Normal School vs. College

While sitting in the library in my second 1 hour break of the day I started thinking of how different college is than "normal school." And not just in the ways that everyone says like when they give you my favorite excuse...
"You just don't understand yet, you haven't been there..."
People would say that to me all the time and I hated it. Probably because my sister is only 2 years older than me and my best friend was a year ahead of me in school. So naturally there was always something that I just didn't understand. I learned to just accept that and move on and remember that you know what, You do things they don't understand either. But either way, College is one of those things that is just hard to explain unless you live it. Experience it. As much as I try not to say that to my friends still in high school about their upcoming year, I find it escaping out of my mouth more often then I would like. But what I really mean is it's just hard to explain to someone who hasn't seen it or lived it.
Anyways... The point of this is to explain why it is so different and why it's hard to explain...

Normal School: Someone eats alone at lunch, someone will get up and go sit with them because that is the typical example used when teaching how to include others. I never saw anyone eating alone either.
College: People either eat lunch anywhere they can, including in class (I would know, I have sonic hearing when it comes to food/eating sounds) or they eat lunch in the Library and people stare at them when their carrot or chip crunches and echoes through 4 floors.

Normal School: Your curfew is a pain and your parents think its to keep you out of trouble even though you've told them a million times that you don't get in trouble. All you do is watch movies and sit around, talking.
College: Sometimes you wish you had a curfew so maybe you'd go to bed before 3am and then feel like you got ran over by all of Santa's reindeer, like Grandma, that were piled in a Greyhound bus, when you wake up the next morning for your 9am class.

Normal School: The biggest decisions you ever made were whether you should go out to lunch, who to ask to a dance, whether you study for the test or not and who to hang out with on Friday after school. Granted I'll give it to that picking a college is a big decision but I think most people already know where they want to go, it's not really a decision. Plus I've decided that it honestly doesn't matter where you go. It's college.
College: Your decisions revolve around your life. What is your career? How long will you stay in school? It's no longer pointless events but rather putting all those events together, making them all fit in your schedule so you can somehow get everything done in the day. (If you're like me then this gets over turned by your bad habits of taking a nap after school each day then staying up too late since you can't sleep. Repeat.) Granted I'll give it to you that I make the decision everyday what I should eat/make or if I should just forget I'm hungry and watch Gossip Girl.

Normal School: You race home from your friends house, knowing your late, speeding down the street, praying there isn't a cop then whipping around the corner to your house. However it never crossed your mind that you could get hurt driving like this or hurt someone else. You were worried what your punishment would be for being late. (Until of course you use the excuse, But I didn't want to drive too fast and get hurt!) Because you knew someone was waiting for your arrival safely home.
College: You start coming home really late on the icy, cold roads, search for 10 minutes for a parking spot then finally make your own. You walk into your freezing apartment, all the lights off and 4 snoring roommates already in bed. That's when you realize you could have not come home and no one would have noticed.

Normal School: You complain about a meal that isn't your favorite or Pizza for the third time that week. You wonder if your family is the only one keeping Little Ceasars in business or not. You're pretty sure that after 20 years+ your mom knows how to cook other meals. It never occurred to you to help make a meal or that her kids are all picky eaters and impossible to cook for.
College: Getting Pizza for dinner is a luxury! You'll take anything besides Peanut Butter Sandwichs or Ramen. Little Ceasars may as well be renamed La Caille at that point. You praise anyone who gives you any kind of food because that means it's free.

Normal School: You wake up in the morning around 6am to get ready for the day. It never crosses your mind to check the weather because you're going to be locked up inside that crop circle of a building all day. It doesn't matter. You put on your cutest outfit because you want to impress someone today and look smokin' hot.
College: You wake up around 8 or 9 depending on if you can go one more day without a shower or you could just shower after class. You step out of bed and realize you have to get back in because you will get frostbite from the freezing temperatures of your apartment because utilities are just too expensive. You immediately look out the window to see what it looks like outside. You know it is going to be freezing so you don't even worry about what you will wear because wearing two coats is going to cover it up anyway. So you wear the same thing you did the day before, Leggings, jeans, Long sleeved shirt, Jacket, scarf, coat and ear warmers. Plus your long socks and boots. You decide you can make it ten minutes in the cold with that many layers. Then you open the door to leave and realize you need to get another coat. You walk to the bus stop, praying you don't see anyone you know on campus today.

