I grew up in a household with two working parents. Everyday I would watch my parents go off to work in their professional clothing, commute into the city, have business meetings all day, and be in my mind what I considered “true professionals”. Even from a young age, I watched them in admiration- I couldn’t wait for the day that I got to also be a real adult who earned a living and did fun adult things.
The older I got, there were increasingly more occasions where I got to actually wear real working clothes and act like an adult. But every time I put on a suit or a nice dress, I felt like I was simply dressing up; playing a role for a few hours before I changed back into normal clothes. I my mind, I was still a child, waiting for the day that I would get be real “working girl”.
And suddenly, here I am, in Copenhagen, taking the train home from work, tired from a long day of meetings, ready to kick up my feet and relax until more work tomorrow. The business clothes I’m wearing no longer feel like dress up clothing, but just my normal everyday attire. So I guess that means I’m an adult now, right?
Writing this blog almost makes me laugh- I can’t really be an adult, right? I’m only 20! In the US, I can’t even legally drink! But somehow here I am, working a real job, and although it is technically for a class and we are not getting paid, it is for a real company and it is international work experience.
I always imagined the transition between childhood and adulthood to be more gradual. Maybe it was and I just missed it. But I feel like just yesterday I was home with my parents, and today I’m at work in a foreign country.
I realize I still have a year left of college until I am thrown into the real world where I will truly be living on my own. Hopefully by then I will have a job and an apartment and will feel like I have a better grasp on what being an adult is like.
I think one of the main lessons I will take away from my time in Copenhagen is that being an adult really isn’t all that different from being a child. Even adults still feel lost and confused, they still ask others for help and wonder when they’ll get their lives together. Maybe these feelings will eventually go away, but until then, I’ve learned that if you act confidently, work hard and don’t stress over the little things, everything will work out in the end.
Don’t get me started on the absurdity of the US drinking age. As for the transition from student to “adult” . . .
Life is full of milestones. Graduations. Employment. Promotions. There may be a few negative ones along the way too. While we work hard to achieve these milestones, the reality is that we wake up the next day and are, more or less, the same person we were the previous day. We may have a new diploma to hang on the wall, or we may have a new title on a business card. Still.
While the milestones suggest abrupt, even jarring, change the reality is the transitions are more gradual. That does not mean, however, that the growth is linear. I suspect you will have learned more about yourself in these four weeks than if you had taken a traditional on-campus class. You’re in a new place and in a different, even uncomfortable role. The growth will be somewhat more accelerated than it might have been in a classroom. That is why I favor new experiences like study abroad, independent research, internships, and other types of active learning in application. You test your knowledge, but you also learn to operate effectively in a different setting.
Thanks for the reflection.