Dear Freshman Year,

The saying “time flies when you’re having fun” turned into a drastic understatement in regards to you. It feels like no more than a month has passed since I started thinking of what color scheme I wanted for the 10" by 10" space I would be calling home for the next school year. I remember carefully placing each picture of my high school memories strategically on the wall above my desk as a reminder of the home I left 18 hours away. Now has come the time to take all the pictures down and fill my room once again with boxes, this time walking them to the car instead of unloading them from there. I no longer have access to the dorm that I have formed a love-hate relationship with over the past nine months that I share with three strangers that now each have their own stories that will be carried in my life forever.

Nothing makes someone feel more like an adult and more like they have everything figured out than graduating high school. Everyone is moving on to the next part of their life, the part that everyone has been building up for years, college. Every new graduate thinks they have it all figured and can’t wait for that taste of independence and finally being in complete control of their own life. No less than three months later they are back to feeling like nothing in the world is going their way. In less than no time they are changing their major, calling their parents three times a day, and feeling completely lost once again. You taught me that’s okay. You taught me that there will be times in my life when I don’t completely have everything figured out and, just because I don’t know, doesn’t mean I’m necessarily wrong. Change and uncertainties are part of life and you taught me to grow from them, not shy away like I was so used to. Life is full of mysteries and, thanks to you, I’m not as scared of them anymore.

You have also brought me some of the greatest people I could have ever been blessed with. Leaving my high school friends was one of the hardest transitions into college because I never thought I would meet people as good to me as them. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay in touch with them because I don’t think I would have made it this far without them. But, you have brought me people who could give them a run for their money. You brought me people that I could laugh with until I cry and cry with until I laugh and I never thought I would find that outside of my Mendham Bubble. Thank you for bringing me closer to people that pick me up when I need it the most, both literally and metaphorically. These people have made my home away from home and the transition into college much easier than I ever could have imagined and I can’t thank you enough for bringing them into my life.

At risk of sounding extremely cliché, you have truly changed me for the best. I always used to laugh it off when people told me I would change during my freshman year of college; how different could a quick nine months make me be? I would like to think you changed me for the best. Since my time away from home, I feel more independent and less concerned with how people feel about me. I also feel less afraid to speak my mind and more able to be myself since my 18 hour move. Thank you for teaching me it is okay to say what I want and that the most important person to impress is myself.

Thank you for bringing me my hardest goodbyes. Thank you for bringing me people that made it so hard to part from. Thank you for bringing me classes that support my passions and challenges that help me to grow. Thank you for teaching me it’s okay not to be okay and that there are people that care even if they show it in different ways. Thank you for showing my importance and that I no longer have to please everyone. Thank you. I can safely say that you have been everything I was told you would be and more. Let’s hope that sophomore year will be anything in comparison to you.

Love,

A Soon-To-Be Sophomore