Posts in Graduation
What to Expect When You're Expecting (to Graduate), Part II
What to Expect When You're Expecting (to Graduate), Part II

In the first post I wrote for this series I talked about not wanting to leave Nashville after I graduated at the end of this semester. I talked about my fear of losing comfort and the home that I have built in a city I didn’t have to be convinced into adoring. I even emphasized the point by writing three times in italics—I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave. When I went back to read this post five minutes ago, I almost laughed out loud into my mocha.

Since I wrote that post I have decided to stay in Nashville and the voice of fear that screamed loud about not wanting to leave screams even louder about not wanting to stay.

I don’t want to stay. I don’t want to stay. I don’t want to stay.

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Dreams, Life, Graduation, CareerChelsey SatterleeFeatured, ArchiveComment
One Year Later: A Reflection
One Year Later: A Reflection

It’s been a year since That First Year was launched. 365 days. And in those 365 days, more than 30 people (33, to be exact!) have contributed 131 posts to this li’l blog; more than 30 people have willingly put figurative pen to figurative paper to write about just how messy and confusing, yet oh-so-beautiful that first year after college can be. We’ve had posts covering the gamut of topics: from life to love to friends to travel to dreams to some of our favorite things.

“These posts are getting too relatable now.”

Someone said this about a post recently and I wanted to give ‘em a big ‘ole hug through the computer because that’s exactly what I was hoping this blog would be: a place where people can relate to the stories this community has shared. 

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Travel, Style, Money, Life, Health, Graduation, Dreams, Career, RelationshipsAlly WillisFeaturedComment
Don't Quit Your Daydream, Part III
Don't Quit Your Daydream, Part III

In a short couple of months, I will officially be one full year out of college. There’s still a lot of things I wish I would’ve done by now and a few that I wish I hadn’t done at all. For better or for worse though, this year has happened and it’s turned out to be so different than I anticipated.

One of the things that I’ve really loved doing this past year is just sitting down and taking the time to create something.  I found a pen pal group called #confetticourier that was started by one of my favorite Instagramers, @peytonfrank.  The way it works is that each month that you want to participate, you sign up by a certain date in a private group created by Peyton on swapbot.com. The website then automatically generates someone from the group for you to send snail mail to.  You don’t receive mail from the same person you send to, so you never know what you’re going to get! I’ve received some really amazing packages so far with unbelievably stunning calligraphy from all over the world. My calligraphy was mediocre at best so I recently decided to step up my #snailmail game.

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Dreams, GraduationJuliette KibodeauxComment
What to Expect When You're Expecting (to Graduate), Part I
What to Expect When You're Expecting (to Graduate), Part I

It’s 7 pm. The white Christmas lights that are lined with postcards from my semester abroad and the ones that are wrapped around my headboard are twinkling against their respective walls. There are two kittens curled up on top of each other at the foot of my bed and I have set up camp in the chair that barricades me into my “reading corner.” I just finished a short story I was assigned in creative writing that dug its claws deep down into my writer’s soul and as I type a Bath and Body Works candle spits fumes of vanilla marshmallow out into the air.

I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave.

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Dreams, Career, Graduation, LifeChelsey SatterleeFeatured, ArchiveComment
Not A Student, Not Yet An Adult
Not A Student, Not Yet An Adult

Back at college, students have moved in, classes have started, football games have been won (and lost), and I’m sure many all night study sessions have already occurred. From the outside looking in, it’s the same as every other year.

Except there’s one thing: I’m not there.

No longer being a student has its good and bad moments. Can I just say how nice it is to not have homework or paper deadlines hanging over my head? It’s VERY nice. But sometimes I do miss college. I miss my roommate who now lives thousands of miles away. I miss constantly being surrounded by friends, many who have graduated and moved. I miss my professors. (I know, I’m weird.) I miss the familiarity of it all.  

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Career, Graduation, LifeKaitlyn BundrickComment
The First Fall of Adulthood
The First Fall of Adulthood

It felt eerie because of how familiar the scene was: trying to figure out who was asleep on the couch because they were sleeping face down, everyone coming out of their bedrooms looking for water and answers, eating cold pizza that was left out all night and washing it down with an open Bud Light that was completely flat.

People say that you actually feel like you graduated when you don’t go back to school for the first time in your life in the fall. While I did feel a little off at the beginning of the month, it was being on campus last weekend that I really felt it.

