Comparing a college day to a work day
Definitely my days in college were much different than my days now at work. I have a few classes this fall, but those days will be different than my days in recent years. Let's take a look and compare.
College Mornings
Nothing beat being 18 and not having anything to do other than going to class. In college, most classes started at 10am for me, rarely before 9am. Granted, my first college class was a Cisco Networking course that started at 7:30am. This was back when I definitely wasn't a morning person! Back to the subject - while I was at community college, this meant crawling out of bed, driving a mile down the road and going to class. At Radford University it was even more convienent - just roll out of bed 3 mins before class and run. After class was finished I'd hit the Bonnie for breakfast or go back to my dorm to take an enjoyable (and probably well needed) nap.
Work Mornings
I wake up typically around 6:15am, shower and try to be out the door by 7:15am or 6:45am. This gives me plenty of time to drive, depending on the location I am leaving from (Radford Home or my Parent's Home). I begin my workday around 8am. By noon, I've already completed an abundance of data entry, updated forms, and have taken care of various IT related issues.
College Day
Days in college were fun. I'd go to my classes for the day, have lunch with a friend or two, then I'd find something to get into. Sometimes it meant going to the library, but most of the time it meant chillin with one of my fraternity bros.
Work Day
Work isn't college. A lot of my time is spent keeping on top of things, taking care of conference calls, keeping documentation, entering data, and more. There's not a lot of time to waste! Interact with very many different people and I must always keep my composure.
College Night
College nights are why we all go to college. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING beat going out with my friends to a college party and living it up. The amount of people you could meet, the spontaneous energy around it all, and the memories that you'd still talk about for weeks (and years I've found) all made it worthwhile. Going to bed was NEVER before 3am.
Work Night
I'm never up past 11pm and wore out by 9:30pm. I usually reflect on the day, look forward to the weekend, and overall relax as much as possible. Hangouts are are during the week.
Compare and Contrast
Work and College are a like. There's a lot of work to do and I have to work with a lot of people to get the job done. They differ tremendously in terms of seriousness though. College is very carefree whereas work is not. You have to be on top of your game due to the competitiveness. College has competition too, but it isn't the type of competition you see when earning money is involved.
I recommend to those of you in college to enjoy every second of it that you can. To my fellow coworkers in the real world - I hope you made many memories while in school. It'll definitely make icebreakers with the coworkers a lot more interesting!
