Coming into college is your official initiation (the hazing) to the adult world. You now are expected to hold a part-time job while handling class work. There is no longer a curfew, because you make the rules. That leash your parents had you on is no longer there. At first it seems great, but then those paychecks start disappearing (and not on tuition) and soon the broke-college-student life has fully consumed you.
Do not even get me started on making friends. Most of your friends back home are people you meet in elementary school, so when you come college it is time to brush up on your social skills and start making new friends. This means starting every conversation for a week with:
“Hi! My name is _____. I’m from _______. My major is ________.” By the end though, these are the friends you are with when you are not in class or at work. You join all the same organizations on campus. College is no longer intimidating.
Your parents call you and are excited that you have made new friends, but then they remind you that you have monthly tuition payments to make -- so it's back to feeling overwhelmed.
Now you need to create a resume (a professional one; not one that gets you a summer job at a fast food chain) and something called a cover letter (huh?), but luckily your school has advisors that can help you with this (Bless Up).
OK, so now that you have a steady income, you can go out with your friends, right? Wrong. It means you can start paying the interest on your loans. Time to start thinking like an accountant and start cutting back on miscellaneous expenses and start budgeting. You may get to go out with friends once in awhile, but this is the period of your life where the word "free" means everything. Free concert. Free samples. Free admission. Now the world is speaking your language.
Speaking about linguistics, classes -- what are those? Fortunately, being in college means you set your class schedule. You no longer have to wake up at 6 a.m. to make it to high school by 7:45 a.m. Instead you roll out of bed at 7:45 a.m. and walk on over to your 8 a.m. Your parents no longer prevent you from snoozing and wearing your PJs to class (if it were socially acceptable I would go to class in sweats), so I would set up two alarms, 10 minutes apart.
College is like you have been stranded on an island and have to fend for yourself. When that rescue does arrive, though, you have become an adult ready to live out in world on your own (that is the elite society of the working class). You have a sense of who you are, having learned from your mistakes and experiences. Now its on to the nine to five schedule, where you dream of those good ole college days. Or so I am told. But I still have two more years, so we shall see how that goes.
