It happened multiple times over Thanksgiving break and it's bound to happen again during the upcoming holiday vacation.
You're sitting around the table with the extended family and someone asks the question you've been dreading: "So, what are you doing after graduation?"
While catching up with friends and family during the holidays is always a highlight for homesick students, the interrogations that usually come hand-in-hand with the holidays are not such a delight.
The questions posed by well-meaning loved ones are unwelcome not only because they remind seniors that we still have a million job applications to fill out and that we have already received more than our fair share of rejections. But also because they remind us that our time at Penn State is unfortunately coming to end.
When my roommate brought home her cap and gown for her December graduation, I wasn't nearly as excited as I probably should have been. She'll be around in May to put it back on for pictures with the rest of us during our May graduation.
But that harmless purchase is a reminder that these four years are ending. Even if we're not intimidated by the real world waiting for us, the impending future means the present is slipping away. Loved ones' questions about post-graduation plans aren't off base. They just take us to a future that bypasses the present.
But they also use another phrase constantly that depresses me about the potential of post-college life.
If I had a penny for every time an adult told me these would be the best years of my life, I would have already surpassed my projected yearly salary as a journalist. Maybe the older generation doesn't realize that assigning the best years to college means they are giving us nothing to look forward to post-graduation.
I'm excited for the real world. I can't wait to start my first job, if and when I find one. I'm more than ready to be done with the classes for the foreseeable future. There are no graduate school plans in my fortune, and I hope I haven't already used my allotment of "best years" at college.
But I'm not ready to move on from Penn State until I throw on that blue cap at commencement. My friends and I have a list of things to do before we graduate, and I intend of doing my best to fulfill those before May. My roommates and I already pulled off a great prank: Saran and tin foil wrapping the living room of our guy friends while they were sleeping.
It's unfortunately true what they tell you during your freshman year: the four years or so at Penn State go too fast. Now that the end is in sight, I'm glad I can look back and say I hiked Mount Nittany, ate Creamery ice cream and lost my voice in Beaver Stadium.
During the month-long break, there will be plenty of occasions for adults to ask the dreaded "future" questions. We know they're more curious than attempting to guilt us. My goal will be to answer politely, then return for the spring semester prepared to enjoy every moment of my last semester here.
Jessica Turnbull is a senior majoring in journalism and is The Daily Collegian's Friday columnist. Her e-mail address is jlt5044@psu.edu.
