It's finally here, the year we've all be waiting for -- senior year. We all went into college with some fear and some excitement, probably both having to do with getting away from our parents and gaining some freedom of our own. The biggest goal we set for ourselves during our freshman year was to make it to our senior year and become teachers. Now that our senior year is here, we are finding out that we need a break because it isn't as easy as it once seemed.

Senior year is much busier than we expected. As education majors, we leave our homes around seven in the morning, and we don't return to them until around six at night. However, our days go much longer than just seven to six. We spend countless hours lesson planning, grading papers, and completing assignments for our Doane classes. Some of us find time to go to practice or go to work, but we are discovering that these things tend to add more stress to our lives. By the time eight rolls around, we both physically and mentally can't do anymore work, so we go to bed just to wake up and begin our day again.

Senior year has a lot of expenses. Just like employed teachers, we are traveling several miles to school each day. This results in filling our cars with gas a few times a week. Because we are so busy, we have very little time to make money. With that being said, we are currently living in the "broke" world. Not only are we spending money on gas, but we are spending money on clothes. Looking professional costs a lot, and if you're anything like me, you like to have a variety of clothes to get your through the week. Saving money is becoming our number one priority.

Senior year isn't how we expected it. All of the non-education majors are spending Thursday nights at college night, Tuesday nights at $5 movies, and the weekends going out with friends. Education majors spend Thursday nights cramming to make sure lesson plans are done by Friday morning. Tuesday nights are spent being thankful that tomorrow is hump day. The weekends are spent catching up on sleep that was missed during the week. Non-education majors might not understand why we can't enjoy some of the things they do during the week, but we know it is all because we are striving to reach the goal we set for ourselves freshman year.

Senior year is a test for the future. We get it, some non-education majors might sleep until noon because their first class isn't until one. However pleasant that may sound, it isn't realistic. Yes, as an education major our lives are busy, but we are becoming prepared for the future. Reality is that we will be putting in long days, and we will be spending time outside of school preparing for time spent inside of school. If we can't handle life now, we certainly won't be able to handle it next year as first-year teachers.

Senior year can still be memorable. It's busy, expensive, not what we expected, and a test for the future; but that doesn't mean it can't be memorable. Right now, we are impacting the lives of several students each day, and just like they'll remember having us as their student teacher, we will remember having them as our students. We may not have as many memories this year with our peers as we did in the past, but we are creating new memories and impacting the lives of children. We are making our senior year a memorable experience.

No one told us that senior year wouldn’t be as easy as we thought it was going to be. However, senior year is definitely more rewarding that we thought it was going to be, especially as an education major. Life may be busy and stressful right now, but I can say with honesty that I chose the right profession, and I will reach that goal I set for myself during my freshman year of college.