It’s so cliché to say, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” but when it pertains to college, the phrase couldn’t possibly ring more true.
It seems like it was just yesterday that we were all seniors graduating from high school, unaware of where life would take us once we left the nest. Now, it’s just about four years later, and we’ve all transformed into completely different people.
As I start to look back on my life, I mostly think about the things that I have learned. As college students, we have obtained arguably one of the most important traits that a person can possess: independence. We no longer have our parents telling us to do our homework, making us meals every day and putting us to bed at night. We are in control of ourselves and can do what we want, when we want. This was a scary thought in the beginning, but now towards the end, it just feels like second nature.
If you don’t want to go to class, you don’t have to. It's all about your mindset, and you get to choose what you want to do with the time and money that you spend here. You will meet people over these four years on all different ends of the spectrum. You will have the friends who work so hard to get good grades and keep their GPA up. Then, you will have the friends who choose to binge-watch Netflix, instead going to class and doing homework. And they will try to get you to do the same.
Self-control is another thing that we have learned, and it’s a huge part of growing up for many different reasons. Basically, you’re in control of every action that you make in your life, and almost everything that you do will have a lasting effect. Whether it’s picking up another drink when you know you’ve already had a few too many, or pulling out your phone during a test, there are so many ways that your life can change in an instant. You have learned that you are the only one who can help yourself to do the right things.
You will live and you will learn. You will make mistakes, and weirdly enough, those mistakes can actually shape you into the wonderful person that you will be when you grow up. Sometimes, the best things come from doing the wrong thing, and changing yourself because of that. You’ll never learn a lesson or listen to anyone until you’ve experienced things yourself, and college is exactly that: An experience.
We have learned and we have grown, physically and mentally. We have realized the capacity that our brains have and how much space we have to store new information. We have met our soulmates and had our hearts broken. We’re not the same people that we were when we stepped into our first class on Monday morning as shy little freshmen. We have broken out of our shells, and now we can walk away with an abundance of knowledge and experience.
Now, as I sit here, closely approaching senior year, the future doesn't feel so far away. Searching for an internship and thinking realistically about what I want to do with the rest of my life, I now realize that the real world will be here before I know it... And it will hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm comfortable in my college bubble, and I don't ever want it to pop. Adulthood is right around the corner, and I’m running out of ways to avoid it.
As we wrap up our college careers, we have an abundance of good memories and laughs to look back on. Every step that we have taken since we got on campus has brought us to where we are and shaped up into the person that we are today. We have bonded with our professors and advisors, and made friends that will last a lifetime. Aside from these wonderful memories that we have made, we have transformed ourselves into completely different people, and have obtained traits that will stay with us from now on. I'm sure it's annoying for second semester seniors to hear a junior ranting about not wanting to leave when I still have another year left here. Finishing senior year is incredibly scary, but entering it is scary as well. College is a part of our lives that will live on with us forever, and we can all relate to the pain of having to wrap these memories up, put them into a photo album and attempt to move on with our lives.
