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The new school year is just around the corner. For the first time in 22 years, I'm not going shopping. I'm not buying new clothes, or notebooks, or wondering who my teacher will be (or looking my profs up on Ratemyprofessor ;D)
It's a strange feeling. I'm happy of course, because I also know it will be the first time I'm not up till the early hours of the morning working on projects and finals. And I won't be worrying about grades and tests and homework.
But I also won't have any more chances to go to a college party, or make new friends, or meet a cute guy in the library.
All I can think of is this story about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant spent all summer preparing for winter, and the grasshopper played around. When winter rolled around, the ant had all the things it needed to survive the winter, and the grasshopper had nothing. I feel like college and high school were my chance to gather up all those fun experiences to store away for now. Yes, I go out (more now than I did in college) but I feel like I just missed out on something.
In college, I commuted - so at night when there were parties, I was at home. I made a handful of friends, but I wasn't around after 5 so why would they have thought to ask me to tag along to a party? I went to one party and went out with one guy through undergrad. By graduate school, I just focused on getting done and getting out.
And now I'm out. And realizing I may have got the degrees, and I might have all that education - but there was another whole aspect to the college experience I missed out on. And today, I miss it.
It's a strange feeling. I'm happy of course, because I also know it will be the first time I'm not up till the early hours of the morning working on projects and finals. And I won't be worrying about grades and tests and homework.
But I also won't have any more chances to go to a college party, or make new friends, or meet a cute guy in the library.
All I can think of is this story about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant spent all summer preparing for winter, and the grasshopper played around. When winter rolled around, the ant had all the things it needed to survive the winter, and the grasshopper had nothing. I feel like college and high school were my chance to gather up all those fun experiences to store away for now. Yes, I go out (more now than I did in college) but I feel like I just missed out on something.
In college, I commuted - so at night when there were parties, I was at home. I made a handful of friends, but I wasn't around after 5 so why would they have thought to ask me to tag along to a party? I went to one party and went out with one guy through undergrad. By graduate school, I just focused on getting done and getting out.
And now I'm out. And realizing I may have got the degrees, and I might have all that education - but there was another whole aspect to the college experience I missed out on. And today, I miss it.
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