slides: Ten Reasons Why Your First Year Out of College Stinks
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Sunday, November 02, 2014
Kirsten Nicolaisen, GoLocalPDX Digital Producer
Portland is a hot spot for young college grads right now. Actually, it's the 5th most popular city in the U.S. for college graduates, according to a report by
Business Insider.
Portland is an affordable, creative and thriving city with a great public transportation system. We embrace the weird, the new and the nonconformist.
There's even a hint of that collegiate atmosphere, as Portland State University is in the heart of downtown. Essentially, Portland is an ideal place to be for people taking their first steps into adulthood and the working world, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.
Well hey twenty-somethings, GoLocalPDX is here to sympathize. Here are 10 reasons why your first year out of college stinks.
See Slides Below: Ten Reasons Why Your First Year Out of College Stinks
Related Slideshow: Ten Reasons Why Your First Year Out of College Stinks
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You can't go to work in your pajamas
In college you rolled out of bed and went straight to class (maybe). You put your hood up, slippers on and went back to sleep as soon as you sat down in the lecture hall. If it was really a rough morning you probably forgot to brush your teeth, but it was okay because you'd do it when you went home for your mid-morning nap.
That's your handbook on how to get fired immediately in the working world. Get used to early mornings. Or at least mornings.
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No more naps
Speaking of naps... you don't get to take them anymore. Not your mid-morning nap, not your late morning nap, no, not even your post-lunch comatose nap. Jobs don't come with nap time.
Let's take a moment of silence for those beautiful naps.
Now get back to work!
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The weekend doesn't start on Thursday, Wednesday
You scheduled your classes so that you had no school on Friday and could enjoy three full nights of partying. But you could only make it to Wednesday...
Because screw it! dollar beers Wednesday night at your favorite bar! Cheers to a four-day weekend!
Those four-day weekends are gone now that you're out of college. And if you do go out partying Friday and Saturday night, it's likely that you'll waste your two days of freedom nursing a hangover in bed.
Cheers to Netflix, a good nights sleep and peace and quiet! Ugh.
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Suddenly you have a drinking problem
Speaking of four-day weekends...
In college you had an excuse for your excessive drinking and partying: "that's what you do in college."
Now, your habits haven't changed and you no longer have an excuse. Suddenly your partying ways seem wrong and you feel judged. Old habits die hard, but your workplace won't see it like that.
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No more free gym
Let's be real. It's not like you took advantage of the free gym when you had it. Your four-day weekends interfered with your motivation to work out.
But you're growing up now. You're an adult! (haha). And if you want to go to the gym have fun paying AT LEAST $40 a month.
Let's be real. You still probably won't go.
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You either move back home, or you pay rent
You just had four years of freedom - your own place, away from your parents. Even if you did pay rent, it was likely for a tiny apartment in a college town where the cost of living isn't too steep.
Now you have two options:
1. Move back home and feel like you're back in high school.
2. Get a place, pay rent, and be even poorer than you were in college.
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It's harder to meet people
Classes, clubs, greek life, parties, campus bars. Basically hundreds of places to make friends at your finger tips.
Now you really have to make an effort to meet new people and keep up relationships. It's really easy to go to work, go home and go to sleep everyday. And a lot of your college friends moved away after graduation.
Make an effort to do something you like with people who share similar interests. Get to know your coworkers on a personal level. Make seeing your friends one of your top priorities no matter how tired you are without your naps. You'll need your friends more than ever now that you're out in the big bad world!
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You're back to the bottom
You worked four long years to acheive that senior status, to finally feel competent in your major and to be the boss at your campus job.
Well that's all over now.
If you're not an intern, you're probably still at the bottom of the food chain at work. It stinks, but suck it up and take it because someday.... someday far away... you'll be at the top again.
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Your parents are disappointed in you again
Ah, graduation day. A whole day to celebrate you and your acheivements. Your parents were so proud.
Now if you don't have a job, or you're living at home, or you're still asking for money, it can feel as though you've accomplished nothing. You don't want to go to grad school, but they want you to. You don't want to work for your dad's company, but he wants you to.
Just remember, even if they don't show it, they are very proud.
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Loans
As if your paycheck didn't already seem small enough.
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