I’m getting pretty frustrated with this Mayan gossip. Ever since New Year’s Eve, all I’ve heard is “epic catastrophe” this and “world destruction” that. It seems that a certain Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, most commonly used by the ancient Mayans, is predicting some fairly epic happenings for 2012 – the least of which is the Class of 2012’s graduation from GW.
But riddle me this: If the Mayans can predict something as awesome as the end of the world, how come they can’t tell me if I’ll be hired at the firm I’ve been interning with for two years? That seems totally doable given the Mayan’s professed skill set.
The irony of being a second-semester senior during the commotion of this 2012 phenomenon is definitely not lost on me. College is ending, so the world has to end too? That seems a bit dramatic.
In the midst of the panic accompanying my last semester in college, I now have to prepare for total destruction. I’ll be sure to highlight that in my planner. Most of us 2012 seniors will graduate in May, but I’d argue that contrary to what the calendar says, life as we know it won’t end there.
Lately, it seems, the “G” word spurs a mix of emotions from different people. During a recent visit to the doctor’s office, the receptionist, killing time with friendly conversation, asked how school was going. I enthusiastically replied, “I’m graduating this May.”
She returned a weak, forced smile, and added, “Good for you.”
With that kind of optimism, she might as well have asked if I’m looking forward to moving into my parents’ basement.
The good news is, while we may not know exactly where we will stand after graduation, there won’t be much change for the majority of us. My older brother, who is otherwise silent on all matters not including baseball, put it best: “Nothing really changes. There’s just more of your own money involved.”
If my brother’s recent acquisition of a Chicago frat pad – three former frat brothers in one apartment, you fill in the blank – tells me anything about post-grad life, it’s that college doesn’t end at graduation. Sure, there’s a handful of us who already have jobs and have most of this “life after college” thing figured out. But for the rest of us, there will be little change from the ever-popular Sunday “morning after” recaps over brunch.
These may be some of our last ever all-nighters in Ivory on Wednesday nights, but we have months before we have to even think about sporting those heinous graduation gowns. The world may be ending, but May won’t be the end for the Class of 2012. At the very least, the Mesoamerican calendar gives us until December to really get it together.
