Rowan Edmonds
I remember the day I moved into my freshman college dorm like yesterday. I had packed my entire life into my car, my dad following me in his car with even more of my stuff, because what 18-year-old girl can honestly pack their whole life into just one car?
My mom was sitting in the passenger seat next to me, trying and failing to hide her tears over her oldest going to college. However, I wasn’t tearing up – well, not at first.
But when my parents were leaving, and my dad started crying? Cue the waterworks. Anyway, the pouring rain couldn’t dampen my good mood. I was going to college, going to be on my own for the first time in my life, and I was so excited.
My roommate and I had become fast friends over the summer and planned exactly what our room would look like. I was ready to leave my old life – the life of a high schooler – behind and really start my life.
Well, I can confidently say now, three years later, that going to college wasn’t exactly a “really starting my life” moment. It was more like a trial run for the real thing, one with a lot of personal growth.
Don’t get me wrong, the past three years have been incredible, and I wouldn’t change anything, but wow, I thought I had it all figured out at 18. Spoiler alert, I absolutely did not, and even now, at 21, I still don’t, and frankly, I probably won’t for a while. Check back with me in 10 years, and see if I have life figured out then.
College introduced a lot of firsts for me – first party, first love, first pandemic, first “Oh my god, I slept through my film final, and now I’m going to fail the class” moment (don’t worry, the professor let me retake it, and I got a B). You get the point. However, all the mistakes and mishaps, the late nights with friends crying about some miscellaneous thing that I can’t even remember now, the study dates, the passed and failed tests, all the little memories that have built up over the past three years are set in my bones. They have made me the person I am today.
Going into my senior year of college is incredibly bittersweet. I’m living with my absolute best friends in the world, I’m deep into my major doing exactly what I want to do, and I have a great community of friends, a loving boyfriend, and a fantastic relationship with my parents and little sister.
I’m in that weird period where I’m ready to graduate and start my true adult life, but I’m also sad and a little scared because I don’t know if I’m ready to be done. Everyone said college goes by in a flash, and that’s more true than I could have ever realized. I want to appreciate my last year because I know I’ll never get it back. That being said, I also want to be done (specifically with homework).
One more year until my life starts, for real this time, which is a terrifying thought. I feel like the past three years of college have been a good transition from an angsty 18-year-old to a slightly less angsty 21-year-old that sort of has an idea of what she’s going to do with her life.
I have no idea what life will throw at me when I graduate, but I know that ultimately I’ll be okay… hopefully. I’m sad that this is my last year of college, but after this trial period, I know that when the time comes, I’ll really be ready to begin my life.
Rowan Edmonds is an intern for The Northeast Georgian. Reach her at 706-778-4215 on Mondays and Tuesdays this summer.