A College Student’s Dilemma: Plans After College

It’s been 3 weeks since the school semester started once again. Being a college student isn’t all that fun especially when you’re taking 6 classes(!!!) this semester and I must admit, I had my fair share of great experiences in college, but it hit me that this is my second to last semester before I’m truly done with my Bachelor’s degree. Juggling 6 classes and having to work a lot and also wanting to have a social life (with many more adventures to do) is SO HECTIC. Let alone, I’ve never even taken 5 or 6 classes before this semester and I have so much blogging I would love to do but I am trying hard to find all the time to do it. I tell myself that I will tire myself hustling and try to catch my breath and let this be just 4 months of a little bit of pain…

Meanwhile, this post is already taking a different route once again from my usual adventure/travel stories on my blog since I don’t usually like to get too personal with myself on the web. I thought that I needed to address these important things that we will all eventually face and the thoughts that comes up everyone’s heads… “What will I do after college is done?”

First off, I would like to talk about how college has been in the last… almost 5 years. I’ve been in college for 4.5 years, that’s right. Most people usually finish by 4 years but I started out my studies in a community college and had been part-time for the first semesters. I’ve also skipped one whole semester, thus it led me to where I am now. To be honest, I don’t regret a thing. Even though, I dread college now and I am really beyond that senioritis feeling because I feel like I should be moving along from college now, I have to admit these past years has been full of adventures and more so than the years I had in high school.

I’ve done things from never really hiking to actually hiking (and developing a love for it), driving to states for hours where I’ve never done before, dancing in the ocean during the most beautiful sunsets, flying back to the West Coast (my love) a few times, knocking 6 museums in one day to make the most out of a 3-day weekend, discovering what new and familiar cities had to offer, trying foods I’ve never tried before, experiencing and learning about new cultures, going out of my comfort zone many, many times, and more. I discovered that I LOVE this adventure called life. When you love doing the things you enjoy doing and pushing yourself beyond your limits, you are learning that you can and ARE destined for greatness.

College is really what you make out of it. It isn’t going to make you know everything or guarantee you to be successful in life, but it will hand you the tools you need to make it out in the ‘real’ world. I am not talking about just the glorious GPAs you need to prove your worth in the work industry but it’s truly more than that. It makes you realize that:

• You will learn to be resourceful like when you’re in a complete foreign place and you have to figure it out for yourself.
• You will face hardships like being rejected from so many internship interviews, having poor sleeping and eating habits, and be annoyed at the many times you had to study.
• You are more than a degree.

I guess that this basically clarifies that I don’t plan to get my Master’s degree ever. I have been stuck pretty much on what I plan to truly do after college and sometimes, I wish I can just say ‘I’ll go with the flow’ but as a planner, I’ve always been about having a plan. Although, I won’t be technically done until this summer with a few more classes to go, the future is still very much near.

I hear that people would jump straight into a full-time job and a lot of full-time jobs won’t give you all of the benefits that you would prefer. They wouldn’t be easygoing and lenient with you just taking off whenever you want and that’s why I enjoyed my time during college as a full-time student and a part-time worker because I was able to travel with having jobs being flexible and open to that.

I don’t know if I would go straight into finding a full-time job in my field, right away. I love my field and the various things I could do in it but the commitment is something I am not ready for. I want to be able to travel and discover more new places. I don’t know if I’ll be like my friend David (his instagram is @dtt8519), who took off for a month to go traveling in 12 countries in Europe right now, but I sure feel like that similar dream is actually a dream of mine to do. I don’t know if I will continue to live in The Garden State (New Jersey) by next year as this was my home since I’ve been a baby but I feel like it is time that I can call another place my home too, like my parents who left after living here for 20+ years to live in beautiful Arizona.

I don’t know if I’ll follow my dreams or where I’ll be in less than a year and what I’ll be doing. My dream has also been about going into a travel/hospitality industry if I had to take that plunge with a full-time job, however. But do I really want to jump right into the rat race? Should I care about what others have to say? All I know is that I want to be happy and I wanted change.

If you’re in college now or starting college or whatever it is and you have read this, please try find inspiration throughout your life and throughout those years. Let the choices that you make build you to be the person you aspire to be or better yet, just go with the flow, but also remember to always surround yourself with the things you love and to understand change can be meant for you too.