Always behind the rest of the world, Israeli universities are finally in session. Everyone is back to school, back to “normal” college life. Everyone, it feels like, except me.
When I would picture myself finishing college, I would imagine the great sense of accomplishment I would feel as my professor handed me my diploma at graduation. I never imagined that I would feel anything but a huge sense of satisfaction (okay, maybe a bit of relief too). I didn’t take into consideration that I would suffer from ‘college withdrawal’.
When I was younger, all I wanted to do was be a college student. When I got to college, all I wanted to do was graduate. Be finished. Not have to owe more papers or seminars (=Israeli universities’ version of a B.A. thesis). No more finals, running to class, taking notes, boring lecturers, the list goes on. What I didn’t realize, is that the greatly heralded (at least in my opinion) “what happens next” actually does come next.
I didn’t think I’d actually miss school until I logged onto Facebook on October 10th (the first day of college in Israel; always a week after sukkos). My newsfeed was pummeled with statuses like “first day of classes”; “back in the law library”; “anyone have notes for Prof. X’s class?”. Suddenly, I realized that I don’t have syllabuses to print; papers to write or finals to cram for. I don’t have college anymore.
It’s weird having a whole new reality to get used to. It makes me kind of wish I was back in school…
