"Aren't you having so much fun at school?"

"Oh, these are the best four years of your life."

"I bet you're having so much fun!"

No. If we're being honest, sometimes college sucks. And guess what. That's ok! I'm getting ready to start my senior year, and I can confidently tell you that the last three years have been the hardest of my life.

Don't get me wrong, I've had some bright spots in there. I've seen multiple concerts. I've made a best friend that I will keep forever. I've learned a lot of lessons, some that were expected, some that weren't. I have gone out with friends and danced until my feet hurt the next day. I have laid in bed all day and watched Netflix with my friends. I've burnt meals and cookies and accidentally killed pet fish and eaten the best cookies of my life.

But when I look back at the last three years, as a whole, they have been hard. If the past three years have truly been a part of the best years of my life, I might as well off myself now. I've lost two great-grandparents, two grandfathers, two dogs, and a close friend. Between that and crazy roommates, trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with my life, trying to find a major, and generally figuring out how to be an adult, the past three years have not been the best. I've watched an organization I loved become something I could not stand to be a part of. I have experienced a lot of disappointment both at my own hands and at the hands of other people.

But the one thing that pushes me over the edge about college is how people insist that these are the best years of your life. That's the exact opposite of what college is for. College is for working hard to make sure that the rest of your years have the ability to be the best years of your life. College is for making sure that you will be able to wake up every morning for the rest of your life and go to a job that you actually enjoy rather than a dead-end job just because you need to pay the bills.

So this is for all of the people who college may not have been the best years of their lives. Don't worry. It will get better. In between the general craziness, the all-nighters studying and writing papers, and drama with family and friends and roommates, try to have a little bit of fun. Remember the times you found your best friend curled up asleep with a rotisserie chicken and the time you hung out the roof of her car eating cotton candy as you drove around campus and stole toilet paper from an academic building when you ran out and the late-night Wal-mart runs and projecting Netflix on the wall of your tiny apartment.

Just hang in there. You're setting up for the best years of your life.