Spring Fling is overrated.

. Please don't hurt me.

Somebody had to say it, though, and I know I'm not the only person on campus who feels that way. (I'm not saying it's a widely held opinion, but there are 10,000 undergrads here. There's some law of probability that says someone else agrees with me.) Maybe it's because I lived in a first-floor hall in the Lower Quad freshman year, and the 9 a.m. mic checks and constant influx of people puking in our hallway and bathroom scarred me, but Fling tends to annoy me more than it gets me psyched. Then again, short of a prospective trip to Disney World, it takes a lot to get me excited.

Poll most people about what they're looking forward to and they will probably say fried Oreos and the concert. In Canada, we don't deep-fry what's already junk food, and I don't like to mix alternative rock with my hip-hop, so I've never really seen the attraction of either.

Yes, the festive atmosphere - bouncy houses, funnel cake, Mask & Wig and all - in the Quad is great and so are the downtown parties that pull out all the stops. This weekend really is the epitome of Penn as the "Social Ivy."

Beyond that, though, there's something contrived about student attitudes toward Fling. You know, the it's-Fling-so-we're-all-drinking-nonstop-regardless-of-what-mood-we're-in-or-how-much-work-we-have-and-anyone-who-doesn't-is-a-party-pooper attitude. There's something forced about the fun, which we have to have, and it never quite lives up to the hype.

Or, put more colloquially: "Dude, I can't wait for Fling - I'm gonna get so wasted! We're gonna start drinking Wednesday night, and we're not stopping 'till Sunday!"

I was just eating lunch with a friend who told me how excited she was. When I told her I thought it was overrated and contrived and that I didn't need an excuse to drink and party for three nights in a row, her response was that it's the one weekend of the whole year where the school comes together and everything else - homework, extracurriculars, graduation, finals - seems so far out of mind. Her feelings were confirmed when I took the pulse of others on why they looked forward to Fling.

That may be all well and good, but just because it is Spring Fling and everything seems so far out of mind, that doesn't make it so. All the alcohol in the world can't will away the fact that I - and many other students - still have a lot of work to do before the end of the semester, never mind finals. Let's not fool ourselves: As we're so fond of asserting, this is Penn, not Penn State, and when we wake up Flungover on Sunday (or Monday), we'll wonder if it was really worth it as we head to Van Pelt with extra-large water bottles and sunglasses. The memories of Fling will fade fast, but the workload still remains.

Spring Fling is less a relaxing weekend before the final push and more a stumbling block (literally - there will be a lot of stumbling in a couple days) that only increases stress after the weekend. I think I'd be more excited if Fling came between classes and exams as a light at the end of the tunnel. Nobody actually studies on reading days, anyway.

My friend said I was missing the point of Fling. Maybe I am, and maybe that's what bothers me about it so much - that I don't get it and it seems as if almost everyone else does. To me, it's just another weekend, not some mythical party to end all parties. When I wake up on Thursday morning, I won't feel any different than I do on any other Thursday.

Of course, none of this is going to stop me from heading to the Quad or going out Thursday/Friday/Saturday, and despite my claims to the contrary, I'll probably even have some fun. I'm just saying I'm not particularly excited for it.

Brandon Moyse is a College junior from Montreal. He is the former senior sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. What Aboot It, Eh? appears on Thursdays. His email address is moyse@dailypennsylvanian.com