I know. I have really no right to be this in my feelings as a Freshman, but I am. I might have 7 semesters left, but after this one, that simply does not seem like enough. I have really felt some of the happiest moments of my life since getting to Villanova, and it's crazy to think that I'm already an eighth of the way through my career here.

I know. Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores have much more reason for being sad, but quite frankly, I think it is better for me to start having this feeling now than later. I am having this feeling, and it is making me realize that I can't afford to waste a moment while I'm here. I can't keep saying that I have time to do all the things I want to do while I'm here because that is only going to become less true.

I know. I am "just getting started", but my whole life I've gotten stuck in the mindset that I am "just getting started". This whole semester felt like it was constantly "just getting started" and I never felt like it had already started, but here I am and it is almost over. So now, I need to understand that I am NOT "just getting started", I have started, and I have to continue so that when the end does come, I can look back at all eight semesters and say that I did what I wanted to do.

I know. I should be excited for Christmas and Winter Break and seeing old friends, and I am. Yet something in the back of my mind keeps reminding me that as I spend those 3 weeks at home, I am halfway done with my Freshman year. Nobody tells you that when you go to college, time somehow moves slower and faster than ever before. My days feel like weeks but my weeks feel like hours. I feel like what happened in October and what happened this morning both happened last week. Which makes me think that I need to really use my time wisely here, because if the next four years are going to wind up feeling like a month, I want to make sure it is the best month I have ever had.

I know. I should be pumped to not have any work a few weeks. But the fact of the matter is that with all the friends I've made, all the things I've learned, all the ways I've grown, all the boundaries I've crossed and all the bridges I've build this semester, all the work and the stress seem to mean so little. The joy I get from having a good conversation with one of my friends outweighs to stress of a 7 page paper that rests on my shoulders.

I know. I know how I feel, and I know people might have a lot to say about it, but what it comes down to is that I love it here. I loved the entirety of the semester, even when it had me at my worst. I loved it all, and it has somehow slipped through my fingers like sand through an hour glass, and that terrifies me.

I know that this semester is coming to an end, and I know I can't do anything about it, so all I CAN do is make the most of the next 7, before an eighth becomes a whole, 4 years becomes one month, and the future that I am so excited for here becomes the past that I can only look upon and smile.