Only days into a new school year, and it already feels like spring semester has been happening for months. Between teachers who insist on talking the whole class period of “syllabus day” to the overwhelming lines to buy textbooks, giving up on the remainder of the school year sounds a lot like giving up on the New Year’s Resolutions you just made: slightly regrettable, albeit necessary for your personal sanity. But as difficult as the transition out of winter break can be, spring semester marks the best and most difficult part of college. It is a time of looking forward to what your summer holds and the prospect of another year of higher education completed, but also necessitates saying goodbye to your graduating peers and a period of think-about-your-future-ness that is daunting to say the least.

While the chilly El Nino breezes marking the beginning of the 2016 make “spring” seem like an inappropriate way to describe this particular period, fear not. There is a light at the end of the spring semester slump tunnel! It’s called summer. It may feel like jumping the gun to already be talking about blissful months of sunshine and free-time, but really, this academic period is just a gateway to exciting adventures. Whether you’re returning home to scoop ice cream, going abroad with a school program or on your own, or starting a flashy new internship, spring semester is the launching pad for months of productivity, relaxation or a crafty combination of the two. It also marks you being one step closer to having your diploma in hand. While it may catch you off guard, the forward-thinking nature of this semester makes it a prime time to buckle down, have some fun and set yourself up to be able to saunter into the summer sunshine with a smile on your face.

Unfortunately, SS isn’t entirely pre-vacation partying. In addition to, you know, having to go to class, spring semester is the last time you will see the graduating class of 2016. The people who have become your friends, your role models and your 'how does this school work' question answerers are ditching their student IDs for something bigger and better. The looks exchanged in class and words of wizened advice will soon be something you reflect on fondly when they are no longer your classmates next year. As much as part of you hopes they will spontaneously be banned from graduating so you can spend more days together, you know it’s time for them to move on and important for you to make the most of the moments you have left with them. The final semester of the 2016 school year also puts incredible pressure on you to make some major decisions regarding your future, a responsibility that feels highly unnecessary on top of your already stressful academic load. From where you are going to live next year to what classes you need to take in order to stay on track, these next months are stacked with loaded questions you don’t always have an easy answer to. But with a deep breath, a solid to-do list and a call to your parents, everything will work itself out. Or it won’t, and you’ll deal with that bridge when you come to it.

Bursting with highs and lows, spring semester is often as blustery as the weather that fills it. It is a time of expectation and anticipation of adventures to come and also reflection and appreciation of things that happened this past year. Not all bad but not all good, SS is a pivotal block in the Jenga tower of life; it supports a lot of weight and is important to the structure of the whole, but at some point you will have to remove it and trust that everything will work out exactly like it’s supposed to.