BY BERİRE GÜNDÜZ CS/III)
berire.gunduz@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
Do you think your existence is meaningless? Are you searching for some excitement in your student life? Good news, everyone! With the help of this list of Bilkent challenges, you will now be wasting your life not with boring stuff, but with fun stuff. Challenge one of your friends or lifelong enemies and declare the person who earns the most points the winner. Then observe how the winner goes back to his/her unsatisfying, boring life a few minutes later.
• Challenges for people with low tolerance to adrenaline
Are you the kind of person who can’t stand unexpected surprises, scary pranks or, actually, any activity that will make you feel a bit anxious? Don’t worry, I understand, and am writing down a few challenges just for you.
1. Surviving a whole week eating only pasta (10 points)
This challenge is especially for people who have run out of money or who obsessively love pasta. As pasta can be cooked in a kettle very quickly and preparing it is as easy as turning the kettle on, this challenge won’t be hard at all (unless you have a very strange kettle that is turned on by solving a Rubik’s cube).
2. Presentation in front of a group of pigeons (15 points)
I imagine that since you have a low tolerance to adrenaline, you don’t like to speak in front of a crowd. But what if you were challenged to speak not to humans, but to a group of pigeons? And it doesn’t have to be pigeons; if you can find some cats or even some ants that will volunteer to listen to your presentation, 10 points can be yours. With the help of this challenge, you can also practice your presentation skills.
3. No-sleep challenge (5 points per day the contestant is awake)
To get points from this challenge, all you have to do is stay fully awake. You can use any method to do this. The challenging part is that when you do it with one of your competitive friends, you may both end up seeing hallucinations, feeling dizzy and experiencing memory loss. But just consider this: many people drink alcohol to end up with these symptoms, so think of this challenge as an exercise in getting wasted.
• Challenges for people with high tolerance to adrenaline
If you are an adventurous spirit with nerves of steel, these challenges are for you. In addition to the ones listed below, you could also set yourself on fire while bungee jumping from the top of EB Building. Just be sure to take your fire extinguisher with you.
1. “Bogies” challenge in the library (25 points)
The bogies challenge is from a show called “Dick and Dom in da Bungalow,” and to do this one, you and your friend have to yell the word “bogies” in a quiet library. The one who yells at the highest decibel level wins the challenge. You can do this in the Bilkent Library. Just be sure you stop yelling right before you are taken to an asylum.
To watch the Dick and Dom bogies challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_farHgMfM
2. Hiking in the Bilkent woods at night (50 points)
If you like walking and also like the nighttime, after hiking in the Bilkent woods at night you’ll hate them both. Since Bilkent students’ lost hopes also walk in the depths of these woods at night, you may find this challenge a bit scary. Some even say that students who go crazy after final exams are sent to the Bilkent woods until they get their sanity back (if they ever do). So be sure to take your motivation with you when you decide to take this challenge on.
3. Dropping out of school and facing your family (∞ points)
The final challenge is dropping out of school and telling your parents about it. Since you will definitely be killed by your parents after giving them this news, this challenge can be categorized as life threatening. But hey, you’ll be the winner of the Bilkent Challenge, and you’ll be able to say from down there in hell, “It was worth it.” It sounds like a good deal to me.
If you take on these challenges, please share your experiences with me, and if you want to expand the list or share your ideas about the challenges, feel free to send me an email.