It’s my first week in this place we call “life after college” and I’ve already learned a handful of things. They’re more like observations of this whole new world I am learning to be part of.

First, I found out very quickly what a strange phenomenon it is to go from being a Student to Unemployed. Yikes, that’s a scary one. It was easy in the past to say, “I’m a student.” And now, for the first time in my life, I’m not. I’m an aspiring writer. I’m a graduate. But, I’m unemployed.

Which leads to my next observation: The Question. “What are you doing now?” I mean, it’s a fair question to ask, but as I said before, I can no longer jump past the question with a simple – if not honorable – answer. Sure, I am in the 34 percent of the U.S. population with a college degree, but what am I doing now? “It’s complicated,” and we can leave it at that.

Next, I have now heard more than a few people say, “Well, get a job!” And with all my might, I suppress the response I most want to say. “Oh, get a job? Just get a job? Why don’t I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on little jobbies?!” – Courtesy of Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Instead, I smile nicely and mutter something about trying.

Another observation I’ve had is the amount of mom’s I now see on a daily basis. I used to live in a college town with college students shopping at crazy college times. We could order pizza at 3 a.m. or walk into Walmart 10 minutes before it closed and still get all our groceries. Now, I go into any store (and not to stereotype) and the people around me are all stay-at-home moms. And I’m over here like, “Nope, no baby here.” It’s a whole new world out there at mid-day.

The plus side is that I now have the option to go shopping in the middle of the day! It’s great. I know it won’t last for long, but a girl can still bask in the sun or take a two-hour Target run if she wants, post-college.

And lastly, job hunting is exhausting. After reading the first hundred or so job entries, I almost want to nap and regroup later. I have this degree, yet oddly enough, I don’t seem qualified for most of the postings out there.

So, in the meantime, I can enjoy this period of Rest – knowing it might not come around again soon.