My first year of college is slowly coming to an end, bringing with it studying for exams, having to pack up my dorm room, and returning all of my textbooks without getting any fines.

Knowing that in just a few days I’ll be headed back home and being with my family again is comforting, but also extremely nerve-wracking. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was moving in and going through orientation.

I used to think that time moved so slowly while I was in high school; there was the constant dread of having to wake up each morning and go to what I called “prison,” sitting through classes that wouldn't benefit me in the future, and constantly calculating how many absences I would have if I “skipped class one more time.”

Being in college is a completely different story.

I feel like everything has completely flown by with my classes, the many essays I wrote, and all of the fun adventures that my friends and I went on. In fact, I barely even remember my first semester.

From finally grasping time management; knowing exactly where each building is and how to get there; and making friends that will last a lifetime, it has truly been an exciting first year of college.

As college students, we are told that “these are the best four years of our lives,” and they are, in fact, going by so much faster than I anticipated. Before I know it, I’ll be walking across the graduation stage in 2021.

I have met so many new people and have had new experiences, all of which have made me a better person and I’ll never take that for granted.

So the next time that you start to complain about time and how slow it’s moving, think about Ferris Bueller’s famous line: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”