I walk into Brown 100. The room is already packed with students. A TA hands me a stack of papers covered with text, diagrams and graphs. I’m thinking: the test is today?! It’s an essay test?! People glare at me as I bump into them looking for a seat. They’re all writing calmly and diligently. I fumble through the packets. My face is red, my heart is pounding. I don’t know anything. I thought the Human Evolution exam was multiple choice!

Suddenly I wake up in a cold sweat, jump out of bed and turn on my laptop. I have to study, I have to study, I have to.Oh, wait a minute.

This was one of my recent dreams. I had to wonder: does this dream reveal that I am neurotic? Does it reveal a repressed desire? Do other Wash. U. students experience similar dreams? Each day we wake up and go on with our lives, often ignoring and forgetting our dreams. But what are the common themes that Wash.U. students dream about and what can we learn from them?

To begin to understand the dream phenomenon, I turned to Professor Stephan Schindler. Schindler is the chair of the German Department, but his knowledge goes beyond Germanic language and literature; he is also an expert in comparative literature, film and media studies, and gender studies. He is currently teaching a course called “Literary Theory: Unwrapping Psychoanalysis.” It is the first time that this course has been offered to undergraduate students and our first task in the class was to read Freud’s “Interpretation of Dreams.”

Professor Schindler offered some of his insights into what he suspects students dream about and how they should begin to interpret and understand their dreams.

Schindler suspects that the majority of students’ dreams are erotic. Schindler noted that according to Freud, dreams ultimately represent a wish fulfillment; they explore our desires and our need for relationships, love and recognition. We may also feel great vulnerability in our dreams.

Indeed, college is a highly vulnerable time. As freshmen, most students undergo a trauma when they separate from their families and live on their own. Throughout the college journey, students struggle to “find themselves.” Many of our dreams may reflect these anxieties.

Schindler said that my dreams about being unprepared for exams are actually quite typical. They probably go back to a fear of authority or a need to please authority. More horrific dreams can represent deeper anxieties, while the exam dream is a milder anxiety dream common among college students.

Schindler said that it is often helpful for students to talk about their dreams with each other. Not only do our dreams provide fun stories, but sharing them can also work as a “bonding procedure.” Most of us have only known our college friends for a maximum of four years, but dreams can reveal intimate feelings and desires gathered over the course of our lives. Because of this, Schindler pointed out that we should tread carefully when listening to someone recount their dreams.

“When people listen to [each other's] dreams, they should never make fun of them,” said Schindler.

Dreams should be handled with respect. If someone shares their dream with you, this indicates that they trust you and feel comfortable confiding in you.

While it can be a meaningful experience to share dreams with fellow students, it’s important to recognize that our peers are not experts. It is tempting to read meaning into every image and experience from dreams, but even the experts say dream interpretation is no easy task and that it’s easy to go wrong. Many dream books or Internet sites that claim to analyze dreams don’t work; they provide a universal interpretation and ignore the fact that each dream is experienced differently by different people. While dreams often share common symbols or themes, such as falling or flying (or being unprepared for a test), the meaning behind each dream depends on the specific circumstances of the dreamer.

Keeping a dream journal is another way to make sense of dreams. Anne Herbst, a sophomore studying art and English, has kept a dream journal since the seventh grade. She says that the journal has been hard to keep up with in college because she often wakes up from a dream and has to rush to class without time to reflect upon or record it. When she does have time, though, Herbst writes down every detail of a dream that she can remember and then tries to interpret it.

Herbst says that she focuses on the dream’s mood and atmosphere for interpretation. She also considers symbols. Over time, as you keep a record of your dreams, Herbst says that you will likely start to notice recurring symbols.

Herbst echoed Schindler’s point that every dream and symbol is highly personal. For example, in traditional symbolism, the fox represents mischievousness and thievery; however, if you’ve always loved foxes, then a fox appearing in your dreams may represent more positive concepts. The meaning of the symbol depends on your own personal relationship with it.

Herbst has some great tips for students who want to enhance not only the understanding of their dreams but also the dream experience itself. “Thinking about your life and the experiences of the day before you go to bed can lead you to have more powerful dreams,” said Herbst.

Whether you keep a journal of your dreams, share your dreams with friends or family or simply think about last night’s dream on the way to class, just remember that the content of your dreams comes from your own life experiences and represents nothing to be feared. And if the current research is correct, you’re likely to find a desire for love factoring into your dreams-both the pleasurable and the horrific ones.

As Schindler explains, “It’s because [people] want to be loved. That’s what it’s all about.”

So the next time you wake up in a cold sweat after dreaming about missing a final exam and your instinct is to call yourself neurotic, remember that many people’s anxieties and desires are expressed in their dreams. It may ultimately come down to a need for love; perhaps, for some of us, that love comes in the form of an A.

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