amish assignment

I don't think the period of Rumpspringa gives Amish youth a very accurate reflection of American life. It's not healthy to release them into a whirlwind tour of drugs and alcohol with unlimited freedom; that's not how it is with every teenager, just overly sheltered ones who finally get a taste of freedom. The limited space for them to explore the Devil's Playground set them up to go back to the Amish church because it's familiar. It's what they know and predictable.They get an inflated experience of how American life can be, not what it is on a day to day basis. Sure if I wanted to I could get hammered as a piece of sheet metal every day and go to class and my life could be in a circular motion spinning wildly out of control, but in reality it's not. Most have a routine just as the Amish have a routine of chores and whatever other values of the religion that are incorporated into every day life. They go back because during Rumpspringa their lives are fun, and crazy, and uncharted ground and the consequences are immediate. So they become discouraged after a couple parties. The Amish relish hard work, chores, being devoted and having strong moral convictions. They are living with a strong "connection" to God which has been engrained in their brains for as long as they can remember. They are also so removed from American life the farm, community and religious values are basically all they know. They are devoted and unless something from American life is seriously tempting or keeping them from going back to the church, they go back because of they see the immediate results of irresponsible and reckless behavior, which is not at all what American life is all the time, it's a distortion of it. It's what American teenagers do; we try on different identities and after that generally go back to our original personalities. Maybe not. Maybe just in my experience. I think we really stay who we are but during our teenage years we are fairly susceptible to being influenced and swayed by others around us but in the end the sense of self/ values veto and impeach whatever person/group of people we were trying to be like.

And yes, the liminal period of college is confusing as heck. I want more humanities classes and when I'm in them I want more art classes. I want to be an artist but I don't want to be surrounded by artists, I hate our general holier-than-thou mentality. I want to be productive and pro-active at the same time explore Chicago and network but I don't even know if I want to be a fine artist, documentary film maker, comedian, or screenwriter. And I miss the east coast terribly. How am I supposed to find my identity when I have a shaky sense of self and I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast?