East Halls, you will (probably) be missed (kind of).
One minute we’re happy to be moving up and out of our role as freshmen, and sixty seconds later we’re wishing we could do it all over again. Freshman year is virtually over and everything that most of us have been planning out for forever has really only lead us up to right now. Sure we have a few weeks and three years left of college, but if the rest goes by at the same rate that this year has, in the time that it takes me to walk to class tomorrow we’ll all be somewhere deep in grad school.
It feels like we’ve all just grown accustomed to meal points and dining halls, and honestly if I never see another salad bar in my life, I’d be more than okay with it. We’ve just gotten used to the ups and downs of what it’s like living day and night with a floor of equally emotional and stressed teenagers, and have all learned about the power of aggressiveness on laundry day as well as just how necessary shower shoes are. We’ve made it through one finals weeks alive —barely. We mastered 9 a.m. classes and 5 p.m. naps, and have already thrown back enough coffee to keep us all running for years.
So now that this first crazy milestone in our lives is almost over, what’s the next move? And more importantly, how are any of us mentally prepared enough to make that next move, when only a few months ago we were concerned only with making it this far? From here on out, it all feels like business. Classes that lead to degrees, internships that lead to jobs, the rest of this college career that leads to real life.
Not saying that all of this isn’t real life, but I’m almost positive I won’t be able to pay off my loans in LionCash. My opinion isn’t anywhere near professional, but if this past year has taught me anything, it’s that all of us should be taking our time left as freshmen, and even as students as a whole, one moment at a time. We have all our lives to be professional, grown adults, so now while we have all this time left, we shouldn’t be too worried about it. Everything happens for a reason, we’ll all be fine, it’ll all work out in the exact way that it’s supposed to; so when it comes to our futures we should all be completely invested, but never overwhelmingly stressed.
Like I said, we have three whole years left as college students, and then some. Sure, everything from here on out might be more real and inherently scary, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we got this. And even though it’s unreal how fast this year went by, if the rest of our time spent in college is anything like this first year, then we’re all in for countless days of life-long, crazy friendships, some inevitable all-nighters, and overall some truly amazing experiences in this truly amazing time of our lives. And let’s be real, if we can make it through a year in East Halls, we can make it through anything.
