A Semester of Work

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The fall of my nineteenth year promised to be a long one. For the first time in thirteen years I found myself out of school. I was employed at the same mind numbing job that I had held for the last three years. While most of my friends were back in school after their summer break, I was back at home after a year of living in a college dorm. The transition was not an easy one for me, and I looked upon my semester off with little optimism.

The previous fall was one of much more hope and excitement. At the age of eighteen, I was ready for college. I chose to attend State University, not far from my home, but still far removed from my former life, as I was moving away from my parents and into a dorm. I was to attend State with two of my closest friends from high school, and live with one of them. My major was undecided, so I planned on taking the general education requirements. I was quite unsure of what college held for me, but was eager to find out.

It was not long before I discovered that, for me, college held boredom and feelings of uselessness. While I enjoyed some of my professors and courses, I treated college just as I had treated high school. The game plan was to show up, do just enough work to "earn" an A, and leave without gaining any pesky knowledge. Just like in high school, I executed this plan brilliantly, and found myself with a high grade point average and an even higher level of ignorance. Eventually, this method began to wear on me. As I was accomplishing nothing, feelings of guilt began to arise for the amount of money my parents were pumping into my education. Damned by a sense of self awareness, I realized that I was little more than a spoiled brat with time to waste. I finally began to look to the future and question where my life should lead. However, as I remained unsure of what direction I wanted to take, I became more frustrated than ever before.

My solution? Run away from my problems. This brilliant idea initially manifested itself in a plan to travel the country for a semester.

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