graduation destination

I've recently started thinking more about how long I am going to spend in college, 4 years? 5 years?

But yesterday Kaitlin said: "Someone once told me that you can never take too long to graduate."

And 15 minutes ago I read Williams post which says we should stop the "in and out as fast as possible" mentality, and take time to have personal growth experiences, etc.

When I think about the time I'm going to spend in college, I'm less worried about my personal growth (because fingers crossed that will happen mainly on it's own--although I do agree with Williams that people who graduate later often come out as more well developed people) but mainly because as a college GRADUATE you suddenly have this new set of societal standards thrust upon you. Sure, you can go travel, but it better be for a reason (I mean I don't actually think that, but I think a lot of people do) When really, I still want to have a period in my life (like we're talking 6 monthes) where I strap a backpack on my back, put some shoes on my feet, and just walk around Latin America. And if I have a lot of extra time, like a year, then maybe I will just go on a walk around the world. I'm not too worried that "walking around the world" won't even fit anywhere on a resume, because when I graduate and have a "real" job, whatever that may entail, I don't think that 3 weeks vacation time a year will be enough to get it all in. I have a lot of things I want to get in.

And the glory of it all is: you know when you return from wherever you are (and you are 24 like Kaitlin), there will still be a Newbie Social (like there was last night), and it will be filled with people much younger than you (like 18 years old), who will most definitely want to grind on you because you just look so damn wise.