Looking at the Course Catalogue for Spring Term the other day, I found myself realizing just how little time I have left at Elon. Fall semester Junior year may seem like eons away from the dreaded “real world”, but it’s only a short stop away. Seeing your life planned out on paper is a terrifying thing. I know people graduating this year that are the same age as me. Is that normal? What’s my next step? All these questions have popped into my mind as of late, and I can’t seem to shake them.
I also am meeting new people every day. I have found myself amongst the company of people who are almost four years younger than me, and that shocks me. Suddenly, I am the oldest person in the room and the person with the most life experience. I have never felt of myself as old, but talking to a 17 year old can feel like there are light-years between us. They don’t know of some things that I have grown up with (Newsies, anyone?) and I don’t understand some things that they grew up with (I will NEVER understand Justin Bieber).
Is this maturity? I hope not, because I still have a lot more goofing off to do! I still feel like I am that freshman, still getting used to how things go in college. Just when you think you get the hang of things, it all changes and it’s time to leave. Sophomore year is when you really start to get a handle on life. Junior year comes crashing down on you when you realize that you probably will never figure things out enough to understand completely.
Junior year may seem so far away from graduation, but they really are close cousins. In a year, I’ll be applying for jobs, or pursuing even higher education. The choices that I make now, in my junior year, suddenly carry much more weight than choices and actions that I partook in my freshman year. I can party every Thursday-
Saturday night, but I find myself instead opting for a quiet night in with my friends or with homework that I have to complete. My classes have become much more text heavy, and fewer and fewer tests and quizzes have been graded and turned in. I find myself searching for graduate schools online, in hopes of finding something that will motivate me to figure my life out.
So where does that leave me? Still confused and muddled in terms of where my life will lead. After Fall Break, I plan on making appointments with professors and with other academic counselors that will help me choose the direction my life is going to take. Should I go down the road less traveled? Is that what will make me happy down the line in 5 years? My masterful procrastination skills deter me from making any big decisions about life, but soon I will have to stop thinking about the present and start worrying about the future.
There is nothing I would like more than to stop time and go back to when tough assignments didn’t mean 30 page papers and when getting a good night’s sleep meant sleeping more than 5 hours. When Disney Channel Original Movies meant that I had all my homework done and was ready by 8pm with a bowl of ice cream in front of the television.
But somehow, life moves forward. And so must I.