Senior year of college, a time in our lives that we couldn't wait for, is here -- and it's almost over. Time has gone by faster than we ever imagined and it is quite possibly one of the most frightening things that has ever happened. Freshman year we were all scared to be the little fish in a big pond again but we were all excited to start a new chapter of our lives. Some of us went far away, others went a decent car ride away and some went 10 minutes down the road. No matter which way you split it, this moment, the moment we have been wishing for, is finally here: the end of the chapter we wished away. Senior year has hit us in our feels more than once, but these are some milestones that really bring on the water works.
1. When you realize you're getting old
When your bones at 22 years old feel like they're 88 years old. When you look at the clock thinking it's almost time for bed and it's only 8 p.m. When you turn down a night on the town with your friends because you have a huge paper due at midnight. Yeah, that's old, for sure.
2. When you realize you don't have a job lined up after college
No, really. I want to live with my parents for the rest of my life. Can I still get an allowance? No? Okay. Working at McDonald's it is.
3. And if you do have a job lined up, you realize you have to give up naps for the real world
Everyone knows naps are vital to college students. Especially seniors who have the world on their shoulders while trying to balance their senior seminar papers and presentations, internships, sports, clubs, etc. Naps are important, people. Think about never getting to take one ever again without calling out sick from work, leaving early or being unemployed on your mom's couch for the rest of your life. Tempting...
4. On top of giving up naps, you can't wear sweats to work
Unless you're a gym teacher. That'd be freakin' awesome... and comfy.
5. Remembering you're going to have to start paying student loans
Dun dun DUUUUNNN. Here, take my arm as a payment for this month, my leg for next month and maybe my first born as a payment for the next year... if that's allowed.
6. When you realize you won't have to write pointless essays about why you think the grass is green
Some professors call these types of essays "critical thinking essays." I call them "time-fillers." But seriously, these are happy tears. I'm really happy that senior year is the end of writing two-page essays on questions that three-year-olds can answer (but are somehow impossible and cause gray hair and excessive stress pimples).
7. When you realize your time being a collegiate athlete is over
All of the years you worked your butt off to get to college and it's over before you can even believe. Coach always says "you're always in season." So, that means that every month of the school year, you're used to waking up at 4:00 a.m. for 5:00 a.m. conditioning and lifts, and you're used to being on a bus for hours at a time with no WiFi and papers due on the way to games -- you're used to it all and somehow, no matter how many times you've cried over any of those things, you don't want to give it up. Ever. As a matter of fact, you wish you had a time machine so you could travel back and re-start.
8. When you realize all of your friends are going to move back to their hometowns/different states after graduation
All of the friends you made, the ones that were always a phone call away at 2 a.m. in college are soon to be in different time zones and different states. The phone call will soon turn into a phone call, an Uber to the airport, a $400 one-way ticket, another Uber and a knock on the door.
9. The "last first" of everything
The last first game, practice, day of school, test, essay, presentation, project .. anything. The last first is always the hardest. It's like you're killing a character off in your favorite Netflix series.
10. When you realize that all of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears was worth it
Through the pain, the tears, the blood and the sweat, I did it. We did it. Personally, college was something my parents enforced. They always said it was the only way to guarantee myself a good job, they said it would be hard work and it would be this great experience for me as a person. They were right. It was all worth it. College was one of the best things that happened to me. Although, the best thing that has ever happened to me was receiving the "Congrats, you're graduating on time" email. My mom would kill me if she had to pay an extra year for me being stupid.
Seriously, through all of the times when I cried, laughed, fought, yelled and cheered, I wouldn't change my college experience for the world. My four years at my college with my best friends was (and still is) an amazing experience. I feel like I grew up here. I grew up, matured, partied and worked my ass off with my best friends from New Hampshire, California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and everywhere else on the map. These people and this place made me, pushed me and made me want to better myself as a person in more ways than just one. Senior year is meant to be the last hoorah in every aspect. We are supposed to toast to the last three years, we are supposed to cry tears of happiness and sadness, we are supposed to make the most of the last couple months we have together because it was worth it. Every single bit of it.
