"You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does..."
feeling a host of mixed emotions--pride that i have gotten this far, and anxiety about what is to come, but mostly a tremendous sadness that i will soon have to say goodbye to the best four years of my life, and to the people and place that have come to mean so much to me.
me on my very first day of college! the blonde was a poor life choice.
i can remember my very first day of classes like it was yesterday. i owre a bright yellow dress and a gold headband in my hair. i threw up before my first class, which in college terms would generally be the result of alcohol consumption, but in my case was just a touch of nerves. (i swear, i didn't even go out the night before class!)
college has been hard. my freshman year especially. but these past four years, i have found myself, and as cliche as that sounds, i truly mean it. that wide-eyed, hopeful freshman is still in here somewhere, but she has been mostly replaced by a strong, confident woman who has come into her own. i have endured painful heartbreak these past 3.5 years, but i have learned from every single minute. i am insanely grateful for the opportunities that berkeley has afforded me, and i cannot imagine having gone to college anywhere else. this is the place i belong.
my graduation is four months from yesterday. i know these four months will fly by, but i am making a conscious effort to enjoy every last minute. i am going to embody that tom petty quote above. college has been so good to me, and i want to make sure it knows how much i've appreciated it.
today is not only my last first day of classes, it is also my best friend kate's 22nd birthday! or, as we are calling all our birthdays this year, it's the first anniversary of her 21st birthday. we will be celebrating in our usual tuesday style tonight (taco tuesday, then kip's) and i cannot think of a better group of people to be spending the night with.
happy birthday kate!
