Is College Really As Good As It Gets?
Smoke clouded the room and the dark atmosphere was soothing. The music danced off my ears and the television’s visuals tickled my eyes. The hookah bar had taken my senses hostage.
My girls and I had already been consumed in our feelings.
Allowing them to kick and tear at our heartstrings. Although we are only
juniors in college, everything seemed to be happening so fast. The gentleman we
met shortly after didn’t help our pre-quarter life crisis.
He sat on the couch adjacent to us and the introvert in me
wasn’t sure I wanted to be too social at that moment. But his approach wasn’t
the slightest bit creepy or perverted, so it seemed okay to converse.
“Do you girls go to Hampton?” he asked.
“No, we’re just down for the weekend. We go to Howard,” we
replied, almost in unison.
He seemed impressed as we went down the line telling him our
majors and career goals. He shared information about himself as well, and we
were equally impressed. The next thing he said didn’t tickle our fancy as much.
“Make sure you take advantage of this moment. It doesn’t get
much better than this.”
Excuse me. What do you mean it doesn’t get better than this?
It has to. College can’t be the peak of life. People are not supposed to peak
by 22.
The gentleman explained that he was 27, had a job in
psychology that paid well, but was miserable. Something about what he said had
to be true. We heard it often but paid it no mind, until now.
Say it ain’t so. Because at times, college isn’t a ray of
sunshine either.
It’s true. We have no real responsibilities.
Scholarships and financial aid help a bulk of students, and the most of our
worries are what we’re going to eat for dinner. My family helps me out here and there but I still
accept some financial responsibilities. The job I have now is baby money
compared to an adult salary. Yet, it still feels good every payday.
Then there are the 5 days a week that I’m summoned to paying
attention to the monotonous professors who don’t really ooze enthusiasm. All
for a career—not a job. In 5 years I want to sit in bed and say that I love
what I do. Right now, school feels like it’s in the way. I just want to be
engulfed in my craft all day instead of going to school and dabbling in it here
and there. I want to be completely and utterly head over heels with it.
Speaking of head over heels, the only thing constant about
my love life is its inconsistencies. I’m starting to think college may not be
the place to invest feelings in someone who’s just as lost as me.
I’m not going to lie; college definitely has its
perks. We have
limited responsibility and the world is at our feet. But I’d like to think
that it gets better if you allow it.
Related:
Fear of Flying: The Quarter Life Crisis
Identity Crisis: Unanswered Questions of Young Black Womanhood
Kristin Corry is a Print/ Online Journalism major studying at Howard University.
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