I am a senior in college this year. This means that I have about nine and a half months until I am done with my undergraduate degree. Nine months until I walk the stage in an atrociously ugly cap and gown in front of everyone I love the most and proclaim that I actually did it: I survived college and have a degree to show for it. There are few things that excite me more than knowing I’m almost done--that this year is going to fly by, and that I will never have to take another undergrad class in my life.
But there are a few things that make me sadder than knowing I’m almost done--that this year is going to fly by, and that I will never have to take another undergrad class in my life.
As much as college, for me, has been an outrageously upsetting and difficult journey at times, I’m not sure that I’m ready for it to be over. Some of the most wonderful, supportive, and loving people I’ve ever known are ones that I’ve met in college. I am a firm believer that you can pick a family for yourself--ones that always love you, no matter who you are, and not just because you share DNA. These people are the ones I want to be with when I want to have fun, cry, or need support. But graduating means that there is a very good chance that we will never all be in the same place at on time again. It has never felt as real to me as it does now.
It’s the third week of school and we are already finishing milestones: last undergrad apartments, last Fall Fest, last home opener football game, last Labor Day weekends together. And they’re just going to keep on coming. Every year, school flying by is exciting for me. One year closer to getting my diploma and not worrying about gen eds ever again. But not this time.
All I keep thinking about are all the things I only get to do one more time: “family” dinner at Thanksgiving, celebrating our birthdays, syllabus week, spring break, Spring Fest. I’m going to miss my family. I’m going to miss what my life is now more than I can probably understand yet.
But soon, I’m going to be able to do anything I want to do. There is literally nothing standing in my way. I can apply for whatever job I want, move anywhere I want, travel the world or drive across the country on the world’s coolest road trip. I can spend a year flipping burgers at a fast food joint or join the Peace Corps or backpack across Europe.
While I am going to miss my life now, my friends, my school, and college life, there is nothing as wonderful and terrifying as knowing that I can do whatever sounds like a good fit for me. Like most people, my life has been planned: I was to go to college right after high school. But now, there’s no more paved path for my life. I get to pick whatever road I want and make my way there. And that’s amazing.
