last first week of school

The beginning of the end.

Senior year.
Three years later, we're here.

I'm still in quite a bit of disbelief that I can even now classify and identify myself as a senior. Honestly where did it all go? The time, the effort, the tears, the struggles, the joy even?
Four years ago when I was finishing up my senior year of high school, I wrote

Do you ever wonder what happens at the end? That, at the end of everything, when you’re done with all the tests, the work, the grades, you’d look back and be proud? Be satisfied with everything you’ve done? When you spend thirteen years of your life in schooling (and then continue for the next 4-however many years in undergraduate and graduate school), what’s really worth remembering? Worth noting? I just really hope I’ve made something out of myself in the past several years.

And I realize, that this is the end.
jk, I'm being pretty over dramatic. Granted, I'm on day 9 of my senior year. But by spring of 2017 I'll have completed seventeen years in schooling. From kindergarten to senior year of college. 17 years.
What will I remember the most?

I remember the loneliness I felt in high school. The urgent desire to get away and start over and move on.
I remember the loneliness I felt in my first year here. The two years it took to feel like I wasn't wrong coming to Indiana. There was my first time experiencing color-changing-trees, my first big snow, my first flower-blossoming spring.
I remember the pain of accounting, the hilarity of MYRON in D271. (Do not take his class) My favorite business law L293 course and my honors I-CORE and business presentations C106 teammates.
I remember the late nights with EPIC. Either eating ramen at like 2 AM or playing Resistance or a 'get-to-know-you' game that never ended. I remember playing frisbee outside the education building with the Navs and the one too many meals we'd share together at Wright food court. 
I remember the joy of my spring abroad. Hiking across the most gorgeous expanses in the highlands and backpacking from city to city enjoying sunsets while sitting on walls and drinking cheap beer. Meeting Singaporeans and Glaswegians and cool people in hostels.

I can't believe it's been three years.
It's incredible to look back and see how much I've grown - being able to make friends and conversation, share my testimony, cook, do laundry, pack a tight suitcase, live on my own.
But it's sad to think that in just 9 short months it'll all be over.
Holding tight to relationships, memories, and "lasts" here at IU.

One last hurrah y'all. Let's make it count.

senior day #9
08.26.16