My last first week of school starts this week. It feels weird to say that. To say that the last three years have been amazing would be an absolute understatement. I thought that time would drag on slowly and painfully, but here I am on my last first week of school, and it's bittersweet.

When I started college what seems like ages ago, I had a plan in mind for my future. I had a career set, class plan in place, and a massive level of confidence. I wasn't scared because I knew what I wanted to do and how I would carry that plan out. It was me against the world! But oh how times have changed because as everyone on this crazy planet knows, life rarely goes just how it was planned. Money disappears, interests change, people come and go, and dreams sometimes get crushed. We experience highs and lows, but we keep pushing through because our future is never something worth giving up on.

There have certainly been days when I have wanted to quit, like the time when I totaled two cars in less than a year and subsequently ran out of money. Or when our football team sucked. Or even better, when I switched majors three times in a semester. THREE times; what the heck was I thinking? My future has done a complete 180 from my original and "unstoppable" plan, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The lessons I have learned along the way have shaped who I am and who I aspire to be.

The good days, of course, have far exceeded the difficult ones. I've actually cried a lot less than I thought I would - yes!!! The day I finished community college and received my official acceptance letter to the university of my dreams. The time my advisor called to inform me that I was receiving an extra seven thousand dollar grant towards tuition. The time my sister sent me a care package filled with food and snacks that I usually wouldn't buy because anything other than pasta is overpriced. The day I found out that I got a 4.0 in the hardest class I've ever taken. Blessings on blessings on blessings.

So now begins my final year. One last first day of class. One last welcome week. One more housing move (hopefully!). One more season of student section tickets, tailgating, and post-game consolation drinks at Los Tres Amigos. I plan to fully embrace this last year of college. I'm going to make more memories than last year, cheer louder than ever from the front row of the football stadium, and pursue my future to the best of my ability.

(I'm also probably going to cry a lot because, seriously, wow, I love college and my friends and everything, and okay I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it so I should really stop writing now.)

Senior year, this is it! LET IT BEGIN.