As a Physical Therapy student I’ve never had the traditional college experience. I’ve always taken more credits than most of my friends, spent endless hours in lab, and pushed myself a little bit harder just to keep up. The biggest challenge I have faced in the past three and a half years is the fact that my undergrad career ends a semester earlier than the rest of my friends. While I had a semester of finally getting to feel like a “typical” college student, the majority of my friends were worrying about grad school applications, getting good grades to boost their GPAs and worrying about what they were going to do when they enter the real world in May. This has been one of the best semesters of all my time at QU and I have a week left to make the most of it. I can honestly say that I would not change a minute of what I have experienced the past three years, and I love the challenges and triumphs I have encountered.
Having most of my work behind me I am given the chance to make the most of my last week here as an undergrad before my life as a PT student regains its craziness and taking over my life. I have always had the motto of never wanting to wonder “what if” and I fully intend on living that this next week. I don’t ever want to look back and wonder what might have happened if I had decided to do something I questioned or if I went on that spontaneous adventure with my friends. My academics have always been my priority and I am proud of how far I have come in three years, but this week is about more than that. It’s about appreciating the friendships that school has given me and making sure everyone knows how much they mean to me. School is always going to be there and there are always going to be things that get in the way of spending time with friends, but taking this last week as an undergrad to fully appreciate what it has given me is the most important thing to me. I want to make sure I can see my friends before we spend 6 weeks apart and get those last memories that when I look back I’ll remember those minutes, rather than the ones that I got an 86 instead of a 90 on a test.
People are constantly reminding me that although I am done undergrad nothing will change and I am still a QU student for the next two years. I know this is true, but I also know my life will be altered by this entrance to grad school. I will now have to make sure I put school first and that will mean making decisions about when I can spend time with friends and when I need to study even though I might not want to. Yes I am at QU for the next two years and many of my friends will be leaving after this semester, but there is something different about knowing that when I come back in January the expectations will be different and I will have a different hat to wear as a grad student.
Looking back on the past three years I have found that I have had some of the best experiences of my life and also made the friends that I know will be at my wedding, some of them even as my bridesmaids. This week is bittersweet because I know that my undergrad career may be over, but I am still a QU student and able to get the most out of my experience here for another two years as a grad student. This transition will not be an easy one, but I know that from my friendships here I will be able to be successful in my academics and still make the most of my social life and have the same crazy adventures with my friends that I do now.
In this last week I hope to spend my free time with my friends, making the most of our few days left. This is the point in the semester where we start to look back on the past few weeks and laugh at the craziness that happened. I am so grateful for all the friends that I have made in the past three years. They have given me the support and encouragement I needed when I thought my dreams were hopeless. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like had I decided to go to a school besides QU and I know that I would not be the person I am today.
During this last week I hope to find the laughs that have yet to be had, the nights that will turn into timeless memories and the motivation to finish a successful academic semester. I also hope to find the strength to know that I can do anything I put my mind to, and that when I come back in January, grad school will not seem as intimidating as it is today. I’ve found a lot of things this semester, but the most important thing that I’ve found is that life is a lot more bearable with a positive attitude and when I believe in myself, no one can stop me.
A good friend once told me “every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end”. Quoting Semisonic’s “Closing Time” might seem silly, but it is so true. We can never fully move on and appreciate the next new experience we are going to have if we cannot close the chapter that happened before it. So as I sit here trying to plan out my remaining days of the semester, I know I need to do it in a way that will end my undergrad career on a high note so that I can come back in January ready to tackle grad school.