Dear Freshman year,

Oh, how you will be missed. I wish I could stay a freshman forever, but I guess it’s time to move out of the dorms for good. I never thought I would miss that 12’ x 15’ room 9 months ago, but I have learned to call that room my home. I will miss all the laughs and late nights that were spent in there with my best friends.

Moving in first semester, of course I was immensely excited, but also nervous. I had no friends, no idea what to do or even how to get around campus. I will never forget my first night living in the dorms and meeting my first friends two doors down who just so happened to be from my small hometown, yet we had never met. That’s when I knew everything was going to be just fine.

By Thanksgiving break, I was already sad to be leaving for only a week. Leaving for three whole months is going to feel like an eternity. The saddest part will be not moving back into the same room with the same friends down the hall that I have grown accustomed to all year. Taking all of my things and leaving for good feels so surreal. I never thought I would say it, but I will miss you Forest room A730.

Freshman year can be best described as a hot mess. No one really knows exactly what they are doing. We are all in it together and just trying to figure everything out along the way. But that is what made freshman year so fun. We are doing everything for the first time. Everything is new and fresh. We do dumb things and look back at them a few months later and laugh at how stupid we were.

While I am excited for years to come, it will never be the same. I won’t be able to walk down the hall to hang out with my same friends that I struggled through welcome week with. My first friends I made here that made the adjustment into college so easy. The same friends that were there for me even when I made all my first semester freshman year mistakes. I will miss living with them the most.

Now that we are no longer freshmen, there’s a lot of pressure on our shoulders. We can no longer blame our stupidity on being a freshman. It is our first step into the real world. Nothing will be new and fresh anymore. We already have most of our friends, we will no longer be lost, we will know exactly what to expect and how to handle ourselves. But not knowing was the fun of freshman year.

Even though there is still so much more to look forward to, I am still a little bit sad. To all the incoming freshmen, I am so jealous of you. I would kill to be in your shoes right now. You have such a fun and amazing adventure ahead of you that is known as your first year of college. It will be crazy at times, and probably a little messy. You will get stressed and lost and confused. Just remember to always enjoy it because it will be the fastest year of your life.

Take it all in. Take advantage of every moment. Go out with your friends. Order pizza as much as you want. Stay up late. Make memories. But also, don’t forget about maintaining that GPA. It will follow you for years to come.

I will miss you freshman year. Thank you for treating me well and teaching me more in one single year than I could have ever imagined. To my dorm room, I hope you create the same home for the next girls to move in in the fall and I hope they make as many great memories as we did. I hope they also have dance parties in the lounge and eat dinner together every Monday night. I hope they come home at 2 a.m. and all meet up and order cheesy bread. I hope they have the same great experience that I did.

Much love,

A freshman who is sad to leave