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Bucket List Adventures: What do You Want to Check off Your List?

The Oxford Dictionary defines a bucket list as, “a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.”

The idea of bucket lists is common nowadays, from a movie, The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, to dozens of Internet lists that suggest ideas. Many people enjoy the idea of a bucket list, seeing it as a sort of checklist for themselves, a way that they can measure the achievements in their lives.

The content of a bucket list varies, depending on who creates it, some people want to travel, and put things such as visiting all seven continents, or the Seven Wonders of the World. Some have goals that revolve around pop culture, such as watching IMDb’s (the Internet Movie Database) list of the one hundred best movies.

Others are more interested in things on an athletic scale, such as running a marathon or climbing a mountain. Of course, there are more options besides these. Internet articles suggest things such as flying in a hot-air balloon, going scuba-diving, or eating at one of the world’s best restaurants. Some are more career or academically inclined, such as writing a book or becoming the CEO of a company. The only thing that is certain about a bucket list is that it is created by the individual, and often reflects their favorite things in life.

Katharine Dix, a political science major, claims that the top three items on her bucket list are “…to go to the Great Wall of China, to go to the Himalayas, and to meet the Queen of England.”

Meanwhile, Zach Wheatley, a freshman English major, has a more adventurous checklist, which includes, “Buying a plane, going skydiving (maybe without a parachute) and going wingsuit gliding.” The two of them show just how varied bucket lists can be; one involves travel, while the other appears to be a daredevil’s checklist.

Most students, at this point in their lives, have yet to go through most of their bucket lists. Many bucket lists are composed of crazy things that can’t be done as a teenager, such as buying a plane. Others just require time and money that people may not have at the moment, such as travelling to all seven continents. However, some have achieved at least one or two of their goals, as is the case of Erica Walsh, a freshman psychology major, who was able to achieve her goal of swimming with dolphins while on a family vacation to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas a few years before she came to college.

However, some professors have been able to check off their bucket-list adventures. Mary Burke, an adjunct professor of computer science and software engineering, has a bucket list that mainly involves helping others and raising her family.

When asked what her top bucket list choices are, she responded by saying that she would like to go to Ireland, to see her granddaughters weddings and be present to see the birth of her great-grandchildren, and be able to help society. She’s also crossed a few things off her bucket list, which involved, “going on a cruise to Alaska, educating and raising two daughters, and having four grand-daughters.” According to Burke, the camping and cruise to Alaska was number one on the list for herself and her husband.

While not many students have been able to check off their bucket list adventures, some have been successful, and others are sure to do so in the future. Professors are also checking off their lists as they go through life. It seems as if everyone has some sort of bucket list, a checklist of all the fun and adventurous things that they want to do at some point in their lives.

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