As a second-semester senior at Pitt, I have experienced almost all the highs and lows that come with the college experience. It’s hard to grasp that this semester will mark all the “lasts” that I will have as an undergraduate student. It’s incredibly easy not to miss the last time enrolling for classes, the last time submitting a FAFSA, and the last time you have to do a group project. But the hard parts are the lasts that no one sees coming: the last brunch with your best friends, the last football game, the last time you live five minutes away from the most important people in your life. While I can’t wait to graduate and see what the world has in store for me, it can be incredibly overwhelming to leave something so familiar behind. The changing of the tides in all of our lives means that your best friend could be sitting next to you in a lecture one day and be starting a whole new chapter halfway across the country the next. This change is inevitable, it’s happened to millions before us and it will continue to happen to million after us. The most important thing is making this time count; be present, go to that bar, have school night sleepovers, and do anything you can while you still can. Here are some things that I am trying to do to make my last spring in Oakland and undergrad count!
- BE HAPPY ON THE WEEKENDS
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Life is too short to be miserable, especially on the weekends and especially during the last semester of undergrad. Shameless plug to my last article, “5 Ways to Get Back into School Mode,” make your Monday to Friday afternoons count so that you have your weekends to do whatever you enjoy. This can be ANYTHING you want. It could be a crazy night out or a chill wine night in. Whatever it is make sure it’s what YOU want to do!
- PULL THE SENIOR YEAR CARD
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If your friend won’t come out, be respectful BUT ALSO pull the senior card. My friends and I are invoking a unanimous rule that if someone in the group “pulls the senior card” then you must come unless there’s an emergency that requires you to be elsewhere. This is a great way to keep all your friends together and have fun, no matter the situation. This has already been used on me to go to a local Oakland bar and I can say without a doubt that I am glad I went. This can be used in any situation; dinner plans, going out or even just a movie night with friends. Soak up all the time we have left!
- TAKE AS MANY PICTURES AS YOU CAN
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I’ve had many of my friends tell me that I am the worst for this, but I. Don’t. Care. I am always the person begging for pictures, screaming like a grandma (my grandma in particular) that “pictures are memories frozen in time.” I am screaming this because I am right. No matter how photogenic you look, snap a quick pic! These will be so precious in a couple of years or even a couple of months after graduation. Sometimes the smallest most insignificant moments can be the ones that mean the most down the line.
- Say GOODBYE
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This is the saddest part and no one wants to do it. It sounds so simple, a no-brainer really, but I know plenty of people who graduated last year who said that not saying a proper goodbye was the thing they regretted the most. With people having so many different plans after graduation, it can be hard to keep up with who is staying and who is going. Giving yourself some time to say a proper goodbye is something everyone should plan on, even if it’s not said the exact last time that you plan to see that person. It doesn’t even have to have the word “goodbye” in it. Goodbye means something different to everyone but take to time to make sure that you do it with the people who matter.
To end on a happier note, this spring marks the end of a chapter but also the beginning of a new one as well. Embrace the change and make the last couple of weeks count. Enjoy it, Panthers!