Graduated to the Real WorldWith surprisingly little reluctance I face my new life. My heart is filled with excitement, while my mind is buzzing with anxiety. Everything has changed. I suppose this isn't actually the case, but it seems like a small difference can make you feel like the whole world is turning upside down. I carry out what will soon become a routine for me without second thoughts. Perhaps none of this has yet been understood. I sit alone in a tiny cubicle only five feet square and examine my new surroundings. I was afforded all the little luxuries that such entrapment can afford. The obsolete computer whirring and groaning loudly, seeking sympathy. The calculator, pens, highlighter, stacks of papers and documents. It's all I have now. I'm wearing a new gray suit, one of the many gifts I received recently. A new dress code for a new lifestyle. Just two days earlier I was on a stage, watching nearly a thousand people, summing up thirteen years in five minutes. How would you express the effect that thirteen years of school has had on you and your classmates in a new and untapped way? My valedictory speech was one of the most difficult documents, or speeches in this case, I have ever had to write. The effort put in also made it the most rewarding. “For a college application I was asked what phrase I would advertise if I had the opportunity. My answer was: 'Living is doing, not simply being.'” These two sentences were my favorite part of the speech. I talked about taking responsibility for our lives and making a positive difference in the world. I wasted no time following my own advice. Two days later I begin what will likely become one of the most challenging but personally fulfilling experiences of my life. At six o'clock this morning my alarm clock once again failed to wake me from my peaceful state. I can be so resentful about this. Just seconds earlier I was driving as fast as my car would go around hairpin bends on a seemingly endless highway with a strong, cool breeze blowing my hair in all directions. The merciless beep brought me back to reality. I continued my usual morning routine, except this time my destination wouldn't be the same.