Senior Year Thoughts

It's funny how being a senior in college is different, for most people, than it is in high school. As you approach high school graduation, all you want to do is go to college, if that's where you are heading. There are new people to meet, dorm room things to buy, and a whole new world to explore. Even if you're not going to college, you probably wanted to get the heck out of high school. Graduating from college is the opposite - people don't want to leave. The real world awaits, and with that comes scary things like rent and putting on our grown up pants.

I'm on the fence. Part of me wants to stay, but a bigger part of me wants to leave. I'm going to list the reasons here, for my own sanity and for inquiring minds...

Reasons I want to stay in college:

-See friends all the time (single thing I will miss the most, by the way. I'm already having this happen with Julie, who graduated in May, and I don't like it one bit).

-Live in my own little single room and do whatever I want

-Chinese food and Italian nights, late night movies, TV marathons with friends

-Biking around campus is the best.

-I love my professors and I still love going to class, as long as it's a good one (not looking forward to statistics and economics though). I love school :)

-Student discounts

-Being on campus in the fall = heaven. Everyone is out and about, and everything is so pretty, and it really calms me.

-The free gym on campus!

-No huge bills to pay

-I know what I'm doing/where everything is now like the back of my hand, and it's comforting. So, comfort level.

Reasons I want to get the heck out of college:

-I want to teach. Plain and simple. I'm impatient.

-No more dorm life. I'm a little sick of being a nomad, and of drunk people, and of freezing my butt off 24/7.

-I'm getting married and I want to live with the man I've been dating for five years! Again, plain and simple.

-NO MORE HOMEWORK :) I would trade writing papers for grading papers any day.

-I will finally be able to sew all I want with my machine, and start my etsy business (with the current busy schedule I have with school, there is no way this can happen).

So you can see why the reasons why I want to graduate reign supreme. I think. They are bigger things. Things I've been waiting for.

But I'm definitely going to enjoy this semester. I'll be taking the usual 4 classes, one of which is for my senior honors thesis on Holocaust memorials (I'm sure I will be posting about this soon). I'm looking forward to accomplishing such a thing as a 50+ page paper, written all by me. It's daunting but exciting. I'm living with Kristina again, which will be totally awesome, and we're going to start marathoning How I Met Your Mother, like we did for Friends in the past (we watched all 10 seasons in a year and a half and it was a blast). I'm living on campus for one semester, not two, so if I get frustrated with everything, I can just look forward to the spring, when I'll be living at home, sewing, student teaching, seeing my family and Mike, babysitting, and basically living in the real world. So, I have a lot to look forward to this year in general.

However, I still can't believe I'm a senior. Freshman year was the fastest year ever, even though it was definitely the most frustrating. Perhaps it's a good thing I don't remember too much :) Getting used to a new place, being away from everything/one I loved, doing college work, working too, having a horrible roommate situation... I remember being sick more in the four months of the fall semester of that year than I ever have before. Sophomore year flew too, but it was definitely my favorite year. Junior year got more busy and difficult than I thought it ever could, but I knew my professors so well and I could finally write a really good history paper. Practice really pays off. I also got to teach my own two week unit in a real high school - so, I had my introduction to teaching, and to say I liked it would be an understatement. Plus, by second semester of sophomore year, I knew who my friends were for sure, and it just got better from there.

I remember going to freshman orientation. I remember so much of it. Am I really about to be a senior? Is this real life?

(skip to .17 seconds)

Yes. Yes. I am. Gulp.

-Jess