Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Just a Poor College Graduate...

It seems like there has always been a stereotype of poor college students.  You know them, they eat pizza and Ramen noodles and go to whatever bar is serving penny beer that night.  It may be a newly emerging phenomenon, but why does nobody talk about poor college graduates? I guess up until recently it has been expected that the cheap lifestyle ends once you get a diploma and make a seamless transition into a career.  

Let's be honest... how many 2009 graduates actually jumped right into a full-time position?  I have quite a few friends who did, and I'm so proud and happy for them.  But of all my friends who just graduated, a ridiculous number of them are living at home or going to grad school.  These are the options if you can't find a job: either live with your parents (I couldn't do it), incur even more debt at grad school (hellooo, why do you think we're in this mess?), or throw yourself into the real world and try to make it.

I fit into that last category.  Maybe it wasn't the smartest financial decision to move to the most expensive city in the world right after graduation, but what can I say... I'm an optimist.  And I'm determined.  I know I'll make it and one day look back on my poor college graduate days and laugh.

For now, I'm enjoying being a poor college graduate.  I'm okay with having a budget, I think it's a right of passage.  I'm 21 years old, I don't need a huge apartment with a doorman on Park Avenue.  I don't need to go out for nice meals every night and go shopping on 5th Avenue.  I happen to love my tiny studio apartment that's still barely furnished, buying groceries from Trader Joe's and looking for sample sales to buy clothes.   

5 comments:

  1. everything you said is so true. i always thought i'd be living uptown, shopping on 5th ave, etc. but i love living downtown, shopping at rummage sales, etc. this is way more my style. everything happens for a reason. it's so exciting doing it this way...and we're young--no reason to be all tied down or have it all together quite yet. trader joe's is awesome, but it's a zoo in there, so i always go to whole foods. haha

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  2. There are poor college grads uptown too! MS&L just gave us a "Summer in the City" guide and there are a ton of free things to do- how do you feel about brown-bagging a dinner & some wine and heading over to watch a movie in Byrant Park? Who needs 5th Avenue...

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  3. Elle - exactly, I'm glad someone agrees and I'm not crazy :) and I think the trick to Trader Joe's is not going on a Saturday afternoon because that's when I went, but even then the line moves really fast. I'm officially obsessed with that place.

    Lauren - I absolutely thought of you when writing this because I almost wrote "I don't need to be living on the Upper East Side..." haha :) I'm so down for a movie in Bryant Park, I heard about that last summer but never ended up making it out! Let's make plans!!

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  4. I couldn't agree more! Haha, good call. I went on a weekday afternoon and it was a zoo, but I absolutely love it, too.

    This brown-bag dinner/movie at Bryant Park sounds like my wildest dream come true. When do they do movies there?

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  5. Here's the site: www.bryantpark.org/calendar/film-festival.php

    I know they have them other places too, with more than just classic films (I heard something about Iron Man and a few others like that) but I'll have to find the summer guide that had the schedule. I'll keep you posted.

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