You remember it like it was yesterday: the sun shining, your parents smiling, the cheers from the crowd as you accepted your diploma and the sea of graduation caps floating through the air. You felt accomplished, relieved, and the first thing you thought to yourself was ... "What the hell do I do now?"

And now, weeks later, you are still asking.

College graduation is a landmark in one's life, but the time immediately afterwards can be confusing. It is a window in which we try to make important, life-changing decisions - more specifically, the right ones. No one wants to wind up serving coffee and scones at age forty, right?

The way I see it, there are two options: you can either attempt a straight launch into your career of choice, or you can hover. What I mean by "hover" is that you can take some time - six months, a year, or more - to experiment before diving right into what you will do for the rest of your life.

The field you hope to enter will influence your decision. Chances are if you want to wind up a lawyer with fistfuls of cash, the best thing for you to do is to get your butt into law school ASAP. Why wait when you know undoubtedly where you want to go and the best way to get there?

For some of us, the path is less clear. (If any of my fellow English majors are out there, you know exactly what I'm talking about.) So what's the solution for those of us who need some time to clear our heads, sow our oats and figure out the meaning of life before locking down into a 9-to-5? After all, nobody wants to feel like they've landed in the movie "Office Space."

There are several exciting options available for those of us direction-less hacks who get the pointed questions and piteous looks at family functions. Some graduates opt to Teach for America, spending two years helping underprivileged children succeed while painting themselves both responsible and socially aware to potential employers. There is also the Peace Corps, which requires a two year commitment as well, yet this one is abroad in one of the countries of your choice. You can do anything from education and business to promoting HIV/AIDS awareness.

A New York Times article of a year or so ago described this new massive wave of college graduates taking time off before the long walk to the cubicle and highlighted some who didn't seek resume padding so much as life experience. These individuals worked in restaurants and other odd jobs to make money to do what they wanted to do, or took long Kerouacian road trips across the country. They are not, however, unmotivated people looking for the easy way out. Many of them come from the most privileged institutions with Dean's List-level GPAs.

While I was in Rome last summer, I met a great guy named Tim in one of those cheap hostels. You know the kind: 20 euros a night, six to a room, and orange juice and hard rolls for breakfast. Anyway, upon graduation Tim had decided to work at a family-owned business for over a year in order to save money to traipse around Europe. And traipse he did - he hit Italy, Spain, England, France, Germany, and tons of other places, all in the span of about four months or so. He said the purpose of the trip was to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, but the only thing he had found out was that he wanted to travel. Poor guy.

Anyway, the point is, whether you decide to launch straight into the career of your dreams or you hover around a bit before you get there, don't feel bad about your choice. Each one of us has to make it too.

April Boland is a featured writer for Xomba.com. Read the rest of her work here .