Well, freshman year is over. Where did it go? Everyone’s packing boxes and taking down decorations. The walls are looking bare and everyone is feverishly cleaning their dorm room. Think back to a year ago, when you were looking at all the pictures of residence halls online and praying that you’d get the room of your choice. You were nervously awaiting to see the results of random roommate selection and afterwards, you were texting back and forth about all of the details: who’s gonna bring the fridge and the microwave? Do you need a TV? Color coordinating, and on and on.
Your parents dropped you off at the dorms and you hung all your pictures. You bought your textbooks from the Bookstore, and you left your door open so you could make friends with the people on your floor. When your family left, they cried and you cried and it was a mess and you were all alone with all these new people you didn’t know from atom. But it’s over now. It’s done. Your freshman year blew away.
Now, you’re eating at the dining hall a few more times before you’ll never eat there again. You’re hesitating to de-decorate your room because you’re trying to take it all in and remember it forever. You’re cleaning the room out that saw all the wear and tear of memories hopefully never to be forgotten. You’re going to your last class as a freshman tomorrow and you’re saying goodbye to the seniors that are graduating on the weekend. You’re leaving the room that saw all your tears, your laughs, your A’s and your not-so-A’s.
So save de-decorating for tomorrow. Take it all in for one more night. Eat an extra meal at the dining hall solely to experience the joy of eating seven pieces of pizza, six slices of cake, four bananas, eight ice cream sandwiches, and drinking five glasses of lemonade once more. Go take that cliché picture on campus and post it all over social media and complain about how sad and happy and wonderful it is that you survived your freshman year. Take a hundred pictures of your room so you don’t forget what it looks like. Hug your roommate and make sure that you don’t lose touch (especially if you don’t hate them). Brag about all the fun you had and cry about how awful some of the classes were. Write it all down.
Take a moment to ponder how you or some of your friends are getting their own apartments. You are all working full-time jobs this summer and you’re paying bills and yeah, you’re growing up. Your sisters and your brothers are growing up. Your family misses you. Don’t forget to call them and tell them how much you love and miss them while you’re too busy being grown up. Never grow up.
Don’t get too caught up in stressing about finals and worrying that your room isn’t clean enough to remember that in just a few days, your freshman year will be over for good, and there’s no going back. It’s the end of the beginning. Soak it all in. So long, freshman year.
