You know that video every student watches in eighth-grade health class? The one with the scary old lady who smokes through a hole in her throat? I currently sound just like her. And it’s all because Full Moon got the best of me.

I went to the Quad with one mission: kiss the Tree. And, like, a lot of guys. I had to. According to a straw poll conducted by my friend Jeremy, Twain had voted me most likely to kiss the most people. (And isn’t that a lovely accomplishment to list on a resume?) Once the challenge was issued, I knew I had to win. The Stanford student inside of me hates losing more than anything, and plus, a couple people in my hallway had money riding on the bet. I couldn’t let them lose, now could I? Kissing the Tree was important to me for a different reason. Unlike a lot of people, I don’t believe it’s good luck because a) there is no such thing as good luck or bad luck, only people with good attitudes and people with bad attitudes, and b) I’m pretty sure even if luck were real, kissing someone who had previously kissed several hundred other people would not be lucky — it would be a way to contract mono and quite possibly oral herpes. No, I wanted to kiss the Tree because it was on the List.

What is this List, you might ask? (And more importantly, why does it need to be capitalized?) The List is something my fellow ‘15er Kale and I worked on this summer in between taking four-hour naps and eating Cocoa Puffs on my couch. Basically, it encompasses everything we hope this year will be about. Silliness. Forming new relationships. Adventure. Learning things — both inside and outside of the classroom. Whichever one of our friends can check the most items off the List by June gets a prize and bragging rights for pretty much the rest of eternity. Now, without further ado, I present the List:

Bianca and Kale’s List for Freshman Year Success

1.Kiss the Tree
2.Get an A+
3. Eat at every dining hall on campus
4. Attend at least one game for every varsity sport
5. Attend every home football game (and one away game)
6. Fountain hop in every fountain
7. Make friends with a professor
8. Learn the name of every person in your dorm
9. Do spring break BIG
10. Climb to the top of Hoover Tower
11. Take part in an experiment/study
12. Pledge a sorority
13. Host a ProFro and convince her to choose Stanford
14. Pull an all-nighter (studying)
15. Pull an all-nighter (partying)
16. Make dinner for a boy
17. Dance on the mantle at Sigma Chi
18. Go to Exotic Erotic and dance with a (nearly) naked person
19. Dance all 24 hours at Dance Marathon
20. Actually ski during the Tahoe Trip
21. Take a road trip with friends
22. Attend a poetry reading at a coffee shop (that’s what college students do, right?)
23. Crawl through the steam tunnels
24. Volunteer, not because it looks good on your resume, but because it feels good
25. Hike the Dish at sunrise with someone who really matters

Oh and by the way, I totally failed both of my Full-Moon missions. I only kissed one guy, and it wasn’t on the Quad or even under the full moon. I guess there’s always next year, right?

Know an easy way to get into the steam tunnels? Tell Bianca at blchavez “at” Stanford “dot” edu, so she can be one step closer to finishing the List.