COLLEGE. A DISTANT MEMORY
It seems like only yesterday we started… Several days ago I made an alarming discovery: I have been out of college longer than I was enrolled in college. When did this happen? How can I possibly be this old? How did four years go by in the blink of an eye? Am I so far removed from my college days that I’m no longer fun? Considering I spent my childhood playing “house” and pretending that I was the incredibly old age of 16, turning ten years its senior is a difficult pill to swallow.
After several minutes of shock, and then panic, I began to analyze the situation in a way that made it easier to bear. The following list summarizes points that make life post-college better, upon reflection, although I’m still having trouble coping with turning the corner into my late twenties.
The future is here, and it’s okay. When I wasn’t distracted by endless parties and – yes, I’ll admit it – class, I spent frequent nights in college worrying about my future. Would I have a job? Where would I live? Could I survive living in the “big city”? As a political science major, my career path wasn’t as easy to predict as say, an accounting major. But today I am an Account Supervisor at Zapwater Communications, where I have worked happily for nearly four years. Shortly after graduation, I found a career path that is not only a profession I love, but one that is fulfilling every day. This knowledge helps me to sleep easier at night.
Paradise and relaxation are only a plane ticket away. Remember the days when you had to decide if you were going to eat dinner or go out? Steady cash flow was hard to come by in college! A “splurge” was allowing myself a peanut butter and chocolate shake from ToGo’s (I can’t believe I used to eat things like that on a daily basis). Never in my wildest dreams would I have packed my bags and headed to another state, much less an exotic destination. As a college graduate and employed professional, I now travel frequently to places I could have never visited with ease when I was a student. In the last past year I’ve been to Mexico, New York City, Marco Island, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, among other destinations. Now that certainly doesn’t make me a world traveler, but it’ll do!
I love you’s, I do’s, and introductions. While I miss all-nighters gossiping with my girlfriends when we should have been studying, the moments I’m witnessing today are changing lives forever. My mid and now late-twenties. Since I graduated from college, I’ve watched friends and family members fall in love and, in some special cases, walk down the aisle (including three Zapwater coworkers!). Most recently, I’ve seen the greatest gift of all as several of my closest friends in life (again, including two Zapwater coworkers!) welcome their own babies into the world. While 3 a.m. chats over Papa John’s pizza were definitely unforgettable, I wouldn’t miss these life-changing moments for the world!
There are many more points where those came from, but you get the idea. I was lucky enough to have four amazing years at the University of Illinois in Champaign, from which I would change almost nothing, but graduating from college has allowed me to move to a new chapter of my life where I experience things so wonderful I never could have predicted them four years ago.
So to all the college students out there who stay up at night wondering if their fun/social/party/exciting/etc. life will end upon graduation, I can assure you, there is still a whole lot of life after college!
The Girls Today
The Girls in College
Susie Schreiber Account Supervisor Zapwater Communications