Dear Pre-Graduate Francesca,

This is it. You're graduating high school this week, and it all feels like it really isn't happening and that these past four years have really gone by in a blink of an eye. Well, that feeling is going to linger on graduation day and it is going to be the one time in your life that you actually feel like the moments are playing like a dream right before your eyes. You will cry while your sister does your hair ("I don't know why I'm crying right now, I think it's just hitting me all at once") and immediately regret not getting that spray tan to match your outfit. You'll feel great anyways, though, and you'll be super happy being around your friends that day, too.

Speaking of friends, you do not have to worry about your number one concern for college AT ALL. You're going to remain close with everyone you want to and even get closer with some of them. Some friends you won't see as much anymore but will definitely talk to them and meet up once in a while, and that is all that matters. You may even distance yourself from some of them with good purpose but even then things are awesome between you and them, and you even reconnect with an old bestie that you realize you can never live life without.

As you know, high school taught you to live in the moment because it all goes by so fast. Right now, I cannot believe my freshman year of college is already over. Your brain will start to think in "semester mode" rather than a 10-month school year calendar, and that comes along with looking at time from a college perspective. You don't even look at the date every day as much as you used to, but you really want to start because time seems to be going by faster now.

Here are some confessions I'm going to tell you to ease your worries: no you didn't go to a college party, you have made some friends you see keeping in touch with in the upcoming years, you're finding your place in different clubs and activities, you are in the right major and you will still have music in your academics somehow. You've had plenty of freak outs throughout the school year (as expected) and had your fair share of good and bad professors already. And as much as you wanted the spring semester to end, you already kind of miss it while writing this.

As much as you worry about it and everything else, you are right where you need to be at MSU. You may second-guess yourself every now and then about it, but you can't picture yourself anywhere else. You have decided to take musical theater as a minor, and you've never felt more excited about school than this. You're even considering drama school as a post-grad, so who knows what exciting things the future has in store?

I wish I could tell you to take in every last bit of high school. I wish I could tell you to forget about this crush you have now because it's not all you hoped it would be and you're going to feel something amazing down the line that you never have before. I wish I could tell you that you'll miss seeing all your friends every day more than anything, and to learn to appreciate that now. I wish I could tell you that you're going to go through some of the most insane and wonderful experiences you have ever gone through in your life within the next twelve months and that you're going to grow more than ever before. I wish I could tell you that you're not going to be able to imagine life as it were before, because you have gotten so close with certain people and you've experienced too much to ever want go back to how it all used to be. I wish I could tell you a lot of things, but that isn't how time- or life, for that matter- works.

As much as you'd hate to admit it, you'll miss LHS and your fellow classmates. You'll always wish you had a videotape of everything that has happened these past four years to look back on- good and bad. At least you have photographs, written letters, Snapchat memories, your friends and your recollections to help you out in the meantime.

All in all, you are going to be more than OK within a year's time. You'll still be overthinking every little detail about everything in your life, but you will still have your best friends and family to support you through it all. You're still you, Cesc, but becoming the best version of yourself each and every day.

High school was quite an adventure, but your next one is already turning out to be something else. Your graduation cap didn't let you down with that one — trust me. Congratulations!

Sincerely,

Content College You :)