As the academic year comes to a close, it’s dawning on me that I only have one year of college left before I officially become a UC Berkeley alumna. The time has flown by, and it often feels as though I’m still a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman and not a junior who’s pretending the graduation year in her Instagram isn’t a year away. However, I’m realizing that acting like my time as a student at Berkeley isn’t coming to an end is probably not as beneficial to me as it is to reflect on my time here while simultaneously looking forward to what the future might hold for me.
Pre-university life, I didn’t believe it when the adults in my life told me college would be the best years of my life. Surely it was a little sad that people felt that way, that nothing that had come after for them was better than a period of four years at some school. At least, that’s what I thought until I stepped onto the Berkeley campus and realized all those people may well have been right.
Within my first semester as a Cal student, I made friends with people who would go on to be my tightest connections and future roommates for the remainder of my time at this school. I took classes that only fueled my passion for my selected field, learning topics I’d dreamed of being taught, with professors doing research I’d always admired.
In my sophomore year, I began working a job that would become one of my favorite parts of being a student on this campus. I was trained as a campus ambassador and taught to give tours to prospective students, families, and other visitors. It was an outlet to express my love for UC Berkeley to others, and I hoped it inspired them to apply or attend this school. I moved into my first apartment with my best friends, which has been one of the greatest experiences of my life thus far. I took classes that pushed my knowledge deeper, exposing me to a wider range of topics, pathways, and research. I joined clubs and tried new hobbies that forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new, showing me there was so much more out there than what I thought I knew and loved.
And in my junior year, on my third Cal Day, it hit me as I finished up my last tour of the day just how much I have loved my college years (forgive me for talking about them as if they’re already long gone; I have a tendency for nostalgia). I’ve built such a strong community full of so many different, invigorating individuals, and I truly believe that my freshman-year self wouldn’t recognize me today if we met — and I mean that in a good way, of course. As I always tell my tours when our time is up, being challenged and forced to grow by your college experience means it’s doing its job.
“As I always tell my tours when our time is up, being challenged and forced to grow by your college experience means it’s doing its job.”
Iman Judge
So, as my penultimate year of university comes to an end, it’s bittersweet with the impending arrival of my final year as a student on this campus. But rather than spending my time wishing the time would slow down, I’m allowing myself to look back fondly on the years here that have passed and look forward to that last year that’s to come. I’ve learned that these years truly are some of the best of my life, but I know that it’s just one of many chapters that make up the story of my life. I’ll always remember this chapter, but now I’m so looking forward to what’s next.