End-of-Year Column: Freshman looks toward next three years of college

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Created on Tuesday, 08 May 2012 14:35

LIZZIE MCCREARY

As the year is winding down and my stress levels are ever rising up, I have begun to realize that so quickly my freshman year has diminished.

Didn't I just move into East Hall? Did I not just attend the fall workshops to become a part of The Appalachian's staff, an intimidated freshman stepping into unknown territory? Yet I do recognize the time lapse, and for that, I bid you adieu, freshman year.

With my adieu, I am not just saying goodbye, but hello as well. Hello to another exhilarating year of new experiences, mistakes, and  more hard-earned college credits. Hello to a new position on the newspaper, where there is so much more to mess up than I think I can comprehend (which, by the way, I don't plan on doing).

I don't really think there is any new way to explain how one leaps from one year to the next. But I feel like it is once a person realizes how much more they have gained in one year, that they allow themselves to both mentally and spiritually move on to a new one.

Sophomore. Better than freshman year? Honestly, if I could go back and live it again, I would. I would probably make the same choices and wind up with the same consequences. But now that it's wrapping up, I'm definitely anxious to return next fall as the same poorly dressed, hardly-bathed person I was this semester. I am excited to continue to try new things and explore new places.

As part of The Appalachian, I am ready to take on the next set of daunting tasks handed my way, and I am going to do my damned best at it. For those on my desk next year – good luck, and I hope you're prepared for this. This will be fun.

So, as I've said in the cheesiest way possible, I've got this year under my belt and I'm more than ready to secure another three. Looking back, my freshman year of high school was the absolute worst and most awkward year of my life. Yet come senior year, I was a diamond in the rough. If I can pull that off in a matter of four years, what can I do with the next three ahead of me?

See you later, freshman year. It was nice knowing you.