There’s so much we’ve all come to take for granted in our college bubble: a flexible schedule, close friends, common respect and a general lack of worry.
Being home for winter break really did nothing but depress me. The real world is still out there and it’s still the same as we left it.
People still don’t have jobs.
People still try to blow up airplanes.
People still don’t believe that there are two sides to every issue.
People still go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up for work at 6 a.m.
On one of my first days back from Drake, I ran an errand at Target. I live in Apple Valley, Minn. It was kind of like getting off the highway and turning onto the residential road when you find yourself inadvertently driving 60 miles an hour.
I walked around and whenever I made eye contact with anyone I said, “Hey, what’s up?” whether I knew them or not.
It was only when moms started pulling their kids closer to them that I realized I was not on a college campus anymore. I forgot I took the exit off the friendly, college road to the suspicious, insecure road of reality.
I tried to sleep in, but I realized that my kitchen only prepares food at certain times and, unlike Sodexo catering, it revolves around my parents’ work schedules. So if I wanted lunch I had to get up by noon. What a drag!
While working a long shift at our local ice rink I found out that there are still people who honestly don’t know where Wisconsin is geographically in relation to Minnesota.
I also realized that playing soccer with an orange in my hallway really upsets my parents.
We live in a bubble that violence, ignorance and fun-sucking rarely penetrate. In short, we live in the closest thing to heaven on earth.
And now, with half of my first year behind me, my time in the bubble is growing shorter.
Imagine if the entire world was a small, private college campus. Everyone would be friendly and fun. Soccer with fruit in hallways would be the norm. Violence would be rare and police would only need golf carts. And the stories of crime on the news would usually be more entertaining than they would be depressing.
The only problem we face would be H1N1. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention would need a budget the size of North America.
Some of the environments we find ourselves in would drive doctors over the edge, but I’ll take germs for college any day.
So bask in the bubble. And most importantly, when our time in the bubble grows short, refuse to let it end. Take the bubble out into the world with you.
The world needs friendly people to go ahead and say, “Hey, what’s up?” to complete strangers; and the world apparently still needs educated people to teach 20-year-olds that Wisconsin is due east of Minnesota.
The world also needs respectful people who understand that differences are nothing in comparison to shared humanity. The world definitely still needs people to work the night shift.
When we leave here, the real world will hit us. Hard. But let’s refuse to be hardened back toward the real world.
And if anyone can find a pause button, or better yet an enlargement button, for this college bubble, then let me know.
Price is a first-year rhetoric and politics major and can be contacted at ryan.price@drake.edu.
