When I walked into my dorm room on the first day of college, I let out the biggest sigh and mumbled, “this is going to be a long year.” Ten months in this small little dorm room, forget it. I didn’t know how I would possibly be able to make it out alive after my first year of college. I constantly thought to myself, the days are going to go by so slow and this is definitely going to be the longest year of my life.

Now, let’s fast forward ten months as there are just weeks left of my freshman year. The year turned into just months, and the months then turned into a lot of weeks and now a lot of weeks turned into just a few. Before I know it, the few weeks I have left will simply turn into days. And, I’ll blink. It’ll all be over.

Honestly, after first semester of this year, I wanted nothing more than to stay home. I just didn’t want to go back at all. But, like anyone would, I sucked it up and reluctantly traveled back to college against my will. I was constantly thinking, just five more months until summer, just five more months until I can be happy again. But, quite frankly, I hated the fact that I had this perpetual countdown in my head. I didn’t want to wish for summer, I wanted to love college; honestly, more than anything. And when it wasn’t all that I had expected, I was heartbroken.

So, I came back after winter break and pitied myself for about a week or two. But, I quickly decided to change my perspective on everything. I realized that the year was almost over. I realized that I shouldn’t wish for days to go by fast and, instead, I should wish for them to be as long as possible. I shouldn’t sleep until noon every day counting down the hours until the end of it, I should wake up early, be productive, and appreciate every single day. Because, like I’m so often told, college goes by so fast.

I was always in denial about this but, as a matter of fact, college goes by so fast. The five months that I was so hardly wishing to go by fast, are now basically over. And, quite frankly, I couldn’t be more upset.

The second I changed my perspective on my college experience was the second everything started to look up instead of down. Everything changed in that second and I became so much happier because of it. I feel as if the days go by too fast, and all I want is for them to slow down.

I love being a freshman. Being the youngest, being the babies, nothing could be better. I have made all of my stupid mistakes this year because I can always blame it on the fact that I just don’t know (even when I do). Living in a dorm room has been quite the experience.

Between the communal bathrooms and the four flights of stairs I had to walk up and down every day, I wouldn’t have asked for any other way to spend my first year of college. Overall, I just really didn’t expect the second semester to go by as fast as it did.

Maybe it’s because I so badly wished for it to go by as fast and painlessly as it could, or maybe it’s because I have made the best of these last five months. The bottom line is, I know I will never wish college away again because I don’t have an endless supply of years here. After these five or so weeks left, I only have three more years here. The thought of that scares me so much.

So, as my freshman year of college is coming to an end, I am making a promise to myself to make these last five weeks last as much as they possibly can. As I have seen firsthand, the second you start to wish something away, the second you are wishing for it all back.