We’re all either going through it, have been through it, or are going to embark on a journey that will lead us to this point. The point of the semester when you have to battle between studying for finals, spending the last few days with your friends and packing up your freshman year dorm room. It’s a bittersweet feeling to be done with the stress that accompanies freshman year, and the feeling of knowing that you will never be a freshman again is overwhelming.
There are at least seven stages that everyone goes through when packing up their room. Each of these stages evokes a different type of emotion in you, but regardless these feelings are mutual and seen across colleges everywhere.
Stage one: the “I should really be packing but this is one of the last nights I will be able to go out, so I should really take advantage” stage. In this stage, we have convinced ourselves that there will never be another night like the one we are about to experience. Our friends have also hopped on the convincing train and have persuaded us to hang out with them all night because apparently this is the last night you will ever have together.
Stage two: the “OK I really should start at least taking stuff down, but finals are coming up and I should start studying for those first” stage. Stage two is more of an acknowledgement phase. We have been repeatedly warned about the potential hardships that packing may bring and we relentlessly agree to take down the posters, pictures and Christmas lights that have dominated our wall space.
Stage three: this is the stage when your mom gets involved. You’ve been able to dodge her calls and avoid her messages, but she finally got through and asks the dreaded question, “Have you packed yet?” You answer with a half-hearted excuse about how “you’ve been studying” and “haven’t really had enough time,” but you encourage her not to worry because you will get on it as soon as possible. A week passes and now it's the weekend before finals.
Stage four hits when you realize that you’ve put off packing for a dangerously large amount of time and, if you don’t act fast, you will never survive the week. Instead of studying, you begin to pack a little bit but not enough to actually make a difference. You give up halfway and go to the library to study because after all, isn’t that what college is really all about? You come back from a long day at the library with a new perspective on your packing and cleaning methods.
Stage five hits you when you walk back into your room and see that you should have started packing a long, long time ago. You notice that you actually have a lot more to pack than you thought. It’s a dangerous game that you have put yourself into. but this is college and you have been rigorously trained to survive under stressful situations. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, finals are over. Your freshman year is over and done with and you can finally spend the rest of the day packing and cleaning your room. You settle in for an afternoon of boxes, loud music and suitcases, but the first mistake you make is opening your drawers and finding pictures from the past year. You become incredibly engulfed in reliving the memories of your first year of college. Reminiscing with your roommate about all the silly things that you did that year, you lose yourself in the laughter and are once again faced with an unclean and unpacked room.
Stage 6 hits when you realize that you are going to have to pull one last all-nighter in order to be done packing your room. Your last all-nighter starts out fun, but then the exhaustion hits and you start throwing things into random boxes, taping it up and being done with them. Sure, your initial intention may have been to separate things into organized boxes with neat writing on them but you’ve now realized that is just not going to happen. The morning after your last all-nighter, you wake up to an empty room and an even emptier heart. Your room is clean and packed and the final step is to turn in your keys and leave. You gather up all your things and walk towards the door. Turning around for one final look, you snap a mental and physical picture of what was your home away from home for the past year.
Stage 7 hits when you return your keys and get in your filled car. Your freshman year is over and you drive away with a heart full of memories and love for the friends you’ve made and the life you’ve built.
