TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

An individual’s perception of the world changes with every day experienced. After looking forward at my immediate future, I realized that I am now more able to accurately predict and plan what the future holds. (By no means does this mean I have everything planned out.)

Come along on a journey through my life, and the expectations that came with it!

In elementary school, I looked up to the 5th graders. Literally. They were huge, massive people. Even though they all seemed mean, they had such awesome privileges. They got to vote (in the school mock presidential election), they got to use the taller water fountains, and they didn’t get chewed out NEARLY as much as we did by the lunch monitor, Mrs. Braun. They received the best music for the Christmas recitals, and got to play much cooler instruments in band. My recorder was the bane of my existence.

After 3rd grade, I transferred to a public elementary. I was terrified. I expected to be solicited drugs as I walked in the classroom. Not so much, but I did have my first crush. (This is when girls entered the equation. Makes things complicated.) I looked forward to middle school. Holy crap, lockers were amazing back then. I can put my entire backpack in there!?!?! Are you kidding? I don’t have to lug my lunchbox around anymore? Sign me up!

Lockers ended up sucking. You had to remember numbers and stuff. And if you didn’t, your teachers hated you for asking them for help. 6th grade was a huge transition period. Multiple classes, teachers and groups of friends. Drama was introduced. Oh my. Drama. I didn’t quite understand the whole dating thing. I was behind the curve. I wrote a note to a girl asking her out. I technically had a girlfriend for about 48 hours. Never held her hand. Never put my arm around her waist. Didn’t actually even talk to her. It was, to say the least, a mediocre relationship. But it’s cool, we ended on good, mutual terms. This made me start thinking about high school. Oh my. Those high schoolers are so cool! I thought of them as a slightly more realistic version of High School Musical. Less singing and dancing, more partying. In my thoughts, I was Zac Effron.  I idolized some of these people. I wanted the convertible and popularity, and to talk to a girl. Just one. One would do.

High school was like ordering a Meat Lover’s Pizza, but not getting any pepperoni on it. It just wasn’t “all that”. It started out slow and boring, but got more and more fun as the years past. Made closer friends, played sports, learned a lot (maybe could’ve learned more), and became more of a person. However, my view of college life might have been skewed early on. This was my idea of college freshman year:

I didn’t even know what that meant. But that was my conceptual knowledge of university. Closer to my senior year, my view developed into the idea of a constant toga party. I rationally knew this wasn’t true, but it made me happy to think it would be this way.

Looking forward, I figure life will be pretty similar to high school. Cliques will never go away, popularity is usually determined by money and physical appearance, and good intentions won’t get you far.

I’m SO excited to finish up college and start living in the real world…to start building my life and my relationships…to start being the “Me” that I will be for the rest of my life.

It used to scare me, but I guess my perception has changed.

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