It was always the reason for every annoying rule and every backbreaking chore when you were growing up. Your parents would say, “Well, when you get into the real world…” Due to this, I passed from being a child to a young man not wanting anything to do with the real world.

The real world was the reason I had to do well in school, but that wasn’t the worst of it. The real world was the reason I had to get a job. The anticipation and dread before a job is never too bad, but a month or two into any real world job and I spend the majority of my working day cursing the adult world.

That’s the real world your parents always warned you about: the real world of the average adult. Sure, there are the lucky few who get to spend their days choosing the color of their newest sports car or having their pool filled with champagne, but most of us end up in a cubicle or squeezed under the kitchen sink of someone who you can’t let yourself hate because she’s paying the bill. Sometimes, you might just find yourself hating her anyway.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to tell you to hate your boss, your life, or the annoying nose-breather on the bus next to you. I am saying just the opposite, in fact; you’re in college and you should enjoy it while you can.

The Australian university that I will be attending schedules the start of its current semester quite a bit later than Iowa State does. This means that my summer vacation will be shortened and my Christmas break is still going. I took this as a chance to earn some money, and I have been working at a local construction company.

Usually, I work this job in the dry summer months. I have never before subjected myself to such cold for it. I respect the tenacity of the men who do this every winter.

I need the money. This job at the Daily is really no job at all. I’m speaking in terms of both the work required and the money that comes out of it. It’s just too enjoyable to be a “real world” job.

So I’m using this as an opportunity to remind you to live the college life. Have pizza and beer and consider it a healthy meal. Sleep past noon when you get a chance.

My circadian rhythm has been so corrupted by the real world that I wake up at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings. This is a travesty that I can hardly forgive myself for, but which I have no power against. I’m just awake.

I lay in bed with this odd sense of shame. “I’m not worthy of being labeled a college student. I’m an old man in a young man’s body.” Eventually, I pull myself into the chilly morning air and start my old man’s day. While quite a few college students skip breakfast for the extra 10 minutes of sleep, this old man uses his early start as an opportunity to have eggs, toast, juice and cereal. It disturbs me how much this looks like the fabled complete breakfast you catch fleeting glimpses of in cereal commercials.

So, I’m ready to leave the country. Sure, Australia sounds nice, but I just want to go back to school. Most of my old friends have packed up and left town by now. The American universities are in full swing and I’m lagging behind.

This desire to remain out of reach of the real world does instill a long-term fear in me. What am I going to do when I graduate? It would make sense to get a real job, but who wants that? I just don’t think it’s for me.

The way student loans are set up nowadays, with zero percent interest usually until six months after you finish school, there is even an extra incentive to set out on the path of the career student. Put those bills off as long as possible. It doesn’t really matter if it’s growing as long as it never comes due.

So, I’m packing my bags and hoping the jet lag and my old-man sleep schedule will cancel out, leaving me back in the wonderful world of the college student. I’m ready to simply pretend that I showered, and to be near people my own age.

I know not everyone has the luxury of living without a job during the school year, but regardless of that, I urge every one of you to enjoy these days.

I guess the moral comes down to be the same as last week. I think that makes it even more pressing. Swim through life and enjoy each beauty as it passes.

Nathan Galloway is a senior in biology from Sheridan, Wyo.