I’ve spent much of my college career driving. Driving around in my 2007 Jeep Compass. I’ve gone out for fries at midnight and to get to my job on campus after rolling out of bed two minutes before I needed to be there. I’ve driven to my hometown to spend the summer and I’ve driven back to campus in the fall. But, there’s about to be one less vehicle on the road to Rome, Georgia this August.
There were a few times over the last three and half years that I asked myself, what am I driving back to school for? Sure, I needed a college degree and sure, I had my family to make proud, but what was I driving back to? Well, my people. It’s been the people I have been driving back to. The friends, the acquaintances, and the ones I only smiled at on the sidewalk, all of them. But there are people that I think about and want to be around that I can’t simply drive to.
I’ve had the pleasure of making friendships with people that live thousands of miles away in other countries and continents (that is a blessing and a sob story all in one). It would take a few five-figured dollar amounts for me to visit all of them regularly. So, why wouldn’t I beg for a plane ticket for graduating college instead of a new car?
Convincing my parents (and myself) of this decision evoked me to stew on my reasons for wanting to pay for a flight that would only be good once versus purchasing a new car that would get me through 5 + years of excursions. Just looking at the photos of friends and places seem like reason enough, but I felt like there was more juice to be squeezed from this ripened idea.
These are my reasons (minus the PowerPoint presentation):
1. It’s a gigantic world out there and the sooner you discover/experience that the better.
Competition is what makes this planet spin. Not everyone is going to hold the door open and invite you inside like they did in college. Building a tougher skin is essential in staying true to yourself and ensuring that you achieve the goals that you originally set out for. The less naïve you are to the society around you, the more you won’t get trampled over.
2. Get gone and stay gone for as long as possible before you get caught up in your career and get tied down with only two-weeks of paid vacation a year.
Rent, utility bills, car payments, phone bills… before you realize it these things start to take priority over late night spontaneity and planning backpacking trips across the US. Being in your 20’s is a unique blip in your life and you won’t get that time back. ENJOY it and leave the serious stuff for your 30’s.
3. If clarity, inspiration, and a breath of fresh air are things that have escaped your brain while slaving away in the library over these few years, then I guarantee you that a city in Europe will fix that.
Go make friends with drunken 20-somethings at Temple Bar in Dublin on a Friday night or take the tube in London to Greenwich Market for fresh strawberries in mid-July. Sometimes in the midst of writing a Media Law term paper at 2 a.m., it can be easy to forget that there is more to living than your fifth cup of coffee. Being around new surroundings enhances your independence and gives you confidence in your own abilities.
4. Traveling gives you memories that you get to keep for the rest of your life.
Having a new car may seem more practical in your immediate future, but you’re not going to be thinking of your car at the end of your life. It’s the memories that will make your soul feel rich. Photographs, letters, travel journals, those pieces of your memories last for the rest of your life and add fulfillment to your life as a whole.
