Senior Year: High School vs. College

At the beginning of this, my final year of institutionalized education, it dawned on me that being a Senior in College is a far cry from being a Senior in High School...

College: Twenty-one: the blackjack of all birthdays. Suddenly you're allowed to go to bars and purchase alcohol and out of nowhere, you promptly become "the shit." Your knowledge of drinks makes you want to try them all. Some you like, some you hate. On the downside, you're constantly going on beer runs for minors and messing your car up with kegs bouncing all over the trunk. All in all, though, the sheer privilege of being twenty-one is a serious plus to being a senior in college.

But (there’s always a "but"), the obvious downfall to being a senior in college centers around the perpetual fear that this is it. Time for the real world. While some are lucky enough to push out another year, I unfortunately cannot. I even tried to do the whole "double-major thing," but my mom didn't buy it (literally, as in she wouldn't pay for another year for it). Internships and interviews; I guess you can call them the two "inters." Yet, in the end, I look past the real world and realize that the beginning of my story titled "College" would go a little something like, 'Once upon a time I went to college and had the sickest time ever...'

High School: The time in all of our lives when it starts to become an absolute necessity to get drunk in order to have a good time. Overall, senior year of high school marks the peak of our inner-adolescent rebellion. Drinking beers and going to parties "with the parents home" was the fun thing to do. The habitual cutting class was totally worth the risk as well. Major events like prom and losing your "V-Card" are considered to be synonymous with the term 'lasting memory.'

Though, one annoying result of high school is the "stop and chat." Coined by Seinfeld writer Larry David, the stop and chat refers to the awkward 'shooting-of-the-shit' with seemingly hundreds of people who you'd rather just avoid conversation with in order to save time in your day. Face it...deep down inside you really do not give a shit if they are having a good time at college, and odds are, the feeling is mutual.

Conclusion: The truth is that I am, in fact, sentimental when it comes to high school. My senior yearbook is currently sitting right on my shelf...that’s right, I said it. Although, on top of the yearbook rests a six pack of beer, sogging up the pages. This brings me to my current opinion that the past three years of college have been, in the realest sense, far more exhilarating then the memorable, yet ultimately lame, rituals of senior year of high school. We're on the second week of senior year so far and judging by past experiences, odds point to a just-as-good, if not better, year then the first three (of college).

Cheers to Senior Year of College, and for God's sake savor the flavor... because word on the street is that life after graduation is a bitch-and-a-half, kids.