Like the average university student, I have a sixth sense that helps me anticipate when people are going to ask this question, and I usually find myself trying to answer before they even open their mouths. The answer is always, has always been: "I don't know". The question, of course, is the classic, the unchanging, the unbelievably frustrating: "So, what do you want to do after university?".
I suppose, since this question will never, ever stop being asked of me, and I am not getting any closer to having an answer, I should just accept it. Every other student gets nagged about this by their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours, mail-carriers and what have you, so it's as much a part of the college experience as finding yourself making ramen at 1am. And most people don't have a good answer either, or at least not one that will satisfy whichever nosy adult is inquiring this time.
So why does this bother me so much?
As you probably know if you are reading this, I've spent the past few years surrounding myself with a very amazing, very unique, community. The bloggers, vloggers, fan-artists, YouTube musicians, and all-around awesome people who have built up these fandom communities have been inspiration, role-models and friends to me. I would not change this part of my life for anything.
But being surrounded by a higher-than-normal proportion of wonderfully creative people has its downsides. As we all grow up, I am increasingly aware that the world of fandom and community - of YouTube and tumblr and blogspot - is beginning to merge with the Real World. People who started vlogging about Harry Potter in their bedrooms are starting, or aiming towards, careers in online video or publishing. Fans who began by writing Doctor Who fanfiction are working towards their first novels or going to school for TV Production. Even outside fandoms, I have countless friends who are extremely dedicated to something, like music or photography or ballet dancing, and, at the age of 18 or 19, are already working towards it.
These people are all actively pursuing a dream - a dream to spend their lives (or a good portion of them) doing something they love. But it's more than something they love. All of these people have a passion. Something that drives them to do what they do, or to work towards it, despite common sense telling them that their chance of making it by doing something creative is pretty slim. (Although, to be fair, the internet has greatly increased those chances)
If you asked these people that classic question, I'm sure they'd have a pretty good answer.
My point, I think, is that in the world of Confused and Anxious Uni Students, nobody really has a dream - we are all just in the waiting room, killing time until the door opens and our name is called.
But in the world of Nerdy and Creative Internet Types (many of whom are also students, I might add), it seems as though everybody has by-passed the waiting room, has somehow wormed their way onto a secret list that allows them to go straight through that door, and begin pursuing that dream.
And me? I'm trying to figure out what my dream is - or if I really even need one.
Goodnight, bloglings
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