22nd
I don't like college
I have been taking a break from writing because the majority of my away-at-college friends have come back to town for the winter holidays. It’s wonderful to see them again.
I’ve realized, in thinking about my friends, that there is a myth about going to college. Almost everyone says how wonderful it is—that they met their best friends there and grew so much as people. They think this way after the fact; they forget that it wasn’t all sunshine and peaches.
Of course, life is very messy. I actually hate college. There are definitely good things about it. Mainly: being able to say you went to college. Also, learning to deal with ridiculous bureaucracies. Otherwise, one pays to be forced to do things he or she doesn’t want to do.
Sometimes there is sunshine, and sometimes there are peaches, but often there is loneliness, regret, and self-doubt. Nearly everyone I know is confronting issues they denied for so many years.
This is healthy, of course, and I’m very glad and proud that my friends are being smart and working on their issues.
I do, however, long for that magical college experience where I meet amazing, compassionate people and learn things about the subjects we’re supposedly studying in class. I wish my friends could be happy and have the magical experience, too.
Yes, we’ve very privileged to be able to have an education, but please forgive me if I am a little disappointed that it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be.
