As I take a break from my studying and sit down to write this week's article, I find myself struggling with the idea that my college experience is halfway over. At orientation they told us, "The next two days will feel like four years, but the next four years will feel like two days." I understood what they meant about orientation, but prayed they were wrong about college. My uncle still says his time at Fairfield was the best four years of his life. As disappointed as I am that these last two years flew by, I'm excited for things to come.
Junior and senior year are going to be absolutely incredible. What are dorm rooms in comparison to apartments and townhouses as juniors? We'll have our own kitchens, which means no more Barone (yay!). Better yet, the full-sized fridge can fit your healthy fruit and vegetables with your leftover take out pizza and Chinese food. Also, your bedroom will finally just be your bedroom again, because you'll have a common space to host all of your friends in. As juniors, we get to keep our cars on campus, too, which means no more begging the lucky few for rides. Trips to Dunkin or the beach will be a given.
As juniors, we also have the opportunity to study abroad. For a semester or a year, you can live in another country. For me, that means spending four months in Galway, Ireland and traipsing around Europe with my best friend. How awesome is that? How many opportunities do you have to live and study in a foreign country again in your life? If we weren't already halfway through college, that couldn't happen.
How could life get better than this? Living on the beach senior year with your best friends, that's how. The dream when we looked at Fairfield was eventually becoming those super cool seniors living on or near "The Point." As we sign our leases and put down our deposits, we're getting one step closer to being there. How many people get to live directly on the beach? As recent college graduates, we definitely won't be in the position to live like that. Furthermore, could life get any better than beachfront with your best friends?
While it's sad that we're done with the first two years and there are things we will miss, we're on to bigger and better things. I know it doesn't seem possible looking back on the last two years, but the next two years are going to be infinitely better than the last. We are so incredibly lucky to have so many once in a lifetime experiences packed into four years. Knowing how fast the first two flew by, all we can do is take advantage of what we have left. Make the best of every day of junior and senior year and don't focus too much on the past. If the next two years are going to feel like a day, it won't do you any good to spend it looking back on yesterday.
