I took advantage of $5 cup night, and I still made it to my 8am meetings.

Your senior year, much like college in its entirety, has become this paradox in American culture. We must go to class, get straight A's, become president of the college, and simultaneously morph into both Kendall Kardashian and a handle of Karkov. Not only are these standards impossible, because working out hungover is like traversing the Sahara, but because we simply cannot do it. Senior year you are pushed to your limits in every aspect of your life. You are leaving the friends you have made over the past four years, struggling to find a job, enduring a full course load, and have a constant BAC of .01. Let me tell you this, it sucks, and it's hard, but you get through it. I did, and somehow I turned into a functioning human being out in the world.

Senior year must be well scheduled, and fueled by a constant drip of caffeine. That's how I created this illusion that had any semblance of organization in my life. I kept my hours scheduled to a T, (class, meetings, lunch, workout, allow for the soul to escape the body for 15 minutes) you know the usual, so I could save my nights for wine with my roommates, or $2 margs. Be aware, that although you may be fooling yourself with this organization, you are fooling no one else. Last year I said in class, "People think I have my shit together," and my professor laughed, very loudly, without remorse. Even though we think that our lives personal lives are so separate from our classroom ones, here's a secret, they're not. They are very much intertwined, especially when so many professors live in St. Peter.

That being said, make good choices. If you have an exam or huge paper due in the morning, do not go out, that is not a positive choice. Did we all make that choice, though? Absolutely, and we all turned out fine. The choices get bigger in your Senior year. You make adult choices, big and small. You have to decide if you're going to walk home your drunk friend, or stay out and flirt with that guy from your Senior Seminar. Do you take the first job you're offered, even though you hate it, or wait until something better comes along that you actually like? Do you keep listening to your parent's advice, even though they were they ones who chopped off all of your hair in fifth grade and said you looked "nice", but you really looked like Coconut Head? Yes, you walk your friend home. No, you don't take that job. No, you don't listen to your parents, because this is your life and not their's.

Find your people and stick with them. I know this is so cliche, and I'm not talking about Meredith and Christina "my person" bullshit. I'm talking about finding the people who make your heart full every day, and who are going to make your heart hurt on graduation. I made a lot of new friends my senior year, which is fantastic, and made me love Gustavus even more. Come graduation, and my last drive down the hill, it was crying saying goodbye to my best friends that really impacted me the most. Senior year, I spent a lot of time drunk with acquaintances, and not enough sober with the people I will cherish forever. Don't get me wrong, my people and I spent a lot of time at parties together, but the memories I am going to look back on from Senior year are when it would just be us together. It's okay to skip the big parties to have a movie night with your friends, walk around the arb, or light fireworks off of the sign. I know people say this all the time, but I mean it, as someone who has regrets from their senior year. Parties at Gables won't matter in a year, but that one time where you ripped your pants hopping the fence to the track, you will remember that forever.

What I'm getting at is, work hard, take advantage of being within a mile of all of your friends, and have fun. Gusties can do it all, and that's not a bad thing. I am proud of my 8am-1am lifestyle because I took advantage of every moment. Time goes so fast because we are moving exponentially faster. Slaying your Senior year isn't about outcomes. It's not about having a big job, or a swanky apartment. It's coming out of it feeling secure that you sucked the life out of your Gustavus experience, and that you're ready for whatever may come next.