I got my first real “grown-up” job over break. We’re talking business-casual clothes, cubicles and a total lack of nametags. “This is it,” I thought to myself last week. “This is the real world.”

Last week, I looked at the calendar and realized my boyfriend is going to be 23 years old in two weeks. I remember when 23- year-olds seemed like people you should take seriously, respect or generally behave yourself around. My partner in crime still laughs at poop jokes. He can’t be 23! That’s, like, old!

And yesterday, some punk kid at a fast food joint called me “ma’am.”

I had a little aneurism.

This is the rest of my life, right here. This is it! Nobody asked me if I wanted to grow up!

The combination of all these life-changing events transpiring back-to-back has brought me to the realization that we’re all pretty lucky here as college students, chilling out in this lovely suspended reality. I don’t have to be a “grown-up” here, and dammit, neither do you.

One of my co-workers’ dad might have put it best in an e-mail he sent her a few days ago: “Colleges are strange and remote places protected from the realities and accountabilities of the world.”

I like that idea. So, sure, this week we might be mourning the loss of sleeping in until noon every day or eating our mom’s famous lasagna. But what we’ve all come back to this week is another part of a fantastic adventure we might not see again for the rest of our lives.

How many other places can you use one card to eat, gain entry to buildings, make photocopies and get discounts? Or how many of us will be able to spend our evenings five years from now listening to world-renowned musicians or great thinkers like the good folks who grace us with their presence at The Forum?

College is a place where you can screw up. Hell, you can screw up big-time! Last time I checked, no one can fire you from a political science class. Sure, you can flunk it, but you still get a do-over.

In addition to having the option to fail once or twice, we also have the option of changing our minds on a whim. Today, German. Tomorrow, biology. Only in college can you basically change your “job” in an hour.

In college we have the opportunity to exchange our thoughts with a community of people that is actually excited about talking about stuff like communism, logic or biochemistry. In the real world, you’ve got the full gamut of folks to try to connect with. That’s tough.

The life of the college student revolves around breaks. Not those piddly 15 minutes you get working part-time at the grocery store. College is all about four glorious weeks called winter break. It’s also about one fun- filled week of spring break.

And, best of all, in the middle of May you can walk out of your last final to the sun pouring down on you, welcoming you to the three luscious months – summer break. When you’re a grownup, I hear you get two weeks, max. And those two weeks have to cover not-fun stuff, like getting sick or going to funerals.

Point is, whether you’re 17 or 77, as students here we all get a little reprieve. And knowing that can get you through the day, even if some punk kid calls you ma’am.