Life after campus

We were all excited to finally be done with campus, ready to join the corporate world and finally be able to hold conversations among the adults as professionals. Little knowing how much we would long to be back at school, back to the routine we were used to and to a life we loved. Campus is the best part of anyone’s life, I heard people say, I didn’t believe it then but now that I am out of university, it finally makes sense. Looking back I would give anything to be back in school again, to have all the time in the world, to have no care in the world but course work and my outfit for the next day. Life on campus was the easiest it can ever be. We woke up past ten. Had no plans or deadlines and only made them as we went along. We ate all the junk in the world without a care of putting on weight, went out to all the happening places in the city. And everyone envied us for we were young and free. Now all that has changed, finally our years on campus are over and we have been sent out in the cruel world. At first this is exciting and we all can’t wait to get good jobs, start earning the big money and drive the cool cars, as all the corporate types we have seen around. Of course it won’t be easy giving up our tee- shirts and jeans but it will be worth it in the long run. We set out to write applications and compile CVs. Most of this is easy and I wonder why there is always a fuss about CV writing. Dropping them to the prospective employers is also a walk in the park and now it is time to wait for responses, this is the hard part. Weeks and weeks go by without any calls from the prospective employers and even when you get a call for an interview; it turns out too difficult that you are put down the more. Staying home becomes your new ‘proggie’ and it becomes increasingly difficult to hook up with your girls because apparently since you are staying home, you need to respect rules and be there early. You can’t be disobedient since you’re still in the unemployed category and therefore still dependant on mummy dearest. You need to play the ‘goodie’ two shoes and that entails doing house work and getting home at early hours. You accept all this in good spirit knowing that when God smiles on you and you finally land that job you have been eyeing for so long, all this ‘suffering’ will be forgotten and your freedom restored. You share your trials with friends; they too seem to have similar problems. Those with any prospective jobs are only interning and this comes with its share of problems. You encourage each other and celebrate with one another when anyone in your circle gets a job. You patiently wait for your turn to share the in good news. This is a trying time, the economic problems are not encouraging and you also know that there are people that spend over five years or more walking the streets in search of jobs. A small voice in your head tells you that you will not be one of these people and you try to believe it in vain. You try to keep your hopes up hoping that the next phone call will be a job offer... to be continued. Ends