College (and what comes after)

My first little cousin, whose rotund physique and upturned lips (when angry) won the adoration of restaurant waitresses and hotel attendants, has transformed from a stout bamboo shoot to a lean bamboo stalk, green and still growing. It only seems adequate and responsible that I should give my best advice and share my college experience in hopes that he will grow profoundly in all aspects during those four years of his life soon to come: that he will have challenging, perturbing, inspiring, life-changing experiences that push the boundaries of his intellect, strengthen and forge his character and show him the transcendence of college lessons and friendships.

Only two years have passed since I graduated but sometimes it feels so long ago that I am compelled to reflect upon those unforgettable years whose moments I continue to relive.

Skepticism and scorn were my visceral reactions when long-ago graduates half-declared and half-warned that “the college years are the best four years of your life.” There may exist many valid roots to this claim but what overshadows is the free-reign granted, for almost all, for the first time in their life. Some may take it as partaking in bacchanalian parties most of the week or sleeping at dawn after late night dinners of pizza or never showing up to classes before 1pm. Maybe for some it’s the best four years because the scholarly life is one of intellectualizing, of time for leisure, camaraderie and discovery while the working life isn’t a far call from the monotonous and soul sucking life of Peter in that iconic blockbuster Office Space. So those four years sandwiched between the confused angst of adolescence, near adult responsibility with freedom lagging behind and working 11 months a year, 40 hours a week, with full adult responsibility along with freedom in accordance does indeed make college a sweet treat, something like an Oreo cookie where you want to lick up all that cream, and just maybe, opt to leave the outer cookie half-eaten or untouched.

That hackneyed saying could be true, but then that would be immensely discouraging to the point of depressing for graduates giving reason for any rational being to prolong their college period for as long as possible. Some astute minds arrived at that conclusion and happily extended their collegiate stay but for others, the outside world entices and lures them with much but above all, a means to use their knowledge and wits to free them from a) burdensome college payments and debts and b) weekends and evenings spent in self-imposed isolation studying for the highly anticipated econ/bio/physics (fill in the blank) exam. But an optimist would extend that saying to “the college years are the best four years of life up to that point in your life”, because there is the unwavering hope and stubborn expectation that what comes after will be even better, if not what comes immediately after than the sum of it all, especially in retrospect and in the long-run.

Ebullient freshmen armed with insatiable curiosity and a hint of uncertainty after four years become all-knowing, self-assured and proud (or relieved) graduates. The transformation that takes place is dramatic (what happens in those sacred years, I will write about another day very soon). While all are made to believe that the outside world is awaiting them for its tight and promise-filled embrace, not all have the fortune of that secure and supportive embrace; some are like dust in the wind, allowing themselves to be swept off into any interesting or if not interesting, at least financially-lucrative direction.

If college didn’t create in me that insatiable hunger for seeking new horizons and that ardent and obstinate idealism for a better tomorrow for the world at-large, then it propelled and added fuel to it. What comes after those four years is just as interesting, just as surprising, just as delectable and even more so but of course as anything else, that depends greatly on the will of the individual.