True talk, we've been showing Vanier a lot of love recently. And why not? Vanier's awesome and deserves all the love we can throw at it. Do you know who else deserves love, though? Those of us who have left Vanier behind. Yes, friends, I'm talking about Vanier College graduates. Alumnus, if you will. Although life after Vanier is great - and would be less great if not for the fact that Vanier prepped us for real life pretty awesomely - well, there's no denying that we've got some struggles. Read on for 10 Struggles Of A Montreal Vanier College Graduate.
1. The abrupt shift from Vanier life to real life.
Vanier life is awesome. You get to make your own schedule, enjoy UB, participate in welcome BBQs, eat snow cones, get free agendas... things are great. I mean - don't get me wrong, life after Vanier is pretty sweet too. But it's a different type of awesome. One that involves 100% less Universal Breaks and snow cones, sadly.
2. Rocking VCSA swag forever.
I have a theory that the VCSA weaves titanium into all their clothes, because it's been four years since I've graduated and every single VCSA T-Shirt I've ever owned is still in mint condition. And I'm not the only one. S/O to all of the people I see at Le Gym, rocking their VCSA shirts like the proud alums we truly are.
3. No longer being able to get shit done without background noise.
Jake's has forever ruined us for quiet study spaces.
4. Becoming oddly suspicious of squirrels.
Maybe it's just that we're shell-shocked from having to guard our lunches against lurking rodents for so long... but all I know is, whenever I pass a squirrel in the street, I avoid eye contact and try to look as intimidating as possible Yes, fiends, even to this day.
5. Genuinely missing tornado fries.
They were so fried, so crispy, so delicious - and so, so bad for you. Still, you can't deny that tornado fries were your guilty pleasure of choice after a super long day on that CEGEP grind.
6. Having to actually schedule in daily workouts.
You know - because doing the 5 flights of stairs at Vanier basically counted as a free workout, anyway.
7. Never quite getting over the Vanier/Dawson "feud".
Hey, remember those cute "friends don't let friends go to Dawson" shirts? Haha. Yeah. Once you graduate, petty CEGEP feuds don't mean anything anymore. You'll still probably throw a little bit of shade at anyone who graduated from Dawson, though. But it's all out of love... mostly.
8. Being forever desensitized to cemeteries.
Since you spent most of your CEGEP career in between two different ones. Your sudden nonchalance around cemeteries might freak out your future friends, but what can you do?
9. Going back and realizing that everything's changed.
If you ever decide to go back to Vanier, you might find that even the smallest differences leave a huge impact on you. Did they move a vending machine? Oh man. Right in the feels. Did they paint a classroom? Noooo. Did your favourite teacher switch offices? What even is anything anymore?
10. Wondering why you were so eager to leave.
It's natural to want to hurry up and graduate CEGEP, and life after Vanier is pretty sweet. But still, you can't help but wonder why you didn't just enjoy being at Vanier while you were there. Ah well. At least we can all agree that we're super lucky to have been able to spend our CEGEP lives at such an awesome place.
