This summer I finally got an internship, which advisors have been telling me for years and years are essential to gain the necessary experience to make it in the grown-up world post-graduation. Even though I'm only about a month in, I've picked up on a lot and realized that my advisors were all right--the thing is, though, what I've learned about potential career paths pales in comparison to what I've learned about how life works after graduation.

1. Different departments in an office operate like Greek houses

Accounting works hard and parties harder. Human Resources is made up of the catty ladies. The sales department tries way too hard. Is any of this true? I don't really know myself, but word around the office is that it sure is. It's just like the Greek system--there's the whole idea of tiers and the stereotypes that go with each group. And just like in college, you don't know if any of these things are true, but different departments end up serving as a way to group up people of certain mentalities in a pretty similar way as Greek houses.

2. Drama never ends

Just like the mentality of Greek tiers and stereotyping doesn't end, neither does the gossip that we all thought would be over in high school. It turns out that juicy rumors never get old no matter what your age, and talking gossip is one of the only ways that office workers pass time on the clock. You may have thought that high school was the end of that kind of thing, but it's really only a warmup.

3. Happy Hour is crucial

When you get stuck in a work routine, you can't help but feel like you're in high school all over again, which isn't a great feeling. The good news is that you can combat this by doing as many non-high school activities after work as possible--of course, one of those is legally drinking in public. Grown-ups never really lose their will to party, they just lose the opportunity. Happy Hour provides the working man a place to kick back, and can make having to follow a structured schedule again worth it.

4. You never outgrow being poor

I know, I'm just a lowly intern, but I'm making more money than I ever have before and it's a great feeling--at least it was at first. While my first paycheck was pretty impressive to me, I still find myself debating spending money and regretting using too much of it. That's because even though we're starting to make more, we're still spending it at the same pace--it's just that instead of deciding whether or not to get a $5 burger, it's about deciding whether or not to get a $30 steak. Yeah, grown-up jobs are paying more, but we're just spending it on nicer things and at the same rate as before.

5. It's really not that bad

Even though having a professional job brings up thoughts of stuffy offices and boring meetings and an overload of responsibility, there's still plenty of time to have fun. Despite going back to five-day work weeks, not having homework or studying to do is absolutely awesome. And unlike school, you become connected to one very specific group of people who, after spending hours and hours on end with, you can't help but grow to like. And most importantly, at the end of each day it's nice to be able to come home and relax knowing you were productive. Yeah, college is great, but I can get used to this adult thing, too.