Learning doesn't end with college graduation

This past month I’ve had to do a lot of learning. I’ve had to figure out bank accounts, car insurance, how to register as an official Wyoming resident (which is much harder than it seems).

In addition to all of the “adult stuff” I’ve had to learn how to do, I have had to learn my profession and all the things that are going on in this area.

Basically, there is a lot more to being an adult than I originally thought.

But as I was looking through Facebook on Jan. 13, many of my college friends on Facebook were posting about how they didn’t want to go back to school or complaining about how they were spending almost a thousand dollars on books.

I started to sympathize with them. No one likes to spend $200 just so you have a reference to basic college geography.

But it finally hit me: I don’t have to go to school today! In fact, if I don’t want to, I don’t have to go to school ever again!

I’m pretty excited about not having to go to school anymore. It’s a lot nicer to be paid to write instead of paying someone to destroy the piece you have spent hours working on, by writing all over it with their red ink pen.

My last semester, I was taking 18 credit hours, 15 of which were upper division credits that consisted of heavy writing and reading. Needless to say it’s nice to be a lot less stressed here in Saratoga.

Sure, there are stresses that come with my job and life, but it has been a lot less taxing now. My new life beats having to balance work, bills and a social life with trying to find time to write three 15-page papers a semester.

But it’s not all fine and dandy in my transition into adulthood. I’ve had to learn that being an adult means sacrificing. I couldn’t be home for Christmas for the first time in my life which was extremely tough for me. There are a lot of things that I have to do now that I have yet to learn.

I really wish my professors could have fit time between the lectures on Shakespeare and Chaucer to tell us how to build our credit score.

There’s also the social part that I miss. It’s strange to go from a town where most people are around my age and doing the same thing I am, to being the youngest person at every Saratoga town meeting I attend.

But I’ve come to the realization that this is part of growing up. I’m making that transition to adulthood. I am making the right decisions and taking steps in the right direction…

…or at least I think I am.

I may not know where I am going or what I am doing in the “real world”, but at least I’m going somewhere and learning something new every day.

I think that’s a least a good start.