I would swear to you I was just moving into my freshman dorm, still stuck in the world of high school and counting the days until I got to go home. But here I am four very short years later and I’m graduating in just a couple of weeks. And though I really won’t miss the classes or the actual work, there are plenty of things I will miss every day while I am home.
1. Living with My Best Friends.
I spent the last 4 years living within 15 steps from my best friend's bed. Whenever I need cuddles, a movie buddy or some Chinese food I just get up out of my bed and walk to hers (or text her and tell her to come to mine). And this year I had 3 wonderful housemates to do that with.
2. Living So Close To Everyone Else.
Even my friends who don't live in the same house as me, lived down the street. Whenever I want, I can choose to go up to their apartment for a quick hi, to steal some food or just to see their cat. I can leave their place at 1:05 a.m. and text them I'm home by 1:10 am and that's after I forget to do it when I first get home. I have keys to their apartments and leave a few things every time I stop by, whether on purpose or not, for the next time I'm there.
3. Frat parties (and my favorite frat).
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm 21 years old and I still love frat parties. It's friends, dancing, and free alcohol, what's not to love? I've been walking into the same houses since freshman year. I know the brothers, the perfect place to hide my stuff, who to go to to get a drink fastest, and where the clean bathroom is and it's a weirdly amazing feeling. In a house with a 100 people shoved in it, I still feel important, happy, and loved.
4. Knowing the Whole Bar.
There’s one bar to go to (okay two but no one really goes to the other once unless the first is capped) so I am always be surround by friends. If I really want too, I can go by myself and find a whole group to take shots with. I can't take 5 steps without seeing someone else I know and I pretty much know all of the bartenders too at this point. I know the specials by heart and know exactly what I need to order to reach the minimum to use my card.
5. Personal Days.
I know personal days are a thing in the real world but they are normally used for adult things like doctor’s appointments and funerals. But in college I can just wake up one morning and decide naw for the day and go back to bed. I don't have to call out or worry about what I miss. I mean I should email my professors and figure out what I can make up but I normally don't. I decide what I do and when and it's a beautiful feeling having so much freedom when I need a break.
6. It's Okay to be Poor.
In the real world, it's not okay to sometimes have only $4 to your name and to spend that $4 on a Wendy's 4 for 4 and dig through your car for the 28 cents for tax. I’m going to start having to offer to pay when I go out with friends, paying back loans, and I should probably buy car that doesn't take 15 minutes to warm up. Plus I'm going to need a lot of new clothes because my favorite frat outfits don't work for the office. So all of a sudden, the poor life I've lived for 4 years just isn't okay.
7. Summer, Winter and Spring Breaks.
What do you mean I no longer get a random month off around Christmas or 4 months off to enjoy the summer? I need that time to lay on the couch and do nothing. But nope adult world doesn't give that to me and I am very upset about it.
8. Everything is Normal at 2 a.m.
Sometimes I shower at 2 a.m., I'm eating dinner at 2 a.m., I'm just going out at 2 a.m., I'm doing homework at 2 a.m., and sometimes I've been sleeping for 4 hours at 2 a.m.,. It doesn't matter what I'm doing it's fine (it’s fine, everything’s fine) and acceptable. 2 a.m., is prime time for most of my activities.
9. Messed-up Sleep Schedule.
No College Sleep Schedule is normal (See #8). Sometimes I go to sleep at 2am other times at 10 p.m., and sometimes I don't sleep at all. I wake up at the last possible second to get ready and go through my entire day waiting to take a nap. This goes on and on until I have a day off and then I sleep for 15 hours. But now I'm supposed to have a regulated sleep schedule and not take naps. What do you mean NO NAPS!?
10. Food Dates.
In college, someone is always down for food. If you want sushi, someone else wants sushi. If you want pizza someone else wants pizza. Literally anything you want, whenever you want it, someone else will get it. Doesn't matter if it's 3 a.m. Taco Bell or 3 p.m. Taco Bell (I really love Taco Bell) all it takes is a couple texts and maybe a tweet and you're on your way.
11. My favorite places on campus.
Everyone has their spot on campus. The place they feel safe, where they can stay all day and just feel happy. I had a couple places that made me comfortable and content and I don't think that feeling will be found anywhere else
12. Procrastination.
Real people don’t have 11:59 p.m. deadlines and if they do, they aren’t turning it in at 11:58 p.m.. You can’t procrastinate meeting with your boss until he just gives you the extension or send the corrupted file to your CEO. None of this flies in the real world and I am going to miss choosing to sleep in the middle of the day instead of writing my paper due in two hours because I can say my computer crashed.
13. “It’s fine, it’s college”.
I have used this excuse to defend everything from the boy I probably shouldn’t have kissed to the food I probably shouldn’t have eaten to the fact that I haven’t been to the gym in a year. Everything was okay because I was doing me. But I don’t think being hungover at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon because “it’s college” will be accepted when I’m 28.
There’s so much I’m ready for in the real world but there is so much I will really miss when I am being an adult, but at least I got my friends from college forever and sometimes I’ll still go out on a Tuesday night and call out the next day and use the excuse that I want to be in college again.
