Most young adults leave high school wanting ‘the college experience’. Living in dorms, working in study groups, using adderall to finish homework assignments, going to parties, joining sororities, hooking up with strangers, you name it. But if your college path was anything like mine, and started out at a junior college, you may not have had the full blown college experience everyone dreams of, and movies do so well portraying. LOL. Lucky for me I never wanted the movie-style college experience. For me, college was fun and I wouldn’t change a thing, but I will say I’m glad it’s almost over…for my liver’s sake.
It is important to note the difference between ‘college’ and ‘school’. School is what you might do when you’re at college. College on the other hand is everything that happens when your not in class or studying. Every club related event, every show, every sorority event, every fraternity party, every concert, every football game, and every hookup. These are the things that make up a college experience. Not the grades you get or the awards you win while you’re there. Although, some people find these things to be the most important. College is where you experiment. You question your sexuality, your religion, your political views, and your social life. This is where you try to find yourself.
My first three years of college I lived at home, worked near the school, and partied a lot. Even though I never tried very hard in my classes I never ended up with anything less than a C. I was on the school swim team and had to maintain my GPA in order to swim. But classes are not what I remember from my first few years in college. I don’t remember my general ed classes, the subjects we covered, or the tests we took..or even the grades I got. All I know is that somehow I passed. Even though I never tried very hard in school, I cared enough to never fail a class. My social life was my number one priority in these years. What I remember were the parties, the drunken stumbles, the drunken basketball games, the themed parties, pants off dance off’s, the weekly Wine Wednesdays and drinking three times a week. How my liver survived I’ll never know……At the junior college I had a community with the people on my swim team. They were the group of friends I spent all my time with outside of class and work. Transitioning to SSU where I don’t participate in any school activities gives me a large disconnect from the school and the people in it. I feel like my time here is strictly educational. I go to class to get my work done, and I do not interact with classmates outside of class. I have established professional relationships with my professors, much more so than those at the JC.
My first three years are what I remember as “college”. Starting at SSU is what I think of as living on my own. It is my life away from home…but not ‘college’. Turning twenty-one away from home transitions you from house parties to bars and clubs. This transition feels like more of an adult experience rather than a college experience. To me, SSU feels somewhat professional. I do feel like I’m at a ‘real’ college, however the emotional connection just isn’t there for me. Although, the further time gets away from my SRJC experience, the less I remember about it. If someone asks me in ten years to describe my college experience, who knows which stories I’ll give them. Have I found myself along the way? Not completely. But I’m a hell of alot more myself than I was five years ago when I started out in college. I’ve grown into a person that I am proud of, but I am not done growing or finding myself. I don’t think you can every be done.