Wake up, go to morning classes, go to lunch, go to afternoon classes, go to whatever sorority/fraternity/school association club meeting you might have that evening, study, maybe go out, and repeat.

Welcome to the life of a college student. It's a beautiful thing, really. For most of us, college is a time where we get to dip our toes into the waters of the "real world," while maintaining the luxury of being on our parents' dimes. Yet, there is something I fear for our generation as I grow and learn more about the world and about the people around me.

College is a test run; it's a practice swing for real life. Yet what happens if we, as young adults, do not stay informed on the issues that are affecting us today (whether we know it or not)? We have four, perhaps five years to live in this wonderful space of the in between. Yet, our jobs as college students are to stay informed, and learn how to make the world the best it can be once it is our world.

We attend political science classes, and many of us do just enough work to pass the course. But what we may not realize at this time, is these classes teach us exactly what lies ahead in life. Staying informed on current events, taking the time to learn the history behind them, reading articles from different standpoints -- These are the things that will aid us in being successful citizens. It is our civic duty to stay focused on these issues, and not solely through word of mouth.

Statistically speaking, most college students follow the same patterns of partisanship as their political community. However, it is important to determine your beliefs based on your own research and on your own knowledge base. Without this freedom, we are doomed to maintain the devastatingly split party system that is hurting the United States today. It is important to understand facts, and from those facts, draw conclusions.

Yes, we are legally allowed to vote once we turn 18, but more important than that...It is our civic responsibility. Without the vote of the college student, it is our world that will be negatively affected because it will be our voices that are unheard. Furthermore, once we get a degree, finish grad school, and immerse ourselves into reality, we will see just how ugly the world can actually be.

Between the instability of the Middle East and parts of Europe, the controversy and scandal we have and continue to see in the United States, not to mention the teetering economic stability (or for many of us, instability), it is important that we see these issues and find a way to fix them. We are the generation of technology, and the generation our parents are turning to in the hopes of fixing the mess that has been left for us to clean.

College is a beautiful place, but the most beautiful aspect of it? There are seemingly unlimited resources that enlarge our world, and further, our knowledge of it. Our generation has been given an incredible opportunity to glue together a fragmented country and world. We may be young, but we have the ability to do it. The next step? Take action.