I love(d) college

With summer fast approaching, I find myself getting lost in thoughts of laying poolside daily, fruity drinks, roadtrips, nightly adventures, and sleeping in whenever I want. My heart races with anticipation of when all of this can be reality for 3.5 months.
Then I snap out and realize...hey wait...I have a job now. The real world is devoid of summer vacation. Noooooo!

This is when living in a college town, hanging out with college students, and having a college boyfriend really begins to skew my version of reality. Because while all that may be possible for them, it most certainly is not for me (or at least not until after 5 pm Monday-Friday).

So this got me thinking about why I loved college and why I frequently wish I was still attending.

In no particular order, I present to you...

Why I wish I was still in college:

1. Summer vacation

I already explained this one, so no need to delve back into it. Besides, it will only depress me.

2. Winter vacation

Remember back in elementary through high school when we got two weeks off and that seemed like the longest, most magical period of time ever? Well college took those two weeks and beat them into the ground by giving us OVER A MONTH. This was ample time to take some sort of vacation, forget everything you had learned the previous semester, and put on at least 5 pounds due to Christmas gorging.

3. Spring break

Yes, I am aware that my reasons for loving college are weighted heavily with vacation time, but I feel that each of them has enough merrit to deserve their own number. Though spring break is only one week, it always came at the perfect time. Usually the last round of tests was over (uness your profs were douches that gave you tests afterwards) and finals/freedom was not too long thereafter. This week could be utilized in so many ways. A quick trip with a friend, a nice relaxing week at home, or a wild spring break that you see in movies/girls gone wild/special reports on the news. You have not truly lived the college life until you have done the latter. I'm just saying.

4. Use of the Rec Center

I am a girl who is all about convenience. Therefore, having a ginormous exercise facility at my fingertips was pretty nifty. I'm trying to make myself sound the kind of person who enjoys working out and does so on a daily basis, but this is actually not the case. I have to drag myself out of my house at least 4 times a week just to go running around the neighborhood. But every time I do so I find myself thinking, "man, I really wish I could still get into the Rec Center." What can I say, I miss the eliptical machine and glaring at girls who have no cellulite.

5. Going out every night is the norm

No, I am not a crazy party girl alcoholic. Not only can I not afford that, I am far too paranoid about losing too many brain cells. Like I mentioned before, most of my friends are still in college; therefore, they still keep up this type of lifestyle. Now, this is not to say that I can't as well. However, if I truly were to go out most nights like I did while in college, I would probably be considered careless/irresponsible/wild. I am none of these things. Do I perhaps have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I need to grow up? Yes. But I do know that I have to tone it down, and I have. If you put on your judgy pants while reading that, I suggest you take them off promptly and put on some non-judgy pants.

6. Any bad decisions or situations can be justified by the words, "It was college. I was young and stupid."

Just in case you're still wearing those judgy pants, I will start this off by saying that post-college, I have not done anything stupid or irresponsible. Well, maybe there was one situation that involved an ambulance, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I'm not looking for reasons to justify things I do. But for those 4 years, it was a bit comforting to know there was a scapegoat. I'm not condoning wreckless behavior in college, but when else in your life will you be able to pretty much do whatever you want and really live life to the fullest? I had excellent grades, yet also had the time of my life. Did I do some embarrassing things? Yes. Did I kiss some boys where upon thinking about it now I cringe and want to crawl inside myself and die of embarrassment? Yes. Was I "that girl" at times? Yes. But do I actually regret any of it? No. While some if it may be a tad embarrassing, I can look back on it and laugh and remember what an amazing time I had with some pretty amazing people. Today, on the off chance that I do end up doing something horribly stupid, I'm going to have to think of a better excuse. Perhaps, "my tolerance isn't what it used to be" or "that was just an off day for me" or "that was before I had my daily coffee."

7. Being surrounded by friends/things to do at all times

I enjoy my "me" time, but when I really feel like doing something or going somewhere, it can be hard to find someone to accompany you. In college, however, at any given moment of the day there would inevitably be someone who would hang out with you or have a random adventure with you. Ok that one was kind of lame and made me sound like a lonely person wth no friends.

8. School supplies

Yeah, you read that right. I have no more use for the 50 million pens and pencils I have, and I am bothered by that! And what about my backpack? Poor little light blue L.L. Bean feels so neglected. Maybe I can stuff it full of liquor and use it in some wild adventure so that I can try out one of my new bad behavior excuses. I kid. I saw you trying to put the judgy pants on again.

9. Not feeling old

I am aware that 23 is not verging on death and that to many people I am still just a kid, but when you live in a college town and some of your friends have just turned 20, it feels ANCIENT. On one hand I feel older and wiser and more in tune with the world. On the other hand, I feel like I am just as immature as they are but shouldn't be.

10. So I can finally see what it's like to be in a serious yet FUN relationship

I'll get a little more serious for this one and take the witicisms down a notch. I came into college with a serious boyfriend. Like, omg he is the one and we are going to get married and live happily ever after. Let's call him Jim. Because of this, my freshman year was ruined. I did nothing but hang out with him. Jim wasn't as social as I was, and instead of making him go out and do things with me, I stayed in with him. I had very few friends and rarely had any type of fun. I almost transfered to the school that I had initially planned on going to. My sophomore year I became involved in an organization called Fish Camp that truly changed my college experience. I had friends and was having fun, but I still spent most of my time with Jim. As these sort of relationships go, he ended up breaking up with me. Oh but the fun doesn't stop there. Though we were broken up, for a YEAR after the fact, we acted as if we were still together. However, by this time I had made a solid group of friends and everything was good in that department. By the time we were finally rid of each other and I had had rebound relationship, it was the spring of my junior year. So maybe I went a little crazy. And let me just say that "crazy" in my terms is flat out tame compared to some people. But I was having the time of my life. I had never had so much fun. That summer was even better. Fall of my senior year is when I started dating my current boyfriend, though we weren't official. There was also another little situation in there that I'll write off by saying, "It was college. I was young and stupid." Aaanyway, the point of all this is that my relationship with Aaron was SO DIFFERENT from my one with Jim. Aaron and I went out together all the time. We share the same friends. We enjoy having fun in the same ways. We also enjoy staying in and just laying around when going out doesn't sound so appetizing to us. It was perfect, and I'm sad that I only got to live that for less than a year. True, my stint with unemployment allowed us to have that for a bit longer, but now I have a real job and am trying to move to Houston. Somtimes I wish I wasn't such a cougar!

Wow, sorry I went off on such a tangent! That was meant to be funny and make everyone wish they were back in college. But I'm bored at work (hence where the wishing I was still in college stemmed from). You get a cookie if you read it all!

If I were still in college, I'd go eat TEN cookies then take a nap. Then I'd go to Ozona's for $1.50 margaritas, wake up in the morning to take a final, and make an A on it despite having consumed a few said margaritas the night before.