Everyone always says that college is the best four years of your life. However, class was the last thing that came to my mind when people referenced how much fun college would be, which is ironic because that is the primary reason we're all here. Sure, no one enjoys homework or three hour labs, but it's just something you've got to do. What I honestly never could have guessed would be that in these very classrooms, I would find some of the best people I've ever known, and to these people, I'd like to say thank you.

Thank you for making dull classes fun. Maybe I’m biased, but the people in my major are my favorite. Somehow, we all manage to pay close enough attention to know what's going on, but still finding some reason to laugh throughout the entire lecture. The old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun" didn't apply to school until I was in a classroom filled with some of my best friends. Thank you for helping me study, and occasionally, teaching me what the hell we’re supposed to be doing. Sometimes our professor doesn’t really cut it, or maybe I just skipped a class — both are possible. Thanks for picking up on my slack too, I really do appreciate it. Thank you for always being willing to split homework. “If I do the anatomy, will you do the chem?” “Sure.” Thank you for also letting me copy homework when I forgot it was even assigned in the first place. We both know you’ll need pictures of this week's lab anyway, so we're even! Thank you for standing in 40 degree weather at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday night with me just to get two of our 50 observation hours over with. God knows nothing is going to happen, but just in case, we're there with our pen and paper to catch it all. Speaking of observation hours, thank you for shamelessly walking around campus in your khakis. Personally, I think we rock them.

Thank you for pulling all-nighters whenever there’s an upcoming exam. We’ll all probably fail just because of our lack of sleep, but hey, the effort was there, and there really are few better feelings than going into a test with a confident mindset.

Thank you for dancing around in the empty library with me in efforts to stay awake and reward ourselves for the three hours of nonstop work we just did. There's only two more hours until Dunks opens and we can get our next coffee!

Speaking of coffee, thank you for being as addicted to coffee as I am, and yes I will wait in that 20 minute line with you.

Thank you for waking me up in time for class. There’s a good chance I was trying to sneak in a nap in between observation hours and anatomy, and I wouldn’t have been able to get lunch if you hadn’t woken me up. While we're on the topic of food, thank you for always being down for food, as if we never know when our next meal will come. Thank you for telling me to get my shit together. I probably wouldn’t have started studying for the lab practical until the night before if you hadn’t, let’s be real here. Thank you for being the only people that understand the constant stress I’m under, and thank you for helping to relieve some of it. Without you, I don’t think I’d be able to handle all our classes, hours, and extracurriculars. Thank you for being there for the occasional break down. We have a lot of work, and putting that on top of life outside of school, sometimes we just need a good power cry. Lastly, thank you for giving me a reason to stay at this school. Many of you know how uneasy I was, but I couldn't risk going to another school and not having you all there by my side.

Sitting through the first day of classes was one of the scariest things since being in college, but looking back on it, I feel overwhelmingly grateful that although I hadn't known it at the moment, I was surrounded by some of the best people I've ever met.