As the end April approaches, the time of year that becomes bittersweet for most graduates is upon us.
Some would say the term "bittersweet" is an understatement, but I feel it is the best word to describe the mixture of feelings graduates experience.
After all the studying, writing papers, and then finally taking the last exams of your undergraduate career, comes the time to prepare for graduation.
This is a bittersweet time of year because if you think about it, most graduates have been in school since they were four or five years old (unless you went to preschool), which is for about 17-18 years. For a 22-year-old graduate, that means they have dedicated most of their life to school.
For nine to ten months out of the year, students have committed themselves to school. Students get used to things like summer break for two to three months of the year, spring break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas/Winter break, and even holidays such as Good Friday.
You begin to think about all of these things that were once small, obvious details and slowly realize that you won’t have all of them anymore. You got into a routine of doing these things and now, most of it won’t be there.
The fact that you are finally about to graduate college will slowly sink in and takes some people awhile to fully come to grips with it. It really depends on the personality of the person and how they cope with various milestones in life.
As a college student, there are other various things besides breaks that you get used to over the years that won’t be in your life anymore.
Things like sorority meetings on Wednesday nights, glee club practice on Monday afternoons, tennis practice, RA (resident advisor) meetings, Pinterest night on Tuesday, and so on. Having lunch in the cafeteria may not have been your favorite thing in the world, but you will still miss the atmosphere of a bunch of college students eating together, whether the food is good that day or not.
Having to get up by 7:00 to get ready and to be in biology class or English class will no longer be a priority. Getting to your first (what we college kids like to call it), “big girl” or “big boy” job will be the new routine.
If you lived on campus, having hall and roommate/suitemate meetings will become a memory. Having movie nights and Disney marathons with lots of popcorn and junk food will become a fond memory (but obviously you can still do that with your friends).
The classic all-nighters to finish papers you either procrastinated on or are just ridiculously long and hard with lots of coffee and red bull and 5-hour energy drinks to get through classes the next day will no longer be necessary.
Wanting to strangle that one person in the group who isn’t doing their part for a group project will no longer be a stressor (but you may experience a very similar situation at work).
Overall, college graduation is such a bittersweet achievement because after all the blood, sweat, tears, freshmen 15, coffee, and stress, college ended up being one of the most influential, best experiences of your life. When something is so influential in helping you find yourself and consumed so much effort and time, it isn’t just something you can let go.
I don’t know about you, but college really helped me find a big part of myself as well some lifelong sisters and friends. Of course, it's bittersweet, it was the best four years of my life.
And on May 7, 2016, at 10 a.m. I will be saying goodbye to one of the biggest, best chapters of my life.
