I remember sitting on the front porch of our college house, with two other college buddies as we shared our last beer together while still in college. It was my last semester at University of Maryland, and the excitement of the upcoming spring break had disappeared as a global pandemic was starting to affect the United States. At that time, the university assured us that we would be resuming in-person classes a few weeks after spring break. I predicted otherwise, and began packing my dorm room up to head home.
Looking back, I still feel some pain that my last few months of college were taken from me. No more nights out with the guys, no more college parties, no graduation celebrations. My time at the University had been especially hard as I had struggled to find my place and determine the degree I wanted. I ended up going through a very difficult process of making my own major, which in the end got me a diploma even with all the extra hard work. When the summer arrived, I began working three jobs to keep myself busy. I started working at a local farm brewery, as well as working for a hot air balloon and a small airport. It was good to return to some level of normalcy, even though we had to wear masks and travel was frowned upon. My whole plan of traveling internationally after graduating university had been thrown out the window, and I tried to make an alternate plan. Meanwhile, all my friends that I graduated with had started their careers out of college and were moving off to new places and starting a new chapter of their lives. I focused on doing my own thing, and in the fall I whittled away my jobs to a part-time position at the airport, working two days a week. I then had to deal with my family and friends asking what I was doing with myself, and carefully worded my answer to make it seem like I wasn’t just being a homebody. But I considered my position unique. Again, my whole plan was to travel around the world, volunteering and searching for a nonprofit to work for, or a town I might consider living in. For now, I keep myself busy with online classes, reading books, and writing stories that I have been hoping to have time to write one day. But still, I am afraid of being judged by people that expect someone my age to be starting a life and working a career and all of that – even though at this point I enjoy being single, and am not considering ever getting married or raising a family (and I realize how many people might laugh at such a statement).
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