Final Year Finals

Good luck, seniors, with your second to last set of finals. As I'm sitting in Butler trying to study for my Russian exams, I cannot help but wonder how I got here. First of all, how I got literally here, to the library this morning, because like all good college students I've become deathly ill during the most important time of the year. But also how I got here, to my fourth year of college, and here, to the age of twenty-two. I am more than ready for school to be over. I feel as if I've been a student my whole life and now it's time for something different. But... a college graduate? A twenty-two year old young woman? A Manhattanite? These are all identities that seem foreign to me. I still feel so young inside, so naive. Perhaps it's because I don't know who I am or what I am without school. There's always been that structure, and in the case of a lot of students, there hasn't been much time for anything else. Certainly not soul-searching! Sometimes I feel like I should have been accomplishing that during the summers. Two and a half months to find myself!

 I am excited about the endless opportunities out there, excited because I could do almost anything, go anywhere, hang out with anyone... but most of all, I'm excited to get to know myself. Not as any of the things I said I was before. Not as someone who can be understood by reading the categories- academic background, work experience, skills and interests-  that you will find on her resume. I hope I'll find someone who can live according to her own structure, who creates and invents, who loves, who laughs. If not, that's okay, too. I really have no idea. I do hope, however, that I won't lose the friends I've made here. I'm looking forward to going through this together, and to seeing who we all become, who we all truly are without the constant stresses of school. For now, though, let's push through these exams, and enjoy every second we've got left here on this beautiful campus.