost that haunted their room), the Theater, Old Main, Hoyum (it’s debated between 5th floor and 6th floor), and according to Prof. Cathy McMullen, her office.

•The highest and lowest points in Moorhead are Olin Hill and Prexy’s Pond, respectively.

•BREW.

•It was once said that an old president of Concordia misspelled the word Cobbers at the beanie toss that year: instead of C-O-B-B-E-R-S he shouted, “Give me a C! Give me an O! Give me a B! Give me another B! Give me an A!” Give me an R! Give me an S! What’s that spell?” All the freshmen: “Cobbars…?”

•The mystery of “Why are the Maize fries so freaking delicious?!”

11) Concordia Celebrities. Rene Clausen, regarded by all Cobbers (especially Concert Choir) as a god among men. Bruce Vieweg, known by even the most secluded of Cobbers for his line, “Please excuse my intrusion to your day.” President Craft, also known as P-Craft, one of the happiest presidents anyone has ever seen. Also, I have to include this even though this is only relevant now: the celeb couple Joel Leeman and Natalie Decker, aka “Deckman” (or “Leeker”?). Everyone agrees they’re just the cutest couple.

12) Friends. Everywhere. It is such a Cobber thing that you can walk around and basically recognize everyone. Naturally this can be good and bad. But overall, it means you are a part of a great big community. People smile at you as you pass, even when the wind is freezing your eyelids shut and the temperatures are dropping to twenty below zero. People guest pass you into DS when you’ve forgotten your ID, just out of the kindness of their heart. It’s that Cobber camaraderie. It’s something that anyone who is getting ready to leave suddenly greatly appreciates, and suddenly realizes how much it will be missed.

As I write these words, I realize how I will miss each and everyone of these Cobber Moments. I leave you to appreciate them to the fullest. My wise old senior advice to all who still have memories to come, can only be phrased in the words of a great man names Ferris Bueller: “Life comes at you fast; if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you might miss it.”