Priorities

The end of your time at University is a funny old thing. On the one hand you have the excitement at the prospect of leaving, for a new place, new friends and new experiences. On the other you're leaving behind places, friends and experiences that for the most part have been good to you. If we had any more hands we might talk about the frankly horrendous prospect of having to get a job, the vaguely intriguing idea of actually having some of this 'money' stuff that people go on about, or the even more far-off possibility of getting tied down to partners, kids and mortgages. But there are simply not enough hands to go around.

For my own part, I wonder whether life will ever be as simple again. I'm not yet ready to accept the old dictum that your student days are the best of your life, half because I don't want to write off the rest of my days just yet and half because at points (notably during relationship problems, vomiting on your flat floor and open exams) University wasn't all that great. But it's certainly been a good crack and, as a I face the frankly absurd prospect of coming out of a good institution with a good degree, I contemplate whether the rest of life is as much of a breeze of this. I'm not going to deny that I have put in some work, for no student can avoid that without coming a cropper, but studying for my degree has certainly taken a backseat to socialising with mates, supping the rusty brown water (and occasionally the clear stuff: vodka or gin) and jetting off to watch football all over the country. Something tells me that once I get one of these job things the same level of non-committal attention is not going to cut it.

No matter though, there's more to life than knuckling down all the time and reaching the very top. It's easy to say now, but I don't think I have the ambition to really pull my finger out at whatever I end up doing. If any prospective employers are reading this, don't think I'm just a lazy, layabout reprobate who would be much happier slumped on a sofa with his dole cheque. All the same, variety is the spice of life. People at University who have worked their fingers to the bone and come away with a first-class degree but no friends and no stories have, to my mind, wasted the experience. Striking the right balance is essential. And this extends beyond the fast and furious student years. I don't intend to come out of life with the career version of a first if it means sacrificing other things that are important to me. Because, at the end of the day, things are only as important as you want them to be.