Things You Learn Two Years After High School Graduation

By Karolyn Castaldo on June 11, 2012

As I scrolled through a few Facebook status updates from former schoolmates last Saturday, which all read something like, “Woohoo! Graduation!” I began to think about what I had learned as a person since I walked across the stage of my high school two years ago. Had I really grown up much since my days of Catholic-school uniforms and hanging out in the parking lot at the end of the day with my friends, dreaming of that Colorado sunshine? Or was I just kidding myself into thinking I’d matured? I decided that it was a little bit of both.

Photo from Flickr.com by Jim, the Photographer

Your Friends Will Change and Coming Back Won’t Ever Be the Same 

I’m not sure that I ever really thought that coming back to my hometown would be the same as when I was in high school, but I didn’t think it would change that much. The first party I went to after fall quarter was a shocker. I’d missed my friends but everyone had been shaped and molded into new people that I still really liked, but they were somehow different. I’m sure they thought the same about me. Now, two years down the road, our relationships are completely different, but I love my friends all the same.

The thing I had to come to terms with most was that life goes on when you aren’t there; stores change, roads close, buildings get demolished, people you love pass away. Since coming to college, there have been numerous deaths in my family and of close family friends while I was gone and unfortunately, that leaves much closure to be desired. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change it, so you just have to embrace it. Expect something to be different upon every trip back, most of the time, it will be positive.

Things You Thought Were Important Are Not 

Remember when it was crucial for you to have those Ugg boots in order to fit in at your high school so you bought a pair and then in a month the fad wore out and it was some other ridiculous thing after that? Stop trying so hard. College is about finding yourself. It sounds cliché but it’s true. Whether you live for fashion or just want to be comfortable, you have to be you or you’ll never meet the kind of people you want to. It’s not all about how you dress, obviously, but your actions as well, because they reflect you as a person and develop your character. When you stop trying to be like everyone else, you start to find out who you are. I realized that when I stopped trying to be a party girl or an artsy English major, I made friends that accepted and meshed with my quirks, styles and flaws and it made all the difference.

It’s Not Like the Movies and You Might Not Love It 

College might not be everything you dreamed it would be and that’s fine. Personally, if I did it again, I probably wouldn’t have picked to move all the way to Colorado, but I don’t regret my decision. It’s something I think about frequently but stressing over it isn’t worth it. In this day and age, there are thousands upon thousands of schools and had I wanted to, I could have transferred, but I decided to tough it out and that was my choice.

It also won’t be the constant party or the constant study that everyone talks up. You’ll find a balance that works for you and stick with it. College is what you make it to be and though some people try to make it sound like they live the “frat star” party-all-night, sleep-all-day, get-all-A’s, and plenty of babes lifestyle, they don’t, and you have to know that.

So, to the Class of 2016, welcome to college in a few months. Wherever you end up, I hope that you find your niche and rock it because the biggest thing I’ve learned is that if you aren’t enjoying yourself and learning something, you definitely aren’t doing it right.

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