Growing up

Caution seniors: Real life is approaching ... and quickly.\nIt's funny how that graduation date sneaks up on you. And if you are somewhat frightened by the fact that in seven weeks we will be for real finally on our own, you are not alone. If you were searching for, interviewing for or visiting a new job while most underclassmen were lying on a beach in Florida during spring break, you are not alone. If you just don't care about writing that last 10-page research paper, you are definitely not alone. \nIt's hard to believe the journey is almost over. Remember when, four or five years ago, standing in front of your freshman dorm with all that unnecessary crap from Target, you thought, "Finally, freedom and the real world. I'm going to be a real adult now!" Not exactly.\nCollege is, in fact, a pseudo world. For the past four years, we have truly lived in a bubble. When we encounter someone on campus who's younger than 18 or older than 30 (minus professor types), we are puzzled for a moment. Most of us have someone paying our bills -- whether it's via loans, parents or scholarships -- and we sort of live in a socioeconomic vacuum. We all have 24-hour access to tech nerds and a library; we have tons of free services, like career counseling and disability services; and most people, regardless of ethnicity or background, interact and get along while doing it. \nSure, we've had more responsibility since graduating high school. In a way, college is the buffer zone between the first 18 sheltered years of our lives and the full-blown real world. But now we must face the music. No more free health care. No more paid cell phone bills. No more it's-OK-to-stay-home-and-be-sick weeks. No more four-month summer vacations. No more winter breaks. \nIt's kind of scary to think that we will be the ones running the show now. For so long, we've claimed we're capable, responsible adults who can take care of ourselves. Now that the time has come, I kind of want to retreat to my childhood shell. I want to be 7 years old again, when my biggest fear was being picked last in gym class and my biggest letdown was Disney canceling "Kids Incorporated" (best show ever, by the way). Is it difficult for anyone else to grasp that our childhoods are over? That we are the ones becoming and doing what our parents, aunts and uncles did when we were kids?\nI still feel like there's something else I need to do, that I can't actually be ready for this real-world stuff. Isn't there another class I need to finish my degree? Isn't there something else I need to know before living on my own? Did my parents feel this way when they left the nest?\nI know journalists are supposed to answer more questions than they pose, but I'm banking on the fact that most of you reading this column feel the same way as I do. And I won't feel so alone.