Spring Break… For college students it’s a week away from classes, unavoidable stress and a midway point for the last semester of the year. Some decide to be carefree in warm states like Florida or California and test the limits of their livers while others with no money take on a few more hours at work to offset the near negative balance of their back account. I was part of the latter group and at first I didn’t know how I felt about it. When people asked me what I was doing for spring break and I replied with working and maybe catch up on my napping, some understood because they had the same plans in mind, while others tried to talk me out of a “boring” break. “Why not take a trip somewhere nearby?” “Or go back home and relax?” I completely get why the idea of working during my last spring break seemed crazy or depressing but as I look back on this past week more work and less play was exactly what I needed.

Now if you’re in college and specifically a senior, you’re most likely counting down the last days of school. Even though I’m taking two final classes in the spring, I have 48 days until I graduate, 101 days until I’m completely done with college and all I can think about is preparing for life as a college graduate. After April I won’t have a three month break before its back to the books and beer pong tables. I won’t have loans and financial aid to supplement the checks I get while working a part-time job outside of school. I’ll have to get a full-time position and leave the comforts of having a nicely sized dorm to myself behind. Maybe it’s the homework that I swore I’d do during break that’s created a small pile near me or the idea of the return of 6-9s this week but I’m ready to be done with school.

Sure, the safety of only having to worry about getting good grades and a couple bills will be going away very soon. The freedom of having the ability to move anywhere I want and truly work toward my career goals is nearing and I don’t want to sit in classrooms and daydream about the future anymore The day before graduation I turn 22 and I look back at my 21^st birthday thinking about all the exciting things that were on the horizon that year. A few months after that birthday I got to travel to London for a study abroad program and two months later I moved to Grand Rapids to start my final year of college. Those two moments truly shifted what I believed could be possible in the near future and now I’m working toward making this summer even more memorable than the last.

I’ve been going back and forth in my mind on my upcoming plans after graduation and asking everyone around me if the things I want to do seem impossible…but the second week of July, I will be moving to New York. Sounds CRAZY right? The guy who just wrote in the beginning of this post that he chose to work all break because he’s broke wants to move to one of the most expensive cities in America (Must be on drugs…). But I’ve realized that I’ve taken away all of the experiences and life lessons I could from Michigan. I was born here, spent 21 years of my life here and outside of a couple trips it’s all I’ve known and I don’t want to spend the next 10 or even five years in the same place. I could easily start working toward my goals of working in radio and writing for entertainment publications in Grand Rapids but I don’t think I’ll push myself enough when everything feels so comfortable and known. I need to tackle a completely new setting and lose the newly formed sense of self I’ve found over the past couple of years.

Spring Break was a good preview of what’s to come in life. I’ll spend most of my time working, hopefully toward my goals or at least at a company I enjoy clocking in to every day. I’ll have some free time that I’ll be able to spend doing whatever I want, whether that be napping, hanging with friends, or exploring the world around me.  Plus I’ll always be gaining new experiences that influence what I think about myself, others around me and our overall society (which will definitely make for some solid on-air and written content, so stay tuned for that). So as I finish off these 101 days which seems like a lot but the past will remind me goes quicker than anticipated, I will try to stay focused on the tasks at hand and continue to make memories that will make me miss my days as a college student. This senior year has been a runner up to freshman year, my favorite school year of all time and while I’m sad that it’s coming to an end; I’m very excited to see what life has in store for me next.

P.S.: I knocked this bad boy out in an hour and I couldn’t be half as productive for the writing that’ll actually be graded so I kind of hate myself right. The senioritis is at an all-time high!