"Parks and Recreation" has become one of the most beloved shows of the 21st century. Leslie Knope taught us to never let anything hold us back from doing what we love, Andy Dwyer taught us that being a little weird is perfectly fine, Chris Traeger taught us to always find a bright side, Ben Wyatt taught us that our past mistakes don't have to define our future, and Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford taught us to "treat yo self." Tom Haverford has also perfectly explained college in more than a few instances. The man knows what he's talking about.
When you turn in an essay you wrote in ten minutes the night before it was due and still get an A.
When you have to do a group project and the professor assigns your groups instead of letting you choose your own.
When you look at your student loan balance right before graduation and realize you only have six months before you have to start paying it all off for the next 20 years.
When you're getting lunch and your roommate sees the guy she made out with at the bar.
When you wake up for class and see you have an email from your professor that says "Class Canceled" and realize you can go back to sleep.
When you don't want to go to the store alone and have to try to convince your roommate to go with you or (if your professors are rad) asking your prof for (another) extension on (another) paper you decided to put off until the last minute.
When older professors start complaining about Millennials always being on our cell phones so you accept the stereotype just because you know it'll make them even more irrationally upset.
When your roommate meets your family for the first time and your parents don't understand who you are anymore.
When you introduce your new friends to music they've never heard of and watch them start to love it as much as you do.
When you go out on a Thursday night and already know class on Friday morning is going to be a bad idea.
When you get ready for a night out and look hot as hell.
When finals roll around and you have to cut down to three hours of sleep per night so you can study for all your tests or when you look at your student loan balance after the first semester and question how you're going to pay it back.
When you go to literally any lecture, especially those that are for a gen ed instead of your major.
To all high school seniors and anyone going back to school, this is what you have to look forward to. But don't worry, Tom survived working at the Pawnee parks department and you can survive however-many years of college. One last piece of advice from Tom to get you through some of the best years of your life:
