Nothing describes the word 'bittersweet' more than your senior year of college. It’s a year filled with so much fun, yet so much sadness because soon you will be off on your own in the real world. Well, most of us. (Shout out to all you fifth years, I hate you).
Senior year is known as the year of “lasts”. Last exchanges, last game day’s as students, last times “getting sick” after going out then proceeding to order three pizzas only to fall asleep before they arrive. Even though it is our last time to do these things, I feel as though most seniors don’t let the fear of graduating get in the way of having fun.
That brings me to freshman year. I’m sure we all can agree that freshman year was a blast. College was new and exciting (until you failed your first test), you were meeting new people, and you finally, after 18 years, got to be independent and do things on your own.
While freshman year was great and all, personally, I feel as though senior year (so far) may just top it. I have never felt more like a freshman than I do now. Seniors don’t play around. We take advantage of every opportunity to have fun that we can. Freshman year, the motto was “YOLO” when it came to stuff because we were freshman and felt as though we could get away with just about anything. That is not much different than senior year. We say “YOLO” because we are about to graduate so who cares what we say or do? Think about it, how many times have your friends asked you to go out even though you should probably study and you said yes anyway? You know why you said yes? Because YOLO.
Another reason senior year is basically freshman year is because we are so obsessed with our friends. Freshman year meeting new people was great. Pre-games consisted of a lot of smiling/giddy faces, Taaka, compliments, loud rap music that no one knew the words to, and photos taken strictly for Instagram.
By senior year, you officially have your crew. You know you have a crew when you do literally everything with these 10-15 people and have a GroupMe with someone from the crew’s last embarrassing drunk pic as the Avatar. Just like you were obsessed with those 30+ “friends” you made when you first joined college, you are even more obsessed with the close few you have chosen to be your life-long friends. It’s an unspoken rule to not talk about graduating because that just brings about unnecessary sadness. But, it is a spoken rule to literally do as much as you can together. One does not do something without the other. College isn’t about guys. It’s about friends. I think senior year we finally realize that. That cute guy who never texted you will always just be that cute guy who never texted you. But the friends who are there for you in both good times and bad will always be the friends who are there for you in both good times and bad.
With this all being said, we tend to obsess more about hanging out with friends our senior year because we know that these are the girls that will be (hopefully) standing next to you as bridesmaids on your wedding day. Well, most will be standing. We all have that one friend that sometimes gets a little too “turnt” at inappropriate times. You know who you are.
Yes, the thought of graduating sucks. But, I think we are doing senior year right. Screw the “year of lasts” and embrace the fact that college has been great and enjoy every moment you have left. Yes, we aren’t freshman anymore, but we are some bomb seniors. Besides, freshman have to deal with the “Freshman 15”. And we’re seniors, so we ain’t got no time for that.
