“High school will be the best four years of your life”. We are told this our entire lives. When we are young we look forward to high school for years. We see this portrayal of what high school is like from movies and TV shows and can’t wait to experience it for ourselves.

Then finally we do get to experience it for ourselves. I loved high school. Don’t get me wrong, like everyone else there were definitely parts of it I hated. I hated the forced friendships and unnecessary drama. I hated that everyone knew your business and people thrived off spreading rumors and gossip. We discover for ourselves that it’s not how we expect it to be. People can be mean and nasty. You are probably never going to go to a wild party like the ones in movies. You actually do have classes and don’t just spend the whole day talking to friends during passing period (crazy, right?).

Other than the obvious things we all hated about high school, I still enjoyed it. Things were easy. We could see our best friends every day and we only lived 5 minutes away from each other. Our parents cooked us dinner (most) nights. Classes were easy (for the most part). We got to go to football games and cheer for our friends and get all dressed up and go to school dances. By the time graduation came around, part of me was sad to be leaving. I was going to miss my friends and family and the comfort of my hometown. I was going to miss Friday night football and Saturday night sleepovers with my girlfriends. I was going to miss how close I was with my teachers that I had been with for the past four years. I was excited for college but I knew I was going to miss the simplicity and ease of high school.

I am now one semester into my first year of college and I am happy to say that I already know high school was not the best four years of my life. I have already experienced so much more in four months than I ever did in four years. I have met more people and made more genuine, close friendships. I’ve learned so much more about myself and others (including people who I thought I knew everything about in high school). I’ve grown more as a person and become more mature and independent.

Yeah, college is not easy. Classes are harder, schedules are busy, and you must do everything for yourself. Your mom isn’t living down the hall to make sure you wake up for class and have dinner ready for you when you get home. But the fact that it is a challenge is what makes it so much better. I thought I was going to miss high school but I don’t. I still liked it and I appreciate the fun times I had with my lifelong friends, but I wouldn’t ever want to do it all over again. I am already sad about how fast this first semester went by because I know these next four years are going to fly. I want to appreciate every second of it because I love it here. I love living with my best friend. I love having freedom. I love meeting new people every day and never being forced to see the same people all the time. I love not feeling the need to be fake friends with someone who I don’t like all that much. I love being able to take naps whenever/wherever I please and go to class looking like a hobo without the fear of being judged.

Most importantly, I love the person I am becoming. I am so excited for my future and where it is already taking me. I want to soak in every second of the whole experience. I am so happy that I am no longer trapped in the same place doing the same monotonous routine every day. Yeah high school was fun, but I will never consider it “the best four years of my life”.