Normal School: You can't decide what to eat for lunch today because there are so many options but you only have about 30 minutes. Grilled Cheese it is.
College: Heck! Grilled Cheese is dinner! And who has time for a sit down lunch? You grab your go to foods, Chips and salsa, Wheat thins an cheese, Granola bar and Gatorade and head for the next class. Except on Tuesdasys since you're done with school at 1130.

Normal School: You leave home 10 minutes before class starts since it takes 7 minutes to get to school with the traffic and those dang Pit stairs.
College: You leave 20 minutes before class starts even though campus is 2 minutes up the hill. You never know when the Shuttle is coming then you have to walk across campus to get to the Business building.

Normal School: You complain about having a substitute and having to do pointless 50 point worksheets and have nothing to do in class except talk to your best friend who sits next to you.
College: The teacher can't be in class, so neither do you. You get to sleep in! But you wish you got a worksheet now and again for some extra points. You should have studied harder for that last test since it counts for 1/4th of your grade in the class.

Normal School: You hate that the teacher knows your name because you always get blamed or called on for questions you don't know the answer to. Why can't you just be "that one kid"
College: The teacher knows your name?! How did you do that? He called you out in front of the 300 people in your class, be name? You must be superman.

Normal School: You have a job to allow you to have a social life and go out for lunch everyday. Not to mention dinner and a movie that night. You save up to go to the dance at the end of the month because everybody blows $200 in a night. NBD
College: You have a job to keep you alive, feed you, house you, etc. It allows you to get the necessities at the store, Milk, Bread, Butter. Three meals in one. Toast, Sandwich, Grilled cheese. You better hope you still have Peanut Butter... You save up to buy your 4 books and cringe when they cost $350. There goes 2 months of working.

Normal School: You run out of milk you have to walk out to the fridge in the garage and get another gallon. Even though your brother should have done that. He did finish the other one.
College: You know you are going to the store and are almost done with your milk. You can't get yourself just to chug it or dump it out because you want to use it when you really need it. You go to the store, have your day, finish your milk with your midnight snack of Rice Chex then realize you have to go back to the store tomorrow since you couldn't get it today since there is no room in your tiny fridge for you to have 2.

Normal School: You can't wait for Christmas break because you actually get to do something! You can go skiing, hang out with friends, go to movies, who knows what but you know you're going to do something!
College: You can't wait for Christmas break because you get to do nothing! You don't have to hang out with anyone. You don't have homework. You can sleep in, watch tv all day, stay in your pajamas, and Pintrest all at the same time.

Normal School: The Pregnant girl is in your class, she walks in and everyone starts whispering about how they are sure her belly is twice the size it was yesterday and you wonder how she still fits in her size 2 True Religions. You can't believe she is even coming to school.
College: You sit down in class and a nice lady walks in. She sits next to you, looks over and asks if you can hold her baby while she gets her notes out. Obviously you accept and you are distracted the whole class making faces at that adorable little thing.

Normal School: The 6 minutes they give you in between class is more then enough time so you stop and talk to your friends for 5 minutes until you all walk to your class...that you all have together. You are 30 second late but it doesn't matter because the teacher is still getting things ready.
College: The 10 minutes between classes is no where near enough time to get from the Fine Arts building to Old Main, even with your daddy long legs! You are trying to hard to get there remotely on time that you don't even notice that you just passed your boyfriend. You realize you are 2 minutes late and you hate that you're about the be that annoying kid that has to squeeze through everyone to get the last seat left in the middle of the row because the edge seats are so coveted, no one would think of scooting to the middle. Heaven Forbid.

Obviously there are plenty more examples but to stop wasting all of your time I'll stop and let you get the point. There are just little things that you don't get until you experience them. It doesn't matter how many times people say, college is harder but better. The classes are bigger and you're lucky if the teacher knows your name let alone be able to see the teacher. Nobody cares about you or what you do. Until you are stupid. But you get to be on your own! Yeah, I guess that is true but there is so much more to it then that. College is a weird place. I guess that is why they designate "College towns" Then people have at least been warned.