High School Underground: Not in High School Anymore

To say it has been an odd couple of weeks would be a gross understatement. In the past two or three weeks I have nearly gotten married and moved to Sweden; gone to work on a farm near London; moved to Spain; decided to go jump off of mountains in Nepal with my aunt and a paraglider (and the large bird of prey that flies with her but we won’t get into that); resigned to go to Cabrillo; become determined to go to University of San Francisco; resigned back to Cabrillo; become re-determined to go to USF; and finally landed where I am now, that is to say, in a complete mess of opportunities.

In other news, I’m still trying to find a summer job.

Now, to start this article too late in a simpler way; two months ago (or somewhere thereabout, I’ve sort of already begun to lose track of days on summer time) I graduated early from Santa Cruz High—much to the chagrin of my classmates and friends, who instead of the usual “Congratulations!” decided on “I hate you” or “You suck”.  Since then I have been looking for some sort of work so I can pay the six to seven thousand or so dollars I still need in order to attend University of San Francisco in the fall. I even set up a page on a website call Gofundme.com here. This is actually a really amazing site I’d suggest for anyone looking to fund something.

One month ago I was completely and absolutely decided on going to USF in the fall. The idea of college, and higher education as a whole, has always been one that excites me. Most kids are excited for parties, or freedom from their parents, or sleeping in and getting to finally be in charge of their own schedules, but the fact is I’ve been able to do these things for years now. I don’t see college as just a means to get drunk, graduate, and get a job; I see it as this amazing opportunity to get to learn about whatever I want from people who are great in their fields. It’s probably cheesy and over-stated, but it’s true—I genuinely love college for what they all say they stand for.

What I don’t love is the exorbitant amounts of debt that nowadays is inevitably paired with it.

Which is why when two weeks ago a Swedish friend of mine told me that colleges in Europe are generally tuition free for European citizens, I considered dropping USF, moving there, trying to get citizenship, and then hopefully attending school in Sweden.  Where I know no one, don’t speak the language, and would have nowhere to stay. This is when I discovered the WWOOF program (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms).

This program allows people of all ages to travel to nearly anywhere in the world and have a place to stay and generally free food in exchange for farm work for a certain amount of months to be determined by the host and the “WWOOFer”. I was looking at this program for farms in Sweden when I thought, “Well, why Sweden? Why not London?” (The BBC is a dangerously powerful influence on my life). So then I was decided on taking a gap year, and moving to England; visions of country estate homes outside of London and a loving posh family that tended their own gardens in Downton Abby-esque glory swam before my eyes. Hell, I’d probably even flawlessly and unconsciously adapt to the accent.

Then I found out that it is only possible to defer from USF for one semester, meaning I would have to re-apply if I wanted to miss a year. This was the first of many blows to my plan as I realized that, A) the farms offered near London were not in fact tender sun strewn gardens, but rather acres of land which required skilled and experienced labor and, B) I had no summer job and therefore no  money to go to England in the first place.

In my fit of despair I realized it might just be best to go to Cabrillo, to stay at home for another year or two, get my general classes out of the way, then transfer to a school where I would only have to deal with two years’ worth of debt instead of four. While Cabrillo is a fine school, the idea of staying in Aptos for another two years was one that felt like it was physically crippling me. Over the next few days I would switch between USF in the fall, determined that if I was going to be in debt I might as well have the full experience, and Cabrillo, convincing myself not to be a complete idiot and get over it.

So then I talked to my Aunt Jess, an amazing woman who is travelling around the world, doing what she loves (paragliding alongside falcons or hawks, I’m never sure which) and who convinced me again that to travel the world is the best thing: that I should do what I love over what’s the most frugal. She asked me, what I would want to do if money was no object, told me that the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is just that one takes risks for happiness without being hindered by the thought of failure, and the other lets their worries get in the way of their opportunities. I nearly moved to Spain where she lives for part of the year in order to attend a university there, I considered going to Nepal and travelling around until an answer like a lightning bolt suddenly came to me.

If you’re still reading this to hear my decision, I’m sorry to say you will be very disappointed. I have gone from feeling trapped for my love of college by debt, to becoming absolutely brimming with options, and a very short time frame of essentially a month to decide between them. So, in an act of desperation, confusion, indecision, and exhaustion, I ask you this:

What do you think I should do?

Tell me what you think in the comments below!