Job hunting shoes

I was at the bowling alley a few weeks ago and I struck up a conversation with the guy who hands out the multi-colored bowling shoes. He asked if I was a student and what I was studying. I replied that I was about to graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism. What he said next will stay with me forever.\nHe replied, "That's ironic, I graduated from IU with a degree in broadcast journalism as well."\nYou can imagine the effect this had on me. I wanted to ask him why he was working in a bowling alley and if this could happen to me too. Could I ever end up spraying down shoes with odor-eaters and polishing heavy black balls like in my dreams? I could only wish.\nHonestly though, it really dawned on me what graduating from college was all about. A week from now my life, as well as a lot of your lives, start anew. This will be the first time when we get to make a truly meaningful decision on our own. We have to finally answer the question of what will we make of ourselves.\nSince we were in preschool we have been pretty much forced to go to school so we can figure out what we want to do with our future. After high school, society pretty much taught is that we would not make it without a college degree, thus creating our first real decision. We had to decide what college we wanted to go to, and what we wanted to study. Now, for us soon-to-be graduates, we have that degree and we are all on our own. Society tells us we need to get a job, but since we have a college degree we really can do whatever we want. \nIf we don't get a job right away, it's not the end of the world because we will have those degrees until we die. If you've always wanted to backpack across Europe you can without anything holding you back. You want to join the peace corps? Go ahead you crazy free-spirited hippie. Want to join a pack of midgets and elves on a journey to destroy a magic ring that could end the world? Go for it. \nThe opportunities we have are limitless. I truly do not know exactly what I want to do after school. All I know is that my mom told me that I couldn't apply for unemployment right after graduation. Apparently you cannot collect welfare with the excuse, "I have job offerings, but I really would rather report on the news rather than produce. Until I get a job reporting, can I collect a few hundred bucks a week Uncle Sam?"\nI don't know what the future holds for me, but I know that IU has prepared me well for it. Cherish this time you have at this amazing university and take in as much as you can because it sure goes fast. It seems like just yesterday I was breaking up with my high school girlfriend because she was a year younger than me and I heard that IU had a lot of hot girls. I was correct. But I won't just miss the girls. I'll miss walking to class and running into an old dorm-buddy. I'll miss Kirkwood on a warm spring night. I'll miss sleeping through the football games. And I'll certainly miss seeing people next to me in class reading an article I wrote for the IDS. \nI'll miss this town in general, and I'll miss everything about college life. Who knows, maybe my life in Bloomington will continue. I hear that the bowling alley likes to hire broadcast students.