With commencement in just a month, the graduating class of 2022 will soon be walking across the stage, and officially start the next chapter of their lives. I am currently a third-year so I’m not quite there yet, but with so many close friends and housemates moving on to enter the “real world”, I’ve found myself looking through my photos that reflect all of the past happenings since starting college.
Already nostalgic for my first and second years of college, I think what I will miss the most about college is the people. I’ll miss being only a three-minute drive away from friends, and I will definitely miss the spontaneous hangouts that would almost always include a late-night drive to McDonalds or Jack-in-the-Box. Being able to meet up with friends on campus even just for an hour in between classes is something I am beginning to realize is unique to the college experience.
I’ve had older people tell me to thoroughly enjoy college because this is the last time where you are not yet held to responsibilities that working adults face, and only now has it begun to hit me that this is so true. While it is a fact that college is often a time where students learn to live on their own and handle life without the immediate support of family, I believe that college is still an intermediary step between adolescence and true adulthood. Sure, you become legal in college, but you’re still a student. The weight of real-world responsibilities hasn’t hit. As I’ve come to learn, there is always time during the week to spend time with friends.
And with so many of my friends graduating and moving out of Davis to pursue their future, I am fearful that I have taken for granted the time and memories I have made with them. This sobering thought has made me really reflect on the time I’ve spent with these people. The friends I have made in my three years here at Davis have seen me at my highest of highs, and also have seen me at my lowest of lows. Through it all, they have been a source of support to help me get through some tough quarters.
With only a month left with these people I’ve gotten to know so well, I want to really enjoy the time I have with them and make the most of it. Soon I will be the one to walk across that graduation stage, and I really do hope that when I look back on the time I spent here in Davis, I will be able to remember all the memories I’ve made. Most of all, I hope I can confidently say that I didn’t take my college experience for granted.