I teared up on my drive home. How could this part of my life be over? Don’t get me wrong, I hate being hungover and am glad I wasn’t in as rough of shape as my friends, but they don’t know how good they have it. The only priority they have on weekends is to eat something and shower before it’s time to go drink all over again. I had to go home to do my laundry and grocery shop (I miss the dining hall) and get my life together.

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Graduation, Dreams, CareerJackie Mundry Comment
Fall
Fall

Ironically, change seems to be the only thing that’s truly constant right now, and I can’t put into words how strange this transition is to me, this confusion and this clarity, this first year. I find myself worrying as I look back and worrying as I look forward, never fully accepting the now because right now is the now and I can handle that just about as much as I handled the Friends finale (which I didn’t handle at all) ((“she got off the plane” … don’t even tell me you didn’t cry over that)).

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Life, Dreams, GraduationAlyssa VottoFeaturedComment
Facing the Unknown
Facing the Unknown

Is there anything worse than the unknown? In this world that we live in where we can see if someone has read our texts, there is still so much that we can’t see, that we don’t know.

I think it makes it harder to not know things, when it is so easy to in fact know things.

I know that I personally have a love/hate relationship with this technological world. On one hand, there are the advantages that it brings. We can get information anytime but it has also made a twenty-something’s life so much more difficult.

Why hasn’t he texted me back? He read it. What could he possibly be doing? I’m sure we’ve all been there.

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Life, GraduationJackie MundryComment
My 23rd Year
My 23rd Year

There are three photos of me at my college graduation.

1)     I’m coming in with the rest of my class, capped, gowned and wearing my mother’s pink and black polka dotted sunglasses. Everyone else is marching with gravitas, but my arms are high in a victory V, my mouth wide open and excited. I love that picture.

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Graduation, Life, RelationshipsLiz LizzaraFeaturedComment
The Great Wait for "Real Life" to Start
The Great Wait for "Real Life" to Start

Since this is a blog about the year after college I figured it's best to be honest. I have no summer job. I have no car. I sit at home with my 14 year-old brother Monday through Friday. But, hey, I'm not complaining. I've never been more relaxed. I've made some positive changes so far - and it's only June! I decided to go gluten-free, discovered I needed glasses, and embarked on an 18-hour road trip with my best friend. In case anyone was wondering - and I highly doubt anyone is - here's my life. (You're welcome.)

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Graduation, LifeOlivia LandryComment
Preparing for Your Gap Year
Preparing for Your Gap Year

This is it. You’re done with school. Now is the perfect opportunity to get the wild hairs out of your system before you get settled into a typical "adult" routine.

There are a lot of outlets for young people to gain real-world experience in non-traditional ways after college, like teaching abroad, becoming an au pair, or volunteering across the world. 

I took the teach abroad route for my first post-grad adventure, and you don’t have to have any teaching experience to be accepted. You generally only need a four-year degree from an accredited university and speak English as your native language.

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Travel, Graduation, CareerAnnalise KrausComment
True to Your Heart
True to Your Heart

Why is it so hard to follow your heart? Is it just me? Surely not.

We hear people telling us all the time to follow our hearts. I mean, I grew up listening to the lyrics of 98 degrees and the great Stevie Wonder from the Disney classic Mulan.

The older I get, the more I realize that Stevie has left me with a difficult task.

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Graduation, Dreams, CareerKaitlyn BundrickComment
Real World Says, "Ready or Not, Here I Come"
Real World Says, "Ready or Not, Here I Come"

Here I am almost three weeks out of undergrad life and I have to be honest… I don’t really feel much different.

Yes, I packed up my college house of two years, said all my tearful goodbyes to some of the most amazing people I’ve had the privilege of calling my friends, tied up all loose ends and walked across that stage in my cap and gown to receive that coveted piece of paper (which ironically I won’t even receive for a few more weeks in the mail). Then, just like that, early the next morning the U-Haul was loaded, and I headed four hours south from Kansas to Dallas with my needy meowing cat, Calvin, in tow.

Why don’t I feel any different?

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GraduationAlyssa RichardsonComment
Out On My Own
Out On My Own

Throughout the years, I often found myself questioning my choice of school. My high school friends were meeting new people while traveling and living out of the country. They would come home with adventurous anecdotes while I felt stifled by the same small-town charm that once drew me in. I needed to try new things and make interesting choices of my own.  

Within six months, I changed my major, joined a sorority, traveled alone to Europe, and saw movies alone (yes, in that order).

These were the first steps that led me to make a huge, life-changing decision a few months ago.

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Graduation, LifeOlivia LandryComment