You’ve heard it a million times and you’re about to hear it again: enjoy your senior year because time flies by! You may feel like you’ve just started your senior year but in case you haven’t realized, you only have about three months left. Hold on to those memories. You will be overcome with feelings you didn’t even know were possible.

You’ll feel happy. You’ll begin to imagine life outside of high school. From experience, I can attest that college is way cooler than having to get up every day at the crack of dawn for an eight-hour day with no possibility of naps. In college, naps are readily available so let that little fact carry you on until the end of senior year.

You’ll feel overwhelmed. Suddenly, you begin to question whether or not the colleges you applied to are good choices and you’ll want to just quit then and there, but don’t because I promise it gets better!

On top of being overwhelmed you’ll feel stressed. Maybe you’re standardized test scores aren't the best you think you could do, or maybe you stepped in a giant mud puddle and feel like it’s a sign from God telling you to stay home and ponder on how to make money without a higher education. Let me tell you, that’s not a sign from God because every day is what you make of it and you can choose for your experiences to make you better or make you bitter, so you decide.

You’ll feel sad. You are going to realize at some point how good you have it at home and when you visit home from college you’ll never want to leave. You’ll miss having your comfy mattress to sleep in and a decent size closet. You’ll want to get away from the thirty fire alarms a day from the freshman dorms and the rather unappetizing cafeteria food, but never forget that in the end it’s only temporary.

Lastly, you’ll feel free. It’ll be the little things that make you feel as if you have the independence you’ve never felt you had. Yes, you will miss having your mom’s cooking, your dad’s teasing, and picking on your younger sibling but college grants you with so many wonderful experiences and opportunities. You’ll meet new friends who become your life-line during exam week, who will make sure you get enough sunlight, who make sure you have food in your system at the early hours of the morning, and who will motivate you to excel in your academics. You won’t have a curfew, although being back in your dorm by eleven isn’t a bad idea (because we all know the freaks come out at night), you won’t have to do laundry for your whole family, or wash dishes constantly (but do try to maintain your dorm room clean to avoid any fights with your roommate). You’ll feel as if you’re living a whole other life. With that being said, don’t forget about your family back home.

Remember, the phone works both ways and technology is ah-ma-zing because we literally have everything at our fingertips so NO EXCUSES! Call mom, dad, sister/brother, grandparents, friends because I guarantee they will want to know how their “favorite college student” is doing. Face-Time and Snapchat to your little heart’s content because there is no greater feeling than seeing your cats and dogs even though you are what seems like a million miles away. Hold on to as many high school friends as you can, and if they matter now, they will most definitely matter twenty years from now. Make sure you absolutely make time for them even if life takes you separate ways. Remember to have fun, to try something new every day, and to eat your veggies: you’ll thank yourself for it later.