With springtime upon us, the number of fresh-faced freshman writing papers and reading history books in on the beautifully manicured university grounds has seen a recent sprout. Whether pop culture is to blame for this pastime being explicitly associated with collegiate students we will never know.

But what I have learned is that this fair weather activity serves as a near perfect metaphor for our four (or more) years in school. Behold:

The Idea

It’s such a wonderful plan: Do your homework in the grass.

You’re done with class and it is beautiful outside. Might as well enjoy the sun while you work. And deciding to go to college is just as easy. It is the next logical step in your educational life and to be honest, it looks like a blast.

Besides, you might kill yourself if you have to spend another second in this town/white-walled dorm room.

The Benefits

Both have such a long list of potential advantages. The professors will be fun. Laying in the grass will be relaxing. You get to study what you want. Being in nature will energize you, making that poetry explication much easier.

And both of these will definitely improve your chances of getting a job/looking like a college student.

There is no reason not to.

The Honeymoon Period

Oh, the wind in your face and the sunshine in your eyes! What a glorious decision this was. You’ve met so many new people and you love your classes. You are more social than you have been in years. You feel like you’ve gained so much freedom from when you lived inside/with your parents.

The Realization

And all of a sudden you wake up.

You’ve been laying in the grass and staring at the clouds for fifteen minutes. And whats worse, you realize you haven’t really been paying attention in class for the last 3 years. You have wasted your time and what do you have to show for it besides the parties and the friends and the itchy legs.

The only thing you can do now is stumble towards graduation/back into your room.

The Aftermath

So it looks like you ended up doing nothing with your afternoon/four years in school and now you’re entering the real world. The only physical manifestation of your wasted hours/years are the student loans/grass stains on your shorts.

And it will take a lot more than Tide-to-Go to pay off that debt.