Confessions of a Real-Life College Student

Having been a college student for two whole months now, I've made some observations. I don't think I'm too far off in my assumptions, but, if I am, please don't hold it against me. It's interesting to note that a widespread opinion seems to be circling that says arriving at college means arriving at life; as though you haven't lived until you received your college acceptance letter. I can see it in the eyes of my fellow students as I walk down crowded hallways and sit in stuffy classrooms: the heady feeling that life has just begun is thick among the freshman class.

Everyone seems to believe that college is the most magnificent time in a person's life. Television shows display a raving time of it; some even make late night studying look fun. Alumni grin as they recite embellished tales of their youthful college days. Through it all, little by little, the idea that college equals life seeps into young minds.

But with it is the knowledge that college life won't last forever. I can see that in their eyes, too. That's why one girl waits anxiously for a sorority to accept her into their group, why the guy waiting behind me in the Subway line groans about not being able to find a girlfriend. That's why I'm distracted in history class by the fraternity guys joking about cops breaking up their party, or why we're told by the campus health clinic that, yes, the most testing they do is for STDs, but that's okay, because we're college students. It won't last forever seems to be the ultimate message, so live it up now before your life, at least your college life, is over.

And through it all I find it funny in a not so humorous way that parents, professors, and most adults tell us to be responsible and look to the future. They don't even realize that the future, life after college, is the one thing that seems to always be there, lurking in the back of our minds.