The Looming Real World...

You know how everyone is always talking about “the real world” after college? Like what we’re doing now doesn’t really count. Trust me I took full advantage of that my freshman year of college…freshman forgiveness was a huge thing for me. But now that I’m getting closer and still closer to a graduation date (May 2009) I’m pursuing internships and looking for ways to take what I’ve learned in this pretend little bubble I live in out into the oh so very terrifying “real world.”

I mean since I got to Miami my life has revolved around UM’s small campus. The faces are familiar and things are comfortable and I have my friends and teachers who I know and like. However now that I’m getting uncomfortably close to the end of my ride here, I’m starting to realize that the stuff I’ve been learning was – hold your breath here – actually worth the money. I have to be honest when I tell you that for a journalism major I do not read enough newspapers, however in my freshmen year I was forced to read them and then have tests about the entire week’s happenings. Now I can, at the very least, appreciate what I’m missing when I don’t read the newspaper. I understand that when I have more free time and enter “the real world” I should probably commit myself to reading it…should probably commit to it now. Maybe that was a bad example…

A better example: I recently applied for an internship that would involve working for a social networking site in terms of gathering content and blogging and – what I’m sure you’ve all noticed is my favorite thing on earth, I say that sarcastically by the way – proof reading. But when I went to the interview I realized that the things I’d been picking up at my job at the student newspaper and in my classes…actually have been worth a lot. I drove over the MacArthur Causeway and realized that the "real world" was a little closer than I had expected.

And while I’m not entirely eager to leave my little bubble of comfort and quirky fun and familiar faces…I’m pretty sure this time next year I’ll at least have the proper tools for the “real world,” and that’s a good thing to know.