The day I graduated from Loyola was also the same day that my fellow roommates and I were evicted from our lovely McAuley apartment on Loyola’s Eastside of campus. We were newly minted college grads, but we were also about to be homeless. While I should have been focused on “what am I going to do after graduation?” my main concern was “how do I get back to Baltimore and live with my friends?!”?” Although my motives were off- moving back into the 695 corridor was one of the best decisions I could have made and I spent the next nine months learning some valuable life lessons that I’d like to share with all other soon-to-be Loyola grads.

1. Don’t worry- your first job out of college can just be a job.

I was a Political Science/Spanish double major at Loyola and I knew that at some point I wanted to go to law school, but since I hadn’t taken the LSAT’s yet, that was at least a year off. What was I going to do until then? Through my internship that I had my senior year I was able to make some connections that landed me a job with a local bank in Baltimore. The original job was pretty cool- I was going to use my Spanish to help open a branch of the bank in the Hispanic part of Baltimore. Awesome! But this was the end of 2007 and with the impending financial crisis the branch never opened. Instead I ended up a glorified head teller at a local branch- not quite what I thought I’d be doing with my very expensive college education. But it wasn’t my forever job- it was my “work here until I get into law school” job.  With that in mind I was a-ok with it just being a job, not a career, and in the end really enjoyed my time there.

2. Comparison is the thief of joy.

I graduated Loyola with a boatload of student loans. Eight years later I’m still making some pretty hefty payments. Don’t get me wrong- I wouldn’t trade my Loyola education for anything. My experience as a Greyhound was some of the best four years of my life. But it’s not easy having a big payment now, or when I graduated, especially when it appears that none of your friends have loans. I was so jealous of my peers that came out of school debt free, that could backpack through Europe for a year or teach English in Thailand. But comparing my situation to theirs only served to make me unhappy.  By comparing myself to others I was devaluing my current situation. Wasn’t I living in an apartment with two of my best friends? Didn’t I have a job that afforded me the opportunity to pay my rent and my loans all on my own? Wasn’t that awesome? It was awesome! Regardless of having student loans life was great, it just took me a little longer to figure it out.

3. It’s 100% ok to change your mind.

My senior year of college I had some pretty specific plans for my life. I was going to live many years in Baltimore, graduate from law school, be a Congress Woman from Maryland, marry a guy from Loyola- I mean, real specific plans. Did any of those happen?! No! “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” I ended up spending nine months in Baltimore after graduation, moved out to San Francisco for law school, did not finish law school, married a guy from California, went into Finance, and now work as a recruiter for a Healthcare company.  If you had asked me when I graduated if I thought any of that would have happened I would have said it was highly unlikely. Don’t worry if life takes you in a completely different direction- most of the time that was probably what you were supposed to be doing all along.

Photo courtesy of Tom Carmondy on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabrico/3471559436/in/photolist-6hLDF3-4HxXHu-4bfE5W-5of25t-2Nqe2R-4vW89Y-4JEasH-8jE9t1-7fhxRy-3fVxBe-5whRwW-69EPSh-9hm2UJ-4qMa6h-2iZC7-bbHVJT-69FiA9-4WvSxb-52zPxr-3sayab-9MKo-37P5D3-4mkPs9-6monK8-5ktNds-cXQof-65bexe-7vGrC5-8hfxC3-4Wkiuw-6g4Nf5-3pzKHj-5sju9H-4CdpT8-7H8yMy-5GaCPs-5SJPmJ-egnPHK-2hUm8x-49xk4K-69BjKv-2PJYPE-69TKZ5-4p9yZH-7tyjvW-5SYdSP-9fjLi8-8ceKs6-3jjSN6-5T6WSY