Sydney White, Accepted, Mona Lisa Smile, 21, The House Bunny: it is time to step up and admit that college was not everything you thought it would be. By no means is that necessarily a bad thing for some. But for others, this means that Harvard did not end up accepting you so that you could solve crimes based on general perm knowledge and teach a room full of moms the bend and snap, a tragedy no doubt.

I did not sign up for this. The whole growing up thing was never supposed to happen, after all, I’m still waiting on my Hogwarts letter or possibly a vial of pixie dust. However, I find myself paying for food, washing my clothes all by my lonesome, and overall having much more responsibility than I had anticipated. When we said that we wanted more responsibility throughout high school, the whole point that we were trying to make was that we were ready to leave these so-called parents in the dust, to live on our own and do what we want, right?

But that meant doing fun things, not responsible things.

Teachers need to stop saying “when you’re in the real world…” What exactly does that mean? After hearing it at least four times during the first week back, I started to wonder: are we living in a fictitious world? Is this inception? Does that mean that I’m training for something now that I have never experienced, that I will be transported upward through a tube-like structure onto a field filled with backpacked maniacs, all risking life and limb? Newsflash: we are in the real world. No matter how protected adults sometimes wish to make us feel, it is not very fair to tell us that we are not yet adults, that we need to be prepared for this “real world,” but then ask us to prove that we have enough common sense to achieve the responsibilities often expected of them.

I remember believing in Neverland, and being tucked in at night, and eating Gushers while listening to my Hit Clip (those things are still amazing). We had to work for things then, and we still have to work for things now. Nothing has changed except for the items themselves, and possibly their descriptions changing from “want” to “need.” After all, even though I believed that I needed a Furby at the time, I realize now that I probably need food more.

Complaining is annoying, no one likes the whiners. If we were having a zombie apocalypse, I can guarantee they would be the first to be sacrificed. There is no reason that life in college cannot be fun every once on a while, or even every day. Don’t feel scammed out of your childhood, just bring it with you. Growing up is not what you might have thought it was at age eight; but at age eight, anything was possible. So grow up: or rather, realize that you already have.

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