Photo By Corinne Kutz
Winter break is every college kids’ saving grace after trucking through the fall semester. At this point we are all physically and mentally exhausted when we come back to school after a three month long summer break, working hard for 16 weeks and spending basically a week straight in the library studying for finals.
We are all looking for some relief and winter break is just that… right?
WRONG.
After the fall semester ended, I immediately started working full time at my new job. Do not get me wrong, I love my job with my whole heart. But by working 40 plus hours every week for four weeks made me realize that I need to enjoy being a “kid” for the time being.
Background info: I currently work at my hometown newspaper as a news reporter. WHERE ARE ALL MY FELLOW JOURNALISTS AT?!
At first working these full time hours made me feel like an adult. I thought this would give me a small glimpse of what my life is going to be like when I finally graduate from college.
I quickly realized two things:
One: Journalists hours are never ending. I worked every day 8 a.m.-5 p.m. without question. But on the days that I had city commission meetings that I had to cover for the newspaper, I did not get home until 8 or 9:00 at night.
Two: Getting up early for work really sucks. Hearing your alarm go off at 6 a.m. every morning never gets any easier.
Working full time doing something you love is what we all strive for after college graduation. It is the whole reason we decided to go to college in the first place.
But what I learned from “adulting” for those four weeks over winter break is that I am wishing my college career away too fast. Being a full time student may be inconvenient and difficult sometimes, but being this young and in school still is something that we will never get back.
So if you ever catch yourself saying, “I am so ready to graduate,” you might want to take some time to rethink that statement.
Take advantage of being a “college kid” and spend this time doing all of the things that you love. You will only be a college student for so long.