It seems like just yesterday that we were moving into our dorms on the first day of school, attending those awkward freshman mixers and reminding ourselves to refer to our teachers as “professors.”

We were nervous, but also excited about this new chapter of our lives: college.

Now, in the blink of an eye, we’re halfway done. We are beginning to realize that all those adults who told us to enjoy our time here were right; these four years are flying by. The first two years have been even more exciting than we imagined they would be, full of hard work, achievements, lots of fun and some mistakes, too (that we learned from, of course).

In many ways, this milestone is exciting! We’ve completed most of those painful general education classes, we’re done with dorm life, and we’re no longer underclassmen. We now know how to go grocery shopping (kind of) and make $50 worth of food last for three weeks.

And yet, it’s also sad. These final years of freedom are quickly coming to an end. Soon, we will be out in the real world, where summer vacation is nonexistent and it’s far less acceptable to eat frozen meals for dinner every night.

But, just as we survived the transition between high school and college, we will survive the transition between college and the real world. With hard work, we will all go on to be successful in whatever we do. Everything will be just fine.

For now, though, we must make the most of the time we have left. We must cherish the moments we spend with the amazing people we’ve met in college, many of whom will be our best friends for life. We must take the time to stop and look around every once in a while and to realize how lucky we are. These are the years we will never forget.