Dear Angelina,
So 2026 isn’t some mythical year anymore (I know we said this about 2018 and 2022 too…but this is it)?
Your college journey saw a 180 in just one year’s time. You faced abrupt, sudden life experiences that most people don’t experience in four years. As you’ve said before in previous letters, you wouldn’t change a thing. Do you still feel that way, now that you’re at the end of college? Beginnings sit waiting after every ending in life, but as of now you’re unprepared for this one. It drives you to insanity at the mere thought of life after West Chester.
Do you still feel that way? Is life scary, or is it scarily beautiful, blooming with opportunity and beautiful chances to start again?
Are you happy? Happy with the degree you earned, the major and coursework you’ve completed, the journalistic works and acts of service you’ve made a legacy out of?
What’s coming next? Are we in Jersey now, or staying in West Chester, maybe? I know you still have big plans in store to move away, depending on what’s open to you. How close is that possibility? Are we content with where we are headed, and content with what we’ve accomplished in undergrad?
Ok but like, enough about school. What about your roommates? Are we even closer than before, did we make more memories between going out, traveling or doing cutesy seasonal things? Did we make any new friends, or grow even closer to old ones?
You’ll roll your eyes at this down the line, but right now, on September 19, 2025 this is all very overwhelming to even type out as I sit in your favorite Starbucks (yes, the one with the stones that definitely used to be a bank). I can’t imagine the overwhelming sense of relief you must feel now, though.
It was only three and a half years ago that you were a little 18-year-old moving 175 miles from home, away from family for the first time, crying in the bathroom stall when your mom, dad and uncle left for Jersey. Can you remember, though, how you made the best of your situation? Sure, your major wasn’t offered at Gettysburg, so you extemporaneously jumped into the Gettysburgian Newspaper and Her Campus within the same week, simultaneously joining the College Democrats chapter. In a matter of some months, you earned staff writer credentials at the newspaper with a prospective E-Board position had you stayed, Pinterest Director and Associate Editor at Her Campus at Gettysburg, and Diversity and Inclusion Liaison at the College Dems.
There were more trials and tribulations than happy memories. We realized in good time that the tough times shaped the person you became. Plus, you still talk to Abby every single day in some form or another. No one knows that chapter of your life better than she does. Thank you, Abby, for freshman year.
Sophomore year didn’t have the pause button you thought you needed. It didn’t wait to begin until you were in a stable position to do so. But you healed your first heartbreak by immersing yourself in everything that spoke to you at West Chester. And in return, you saved yourself. West Chester saved you. This was the tipping point in life where everything as you knew it completely and rapidly changed. New school, new friends, clubs, more leadership roles, classes, major and minor (finally journalism!!!), Greek life, and a relationship…(maybe new hair and a navel piercing too). I don’t know how you did it. I recall your family whispering to one another that they weren’t sure how you’d manage it either, given all that was happening less than two weeks prior to the big and sudden transfer. You persevered, anyway. And it was the best decision you could have made for yourself (thank you to bathroom epiphanies).
Junior year was full of painful lessons. It was also full of brand new adventures and same-old, focusing on existing friendships and forging brand new and beautiful ones. You traveled to the southwest for the first time, twice even in a matter of a couple months. Izzy came to your fall formal, you went to Santa Fe together for spring break, a few weeks later you weekend-tripped to D.C. to visit her at American, and then flew back to Santa Fe for her birthday in July. So sure, the fall of 2024 and beginning of junior year was off to a horrific start. It was impossible to say what possibly could’ve come next. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t include that the following semester was one of peace and reprioritization.
You began your senior year four weeks ago. Time has sort of dragged, and you’ve been telling yourself you’re grateful for that. In fact we’re currently hoping it drags slower. Each year prior I wished the time away, praying the days would melt into months. Things are different now, I’m praying to a god I haven’t believed in since middle school graduation that time will slow down. I’m where I’m meant to be and nothing has ever felt more right for me. However, I feel like I am in a weird, limbo transitional phase that I can only imagine you’re going through right now, times a thousand (so don’t hate me for saying that lol).
I’m counting on you that you have made the most of this year. Sure, “that’s what they all say” but deadass — making a note to myself this moment to create a “before senior year is over list” so that you’re not pissed at me on graduation day. Though the academic, work, and social life balance ramped up quickly, it’s crucial to divvy up your time to still have a meaningful focus on each life category. That said, I’m going to map out little “notes to self” in my planner as mini reminders to supplement study time with social time, allowing the hours to balance one another out. This won’t be secluded to college life, though — bear this in mind for the REST of your life!
I am so happy for you, so proud of you, and all of the pain came back to you in the form of a reward — the reward being a testament to continue pushing forward during all of those hard times where you didn’t know if you’d see the end of the week.
You saw it out until the end of your degree. And truly there could’ve been a dozen times you could’ve thrown in the towel and said I give up. You didn’t, anyway.
I will always be proud of the messy, experimental, trivial but significant experience that your college adventure was.
Here’s to more of the same, but opportunities and adventures abound.
Happy Trails, and congratulations from your former self. <3
Yours truly,
Angelina
— September of Senior Year