What I Learned in College

My degree is a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the College of Charleston, currently framed and leaned against my closet door, gathering dust since 2010. I’m frequently asked why I got that degree and by some, why I wasted my parents’ money on a degree I wasn’t even going to use.

I sometimes wonder that myself, but I usually say I studied it because it was what I was interested in. But that didn’t mean I had to get a job in politics or law.

I’ve read lots of posts in the last few years about why you should go traveling instead of going to college. But in all honesty, there are things I learned in my four years in college that changed the way I travel and live. I don’t know that I would have had those experiences if I’d jumped straight into traveling or working.

For me, it had to happen exactly the way it did to get me to where I am now. I had to move to Charleston for four years, live with countless roommates, take an introduction to media class, intern at my local newspaper and then find myself jobless after graduation.

It led me back home, which led to the trip to Thailand, which led to Croatia, which led to Australia. I never studied abroad in college, but I did take advantage of all school breaks, which allowed me to see the world without spending all my savings. If I hadn’t gone to college, I’m not sure any of that would have happened.

So can you get plenty of life experience by skipping college altogether and going traveling straightaway or taking a gap year? Absolutely. And there are options to keep you traveling and earning, like the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and teaching English.

I just know that going to college was the right choice for me, one I’d make again, and one that I am fortunate enough to have been able to afford. The lessons I learned in my four years have stayed with me long after I moved out of South Carolina and continued on the road.

How to Deal with Others

In my four years of college, I had a total of 13 roommates. I lived with guys and girls, with slobs and neat freaks, with best friends and complete strangers. Basically, I’ve run the gamut of any potential living situation issues.

It’s prepared me for a life of travel, from the leaned back seats on airplanes to people blasting their Vietnamese pop music on buses to hostel dorm mates who leave their stuff everywhere. College prepared me for everything I’ve faced in my years of travel.

How to View the World

I may have studied politics, but really what I took away from my degree is a different way to view the world. My focus was in international relations, so I took classes about the European Union and other parts of the world that stuck with me as I visited them.

I remember learning about Turkey’s process of trying to join the EU and it was made all the more interesting when I had a chance to visit and see for myself. I’ve also learned that, whether I like it or not, I am a representative of my country and have to act accordingly. When George W. Bush was still in office, I found myself defending my nationality more than I liked, but it’s all part of traveling.

How to Improvise

Walking into my apartment’s kitchen and making a meal out of the random items I had in the fridge was a standard in my time in college.

Learning how to improvise is an essential life skill. Since then, I’ve used this method when concocting a meal in a hostel kitchen or rigging up a curtain on my bunk bed when I’m in a mostly male dorm. It’s also important when you find out the trains don’t run on Sundays in Ireland and have to find a bus instead.

How to Moderate

Four years of college is a good time to learn how much you can handle, especially when it comes to drinking. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I had gone traveling at 18, like many I’ve met overseas, having never been away from home and having no idea how much alcohol I could handle. I could have gotten myself into serious trouble. I was also very trusting in those days and could have made myself into a victim.

How to Be Independent

When I went away to school, my parents were still supporting me, but I got other jobs in order to learn to take care of my finances. Those four years gave me time to figure out how much money I needed to live on and how to set a budget. It helped me during my three months in Australia and Asia to keep from spending all my money before the end of the trip.