It is over
Finished. Done. Fini. Beendet. No More. Really? It was not the feeling I expected on Thursday as I left the sixth form block, in the knowledge that my secondary education was over. It was with bewilderment and trepidation that I left, not the excitement and relief I had expected.
And as I sit here now, it is slowly starting to sink in that for the next 15 months I will be working full time, 42 hours a week as an IT Technician for a large secondary school, as well as working in the evenings and weekends as a Systems Developer for a massive project far beyond anything I have attempted before. Maybe that explains the unease after the last exam, its not disappointment at leaving education – but anxiety about leaving the comfort zone education provides.
In the back of my mind I know it’s not really for that long, next September I’ll join my peers at University, and re-enter that comfort zone. But will I want to? Taking a gap year was always going to be a gamble, it might make me aspire towards furthering my education, or it might give me a taste for freedom (and money) that I won’t want to relinquish. But which will it be?