After spending two full years at Binghamton University, I now begin looking back on what I have left behind in my lovely town on Long Island.

Certainly I could talk about the fact that East Meadow is sunnier, nicer, friendlier, closer to the city and nearer to a beach. I could talk about how there is more to do there; I could talk about missing my friends and all of the great times we had. I might look back on how I miss my parents and my grandpa. I might even wish I was on Long Island simply because when I am there I am not overwhelmed with an unbelievable amount of homework, as I am here at Binghamton.

However, I find that I never really think about any of these things while I am away from home. While I am in the tangent universe that is Binghamton, I find that I live in the moment. I only really think about things that concern my life here — save one.

For some reason I miss my 14-year-old sister Jaime more than any of the rest. I call her almost daily and for some reason she is the only part of home I wish I could have with me up here.

While spending all this time with horny, insane, loud and wild college kids, there’s something about calling my sister in the afternoon and seeing how she is doing in high school that lets me get away from it all. I spend all day every day with a bunch of 20-year-olds who know everything and are never wrong, so maybe spending some time talking to a girl who knows nothing and knows she knows nothing is humbling.

At the risk of sounding completely ridiculous and unintelligible, I just want to say that maybe we could all afford to be a little more like my younger sister. Many times college students are in such a hurry to grow up that they forget to live. We go out on all nights of the week, sent before our time into the depths of the Rathskeller; we spend hours and hours studying for the MCATs and LSATs and GREs. Rarely do we experience a moment’s peace. It seems all too easy for a college student to forget the simple pleasures of life.

And so now you finish up finals and go home for the summer, no doubt to an internship or job, because the real world is calling for you. And God knows you need to support yourself at a state school while being on your own, keeping up with $80 Abercrombie sweatshirts and $150 North Face Jackets. As you do all of these things (or maybe none of them) do not forget to enjoy your childish fun while you still can.

So my advice to you for next year at Binghamton, while you are working your $8 an hour job to feed your cocaine addiction and drinking yourself insane, all the while trying to find a future spouse and doing all you can to get a passing grade in college — remember the little things in life. You are still young, and you have all the time in the world.

Lee J. Lefkowitz is a sophomore English and math major and is op/ed editor. He’d do anything to be able to wake up at 6:30 in the morning, take a bus to high school and spend the day learning the simple truths of life.