I’m Sorry, But College Was Absolutely NOT The ‘Best Time Of Your Life’

Sure, I often find myself wishing I was back in college. Times were much more fun, exciting and carefree. No one cared if you showed up for class (unlike work) or if you stayed out until 4am the night before (unlike your parents). It was a time to focus mostly on yourself.

I look at old pictures of myself or pictures of people I know in college now and sometimes really want to go back in time. I know tons of recent (and not so recent) graduates feel the same way I do. But we also need to remember college wasn’t all fun and games, believe it or not there are things we all probably don’t miss about college so here’s a nice reminder that will make us feel better about our current adult lives.

First and foremost, there are no homework or exams in the real world. The reasons for not missing this aspect of college doesn’t even really need a long explanation. There were so many late nights/early mornings spent cramming in the library, hours spent in boring classes and weeks spent stressing over midterms and finals. These were the essential parts of college, what lead us to earning our degree, but also the most boring part of it all. I’m happy that now the only long and tedious work I do I get paid for at my adult job, and I’m not paying thousands of dollars on textbooks and classes.

Being hungover virtually all the time is also something I don’t miss about “adulting.” Most people, myself included, went out A LOT in college and by that I mean nearly every night. It was almost like I lived in a constant state of hungover. But now actually waking up feeling well rested and energetic is a nice change on a Wednesday (or any other) morning. There is no way I would be able to keep up with the college going out lifestyle and still maintain a full-time job. I know I definitely get more accomplished during the day because I’m not so dehydrated and sluggish. Of course, I’m not completely immune to hangovers they just are not as frequent anymore because my drinking isn’t as frequent anymore.

I remember waking up one morning after a night out to find less than $10 in my bank account. Rock bottom? Probably. But college was really the only time this was pretty acceptable (and also acceptable to spend this last $10 on a box of wine). A steady paycheck is most definitely something to be happy about. I’m still essentially “poor” between car insurance, student loans and you know, everyday living, but I am nowhere near as in debt as I was back then. Everyone was pretty much on the same poor people page in college which made us feel not so bad about it all. But now, if you are a 24 year-old, college graduate with no money or job to your name people will give you little sympathy and just tell you to get a job.

The being extremely poor aspect never helped the food situations. My friends and I were constantly eating boxes of easy mac, fast food, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because it was all we could afford besides the dining hall food. And most of the food at said dining hall was even worse than the food we made ourselves. It is nice now to come home to real food in my fridge, fresh vegetables, and home cooked meals (one of the major, perhaps my favorite, benefit of moving back home after college of course).

I didn’t even go to that small of a school yet I always managed to run into the people I was trying to avoid, like ex-roommates, annoying frat boys, the person in that group project you’re in that you didn’t finish yet. I’d see them all at the bar, in class, or in the café. It felt as if I couldn’t escape awkward encounters no matter how hard I tried. It was nearly unavoidable because we were all on the same campus, in the same college town. Now most of those people I wanted to avoid are miles and miles away from my sanity and I are grateful for that.

So growing up doesn’t have to be all bad or at least these things are what I tell myself when I am sitting at my work desk instead of sleeping until noon then day drinking with my friends at the local bar. [tc-mark[