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Real world not wanted

Sarah Wolff

(Dan Chudzinski)

The classic line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it," seems to fit perfectly lately. With the inevitable graduation from college looming in the distance I find that there isn't enough time.

If someone had told me on my first day of college at Miami University that I would be miserable at the thought of moving back to New York, I would have asked them what drugs they were taking. However, now with a little more than two months left of school, I find myself wishing the days would go slower and I could have more time. Of course, I'm excited about moving back to a place where I don't have to drive 30 minutes to get sushi or a decent manicure but still I will be in this weird place they call "the real world." No, I don't mean that MTV show, I am referring to that place where you have to get a job, pay your bills and get up at a decent hour ­- a place where you can't schedule your life so you have four-day weekends. Personally I don't want to go to this place, I want to stay in college for the rest of my life.

In the real world I have to figure out what I want to do with my life and then find a real job. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be lawyer. If you asked me freshman year what the plan for after college was, I always answered that I would go to law school in New York City. I even had plans with a best friend to move into the city while we both attended grad school together for our different degrees. But plans change - after a summer internship I decided law school was the last place I wanted to be after hearing multiple lawyers tell me that I should not only walk but run away from the idea of going to law school. I guess plans do change after all.

As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

At the moment if you asked me what my plan is, my answer is that I'm moving in with the parents. I have the luxury of being a short commute from a fabulous city full of potential jobs. With the real world approaching so quickly, I find myself calm and not really worried about life after college. I am more concerned about spending as much time as possible with my friends and making sure we do everything that Miami students should have done before they graduate. One could say I have definitely embraced second semester of senior year.

The line most commonly said in my apartment lately is, "When you look back at senior year are you going to remember sleeping or are you going to remember (insert insane or should I say creative idea/plan that one of the roommates have cooked up as an activity?)" This line always gets me. Nine out of 10 times I'll drop what I am doing to either play pajama beer pong, have a late-night dance party with

whatever random late-night crowd is at the apartment or go see a movie when I really need to study.

Living on my own has definitely had its perks as there are many things that I know I will not be able to do once I move back home. I can say goodbye to my late-night Nintendo wars with roommates after getting back from uptown and sleeping until the afternoon on a Saturday and getting up just in time for the China One buffet. I can probably bank on the fact that broom Olympics, a little game that the twin and I have created, will not be played on my mother's lawn. I highly doubt she would like an old broom being thrown like a javelin into her lawn.

In the real world I live with middle-aged adults instead of my usual 20-something roommates who plan parties just because you retired from your job or because we seem to have too much Jell-O mix around the apartment. I don't suppose the parents would really appreciate Jell-O crusted on the walls of the living room or circling the drain of their shower.

The real world also has taxis. Living in the boonies of Oxford may seem like a chore, but actually it has led to some interesting nights. After leaving uptown it is always an adventure to get home. Some nights we get rides from our favorite delivery guy or decide to use the "shortcut" through, what I like to call our own little ravine. Our shortcut consists of a very large puddle with an old log as our path across it, and then scaling a fence. I guess in the real world I'll get home quicker but it will definitely be less interesting.

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It was just yesterday that I was moving into my shoebox dorm room and missing the big city. The real world is calling and I don't want to answer, but despite my younger friends pleading, I do have to pass my classes and graduate.

I came to a four year party and it's almost last call.