As I pack up my bags and reveal the ugly, white, cinder block wall in my dorm room, I can’t help but reminisce on all the memories my first year at Rutgers has provided me. You don’t realize how fast time flies when you’re in the moment, but it feels like just a few days ago I was introducing myself at the floor meeting with all my floormates. It’s weird how fast we all became friends. I look at my relationships with these people now and there’s no way I would imagine this first coming into the year. Most people tell you that the transition from high school to college is hard, but for me, it wasn’t and I’m sure my friends I made my first year at Rutgers would say the same thing.

People have said since freshman year of high school that time flies and then, of course, people said it about college. You really do not realize how fast time flies until your graduating high school and moving into your first dorm room or when it’s move-out day and you are striping your walls and packing your stuff. When you’re in the moment and looking into the future you really don’t think about time and the effect it has on every single one of our lives. As my journey through Rutgers progressed, I never really thought about moving out because I never thought that day would come. Just like some people have the mentality that nothing bad will ever happen to them, well, I had a similar mentality as I would never have thought that I would have to say goodbye to Rutgers with a whole year of college and memories under my belt.

Coming from a high school where I graduated with only 63 kids, I was always pretty close with just about everyone I went to high school with. My town is the stereotypical “everybody-knows-everybody” type of town and I did not realize how much that living situation would affect me in my later years. Rutgers changed my view on things drastically as I went from knowing all my classmates to knowing only a handful of friends I have made at Rutgers.

My first-year at Rutgers was like no other as all the kids on my floor developed friendships within the first few days of moving in. We went from knowing no one and having awkward introductions to each other on move-in day to never going to the dining hall alone as we all went and ate together. Because of the relationships I formed with my third-floor friends, I can honestly say that my departure is hitting harder than I thought. Of course, just like anyone else, we all have had our ups and downs, but I’m sure anyone on my floor would say that it’s strange not being able to walk to the bathroom and see your friends along the way.

I never really thought that the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” would fit into my life so accurately. As cliche as it is, it’s the truth because, despite all the late night mental breakdowns and stress that my first year has caused me, all the memories I have made my first year of college have been unforgettable and nevertheless, fun.

One by one, I watched my friends pack their stuff and leave Rutgers and it hit hard because, yes, we are all returning home and leaving each other for the summer, but we are also leaving an abundance of memories behind. Just the other day I was scrolling through my Snapchat memories and I came across so many memories from our first football game altogether to many late nights where we all just stayed up hanging out in someone’s room.

Not that I’m not happy to move on to my next adventure at Rutgers and, of course, my summer, but I would be lying if I said that I’m not at all sad to lock my door for the last time and return the key to my room in which we have all made so many memories. As hot and crappy everyone makes freshman living situations out to be, The Lynton North Towers have brought me many memories that have made my first year at Rutgers unforgettable. Although we will all be returning to Rutgers in only four short months, it will not be the same as our first year of all of us living together on the same floor.

It’s almost as if The Lynton North Tower set it up so its residents were forced to be friends, but it worked for the third floor and I can honestly say it made freshman year a lot easier. Naked cinder block walls symbolize more than just an empty dorm room, it symbolizes a whole year already gone. So, until next time Rutgers and all the friends I made on the third floor this year, I’ll see you in four months.