Being a senior, there are many things that are really getting to me, considering that it is already November. First of all, Halloween is over which is a horrible feeling every year, but knowing that college Halloween is over really twists the knife. Secondly, football season is almost over, which really blows because yeah, okay, I can attend the games as an alumni (ugh gross) but I'll have to sit in the non-student section (even worse). But thirdly, and the most awful of all is that we're inching closer and closer to next semester, which is just a walk away from graduation.

Now, as much as it pains me to say the G word, and I'm sorry to all my fellow seniors in advance, the reality is that we are just but months away from leaving behind the most special place ever. No one ever says they want to graduate. Why would they? With a combination of cheap greasy food, friends and freedom, what's not to love?

The truth is, it's not that I don't want to leave.. I'm too scared to.

For our whole lives, we have always known the next step. Whether it be middle school, elementary or junior high, we always knew where we were going to go next. To an extent, even college, though it was risky and we really didn't know where we were going to end up, we all knew that in one way or another, we would end up at a college. But now we face the unknown.

I mean, there's always the plan. The ideal to graduate with a job offer in hand, an apartment in the city or an acceptance to a top tier law or medical school. That would be the next logical step for us all to take, right? But here's the thing: chances are, that's not going to happen. What's more likely is that we move back home, get a job at the mall and save up money until we figure out what we can do to start our lives.

It's so weird to think that up until now, we have been in a safety net. Sure, we might've paid for school ourselves, have had a couple of jobs, maybe even some internships. But really, what do we know about the real world?

Maybe what we've seen in the movies and on TV isn't actually the reality out there. And what is even scarier about it all is, we haven't even got a clue.

I'm scared that I'm going to get out there, to have my hopes and dreams of what I can do in life be completely crushed.

I might be being absurd, melodramatic or completely pessimistic. But is it really that far from the truth? No one knows what life is going to throw at us. But at least in college, and every year before that, most of us were lucky enough to have some sort of safety net.

Well what about now? The net's gone and we might not have anything to fall back on.

That's really why I'm scared, why I don't want to graduate.

College hasn't been just four years, but moments of laughter, anxiety, curiosity and growth. In one way or another, I guess college has prepared us for the real world in terms of theory. But what's going to happen if the practical falls through?

Going into the last stretch of the semester, I think it's important to savor the safety of college life and the freedom we have to go through life without the responsibilities and burdens of the real world. In a blink of an eye, college will be a distant memory that we always reminisce after. Whatever life is going to throw at us, it's important to realize what we have to throw right back at it.

Somehow, we are all going to be successful, no matter when, no matter how long it may take. We will all face the unknown, together.