Notes From The Other Side

The other day the odometer on my car hit 11,111 miles. It was pretty cool. But that is not why I am blogging today. I am blogging because, like a few other peers of mine at this point, I have seen the other side, and I feel the need to report back. What other side? I am of course referring to the deep, dark, scary, mystery that is "life after graduation."

See, oddly enough, I ended up spending most of my junior year (and likely, it now seems, the summer following it) hanging out with a bunch of grad school dudes. I've been living in independently owned apartment complexes, doing my own grocery shopping and cooking, getting booze almost whenever I want, and generally getting a taste for life once "make your own class schedule" becomes more or less "9-5."

This is what you can expect:

1. While weekends will still remain the key time for mass alcohol consumption, lack of homework is also conducive to light drinking on a daily basis. Start early, crash around 12, and just don't be too hung over to go to work the next day. I especially recommend pub Quiz Nights.

2. While many envision the 9-5 workplace as a drab, soulless, cubicle-filled, grey abyss, it can also be a source for vast social networking and drama. Pick carefully.

3. Age is no longer really relevant. With labels like "freshman" and "sophomore" removed, and with differences between certain age groups following the logarithmic progression that they do (eg: the difference between a 15 year old and a 20 year old is tremendous, while the difference between a 20 year old and a 25 year old is very subtle) , I've started to consider anyone up until the age of 30 my peer. Though most of the time I find that 28 and 29 year olds can still be pretty fun, I do run across the occasional "hey, you remind me of my friend's dad when I was five!" That's just fricken weird.

4. Those hoping to escape the typical 9-5 for as long as possible have one clear option: grad school. While government and humanities students will likely get their share in internships, science students clearly have found the closest thing around to the fountain of youth. While most work 9-5 to get in the right amount of time, the people are chill, the hours are more or less flexible, and the lab has basically no dress code. (Lab safety, pshh...). It's not exactly the chic, sexy city job I always envisioned, but it's an option.

5. Believe it or not, dating gets harder, a lot harder. I'm not complaining, but it's hard to ignore the fact that almost every person I've met is either in a long-term serious relationship or (gasp!) married. (The exception being one guy who is probably asexual.) While I was always raised to believe that your 20s were for playing the field and being young and slutty, apparently I was deeply mistaken. Apparently if you haven't found them by the time you hit your mid 20's, good luck with that. Yesterday I met a couple who has been dating since they were 16. He is finishing up a 5-7 year Doctoral degree this year. I didn't know that was even physically possible....

Conclusion? I miss college. I mean having my own place is great, and not having homework or too much to really stress about is great, and the existence of my choice of frozen, pre-prepared meals is great (unlike in Switzerland, by the way), but I still really miss college. Namely being cooked for, and being able to drink as much as I want and not worry about driving, and sunlit, golden autumn leaves wafting over the long shadows of the old, red-brick buildings in the shape of a cozy quad.

Senior year, get ready, you will be rocked for all you are worth.

(Oh, And sorry about the blogging lull. I don't get internet at home so I'm trying to see how long I can go without caving and shelling out for it. )