It’s so strange to be less than a month away from 22. It couldn’t have been three years ago that I was loading elevators full of too many pillows for a twin size bed and a shoebox dorm room. Yet, tomorrow I get scores back that will determine graduate school, and last month I stood beside sisters in my sorority, all beneath one roof, for one of the very last times. I snapped my fingers and suddenly I was a full-blown adult without fully registering what that even entails.
I sit and reminisce on the friendships I have cultivated since coming to KU and think of the inevitable heartache I will be feeling months from now when those same friends disperse coast to coast to begin the rest of their lives. I am so proud of each one. I am so proud they have chosen me to be a part of their stories, and I sit back in awe as dreams we talked about in passing our sophomore year begin to become reality. I wish these years were like a VCR tape, one which I could simply rewind and start again.
Before your freshman year you are told a plethora of lies, such as late work won’t ever be accepted—in my opinion, professors can be some of the most flexible, easy-going people I’ve met. Or, that college will be infinitely harder than high school. Personally, I had never heard of an “open-note-open-book” test until I arrived at the university. Now, I don’t want to be mistaken—these past three years have challenged me in ways I never anticipated, but in ways that come with time and with growth. In ways that are practically unavoidable. There will be difficult professors and classes you’d rather change your major than take, but you will find an overwhelmingly positive difference from the education you’ve always known.
There is a token line every parent, teacher, person-who-is-older-and-wiser, etc. sends you off with before you start your first independent journey into adulthood that is not false:
“Enjoy every minute. Time flies by so fast.”
It’s not until you’re in the beginning of the end that you look back and wish you had enjoyed the times of freedom and carelessness just a little bit more. Finances begin to look a lot different between 18 and 22, and student loans you thought you had centuries to pay off are looking more like half of next year’s paychecks. Friendships come and go, and some of the strongest might be those who you are only able to see once or twice a month. The transition from zero privacy in communal bathrooms and shared living spaces to more alone time than your brain knows what to do with happens faster than you can register. These natural changes take place gradually in ways that you don’t notice, but suddenly you have more responsibilities than hobbies. Life is still good, just in different ways now.
My intentions this year are to collect as many memories as I can possibly hold in two hands and to never miss out on quality time with friends—especially those who will be thousands of miles away soon. I promise to laugh it off when I have to run up two flights of stairs to make it to class on time, or when I have to lose a few hours of sleep to study. I can feel my youth starting to close in on me, so I will smile knowing my body and brain are able to fight off the fatigue to pursue something I am passionate about. I am incredibly blessed with the time I have spent at the University of Kansas and I am just pleading with the years to slow down, so I can fall in love with being a Jayhawk for just a little bit longer. For now, it’s cheers to senior year: a year of growth, success, opportunity and happiness!
Now and forever … ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!
