Photo courtesy of thepennysavingmama.blogspot.com
Do you see that light? Yes, that glimmer of hope at the end of the dark tunnel of academia. It’s a sign, as we like to tell ourselves, that it will soon be all over. We can finally shamelessly numb our minds with copious amounts of reality TV and the plans of summer road trips we will never take. That tiny little light is the end of a freakishly debilitating school year, as we fight to keep our brains from melting into complete mush before finals start next week. However, what will actually become of us once we toss out our study guides, along with everything we’ve learned, and cry bittersweet tears of relief?
I, for one, can only allow myself recuperation in the form of a weeklong nap from which I may or may not want to wake. After a week of sweatpants, Teen Mom, and slothful bliss, I will begin my first act of big-girl responsibility and real job duties: the unpaid internship. This is a big step, I know.
I will be fending for myself in that beach town called Ocean City. Yes, you Senior Week’d there, I know, but I will neither be partying like an unleashed minor nor tanning into a nice shade of Snooki. Like many other college students this summer, I will pack up my classiest power suits and drive off in naive excitement to become a contributing member of society, albeit one without any sort of income.
Raise your hand if you’ll be spending the summer praying the working world doesn’t swallow you whole and spit you back out into the unemployment line. Let’s hear it if you’ll be hoping you don’t starve because your minimum wage checks from the semester ran dry on summer rent and that commute you don’t have a stipend to cover. This summer will give us another notch on our resume belts, but will it be just another feat in this life we call college? I sure hope not.
As soon as I cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, I’ll cross the threshold of maturity and independence. Even though I will have no pay stub to show for it and no roommate to recount my day to, I will have the last laugh as I rack up career brownie points inside the newsroom, while everyone else in town fries up on the beach like a nice funnel cake.
Now, excuse me while I go pay the registrar to receive academic credit for my unpaid internship — let’s just think about that for a second.
