How did you get here so fast? It feels like just yesterday that I was getting out of my parents' car, unpacking boxes and boxes of random stuff. I just met my roommate and just watched my parents leave, trying so hard not to cry because that would only make my mom cry more. I just hung up my pictures of all my best friends and family on the wall, and just slept in my new bed for the first time. But in reality, I’m only a couple of days away from sleeping in this room for the last time and driving away from my dorm building, my home away from home, this time crying openly because my mom will be cackling in the front seat about having me home again for the summer (just kidding, I missed her too).

What’s crazy is how fast freshman year went by. I’ve been talking about and preparing to go to college my whole life and now I did it. I made it through my freshman year with a lower than expected amount of breakdowns about stress and homesickness. The first time I got to this little tiny dorm room, I was terrified. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was away from home for the first time in my life. My life was about to change big time — and it did. Except, the whole thing went by way faster than I thought time could go.

When we got to Thanksgiving break, I was happy. When we got to winter break, I was shocked. When we made it all the way to spring break I was scared. Where was my freshman year going? This was my year to goof around and learn everything about college without thinking too much about it! My year to live in the dorms and eat Easy Mac and not worry too much about the upcoming future, which I definitely did.

The memories I’ve made between move-in day and the upcoming move-out day will forever stay in my heart. I’ve learned so much and grown into a stronger and more mature person (that still lays in bed and eats pizza rolls). I’ve laughed harder than I ever have before, cried over just about everything you could think of and made some amazing new friends.

So, move-out day, I’m begging you: slow down! I’m not ready to pack up my room, to hug my floor mates goodbye, to take down the pictures I’ve added to the ones I first put up, to take apart my bulletin boards, to clean out my desk, and I’m absolutely not ready to look under my bed because who knows what has collected under there in the past year.

This room has treated me well. It was my home. It was where I ate Chinese food on the floor, cross-legged like 13-year-old girls at a sleepover. It’s where I learned to share a 10 x 15 room with a complete stranger, and end up having conversations across our beds until two in the morning. It has become a landmark of my freshman year. So as I brace myself for you, move-out day, know that you will see some tears, some scary things from under my bed, and that I’ve had the time of my life living in this room. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?