Dear Senior Me,

Those eight semesters you used to think would drag on forever freshman year are finally over. You did everything you wanted to do. From the moment you graduated high school, you were so nervous and full of anticipation to find out what your college experience had in store for you. I don’t think you expected this– at the time you probably expected to stay at Albright for four years and make your way home to Philly every now and then. You probably thought you’d have a solid group of college friends to tackle all the challenges with, and you’d have a lot of carefree, lighthearted moments. The ones you are supposed to have in college, before you enter the real world and everything gets serious. This didn’t happen too often for you however. You definitely didn’t expect to be ending your college career at Penn State. I think it was the best thing for you though.

You started off at Albright, absolutely hating the idea of being away from home and being separated from your boyfriend. The first night there you told your parents you were ready to go home, that college wasn’t for you. That was really dramatic of you, but definitely shows your growth since then. The girl you were rooming with ended up being really cool, and you started to spend all of your time together. Soon enough you were glued to the hip and she became one of the best friends you ever had. You found your college group of friends at Albright and you were happy, things were going pretty well. After visiting Penn State for the first time, that absolutely all changed. Suddenly you had to be there, all the time, surrounded by high energy and opportunities. Your boyfriend played a factor in that too. This is probably your biggest lesson learned– don’t follow a boy! Luckily for you, going to Penn State was better for you personally anyway and you knew that. Freshman year was really hard, you were really in your head, you felt like you were making a decision that would affect the rest of your life and in a way it would. Even after becoming best friends with your roommate who you now are still so close with, you left Albright because you wanted to grow. That was bold of you.

Sophomore year was weird. You had to live at home and commute to school. The college lifestyle was gone, it was like high school again. You hated it, but you knew you had to get this year over with so you could end up at the main campus. You worked constantly, got your license, and put the most amount of effort into school you ever had before. You got a 4.0 both semesters, just to prove that you could. Your relationships with the people around you started to crumble. You thought once you got to the main campus, things would get better. You were thriving off of the idea that you would be there soon, it was keeping you going.

You knew coming to Penn State was going to be hard, you knew you were walking into the most challenging environment you ever had to face and a lot was on the line. This didn’t stop you– you immediately got to work the first day of move-in. You met your first college friend at a transfer meeting, and she’s now one of your closest friends and sweetest people you’ve ever met. You and your roommates get along really well, you have so much fun with them. You meet a girl in class who is interested in doing all of the same clubs as you, you both want to enter the same industry. She quickly becomes your buddy in all that you do. You get your college lifestyle back and it’s everything you imagined it would be at Penn State. Your classes are fun, and you get chosen to be involved in every single thing you wanted to do. You go in for your internship interview at the BJC and you walk out with the position handed to you. Everything is so perfect. You experienced THON, Movin’ On, receiving your first summer internship with Live Nation. You are so happy you transferred here. Your relationships continued to crumble with the people that motivated you to come to Penn State since freshman year. You started to outgrow them, you started to realize they weren’t good to you. This made things really, really hard for you, because they were supposed to be your people here. You wondered if senior year would make it better.

Senior year didn’t make it better, you ended up losing the people you started out your freshman year with. You and your ex don’t talk. You and your ex best friend don’t even say hi to each other when you pass each other downtown. This kills you, because they were your people. But this year was about you and you only, you realized. You did a lot of soul searching and reflecting. You improved yourself even though you were hurting. You finished your internship at the BJC, moved up in the Movin’ On ranks, made more connections in the industry, experienced new firsts. Went to the bars a lot. You found your very best friend this year, someone who you know you will be in contact with for the rest of your life. You ended your year with the road trip of your lifetime, the perfect finale. You learned so much this year, you grew a lot just like you had hoped you would. You started to really form a relationship with yourself, appreciate all that you are and all that you’ve done. You know you can handle life all on your own— you don’t need to rely on anybody to get through. You realize you’ve developed the most important relationship you’ll ever have in your life, and you’re so thankful you were given the opportunity to figure that out this year. You are happy with you, and that’s a beautiful thing.

You never settled for second best throughout your college career, so if there’s’ one thing you should be, it’s proud. It’s all over now, you can take the memories and lessons learned with you into your next adventure. You didn’t get to have the normal college experience that most people have, it wasn’t very carefree or lighthearted. But in a way, you like that better. What a story you have to tell.