Sitting in the car on my way back to Iowa, I feel nervous and excited, almost the same way I felt when I traveled this course three years ago as a freshman. Well, that’s a total lie. My freshman year, I bawled my eyes out for three hours straight because I just got done saying goodbye to my best friend. To this day we still laugh about the fact that she had to go up to the high school and pick up her cheerleading tryouts results and everyone thought that she didn’t make the team because she was still crying too.
No, the way I feel today is more how I felt once I was settled into my dorm room freshman year, the day after the waterfall of tears in the car. I felt nervous because I didn’t know what the next four years would have in store for me. I wondered what kind of friends I would make, how I would do in my classes, and what it would be like to go to a college football game for the first time.
It is crazy to me to think that those days are so far gone. I am glad to say that I figured things out the hard way and I think it made me into a tougher and better person. I made some friends that I had to distance myself from after a semester or two, but I also gained friendships that I know will last a lifetime.
One of the best friends I made in college thus far was someone I met the first week of school. Thankfully, we each have better haircuts these days, but we still give each other a hard time for how stupid we were when we were 18. I learned that you have to actually go to class in college, and through some rough study sessions, managed to keep my GPA somewhat respectable. I also learned that college football games are some of the most fun events that you can attend, even if your team isn’t always very good.
As an incoming senior, it’s a bittersweet feeling moving back into school. You feel excited because you are most likely 21 and so are all of your friends, you probably have easier classes, and you know you’re either one year or just one semester away from making it out with a degree. You can laugh at the freshmen in their orientation groups and smile to yourself because you remember what that’s like, and it probably doesn’t seem that long ago that it was you in their shoes. It is a scary feeling to think that time has moved this fast and the next thing you know, you’re going to have to try and get a grown-up job or go to Grad school.
Senior year of college is going to be like senior year of high school 2.0. You don’t live with your parents anymore, you can drink alcohol and when senioritis kicks in, you’ll have a full squad of people to back you up and encourage you to slack on your homework just because it’s senior year. It’s okay to be nervous and worry about the future, but only for a little while. Good times are ahead and you want to be present and enjoy them all. The future is inevitable. There is no use worrying yourself sick about it. The “right now” is always going to be more important than the “what’s coming.”
Enjoy your last year of college and cross everything you want to do off of your bucket list. Visit all of those landmarks or restaurants that are unique to your campus. Go to buildings you’ve never gone into before just to check them out. Maybe even check out a sporting event that you’ve never seen but always wanted to attend. Seniors, this is our year. Let’s make it the best one we have ever had.
