On University: First Year

Today I had the last exam of my first year of university. And this crazy thing happened: I got to my seat, opened up the exam booklet, and I actually knew what I was talking about. I had fun writing my essays and talking to my TA and somewhere along the line I realized that none of this would've been possible back in September.

There's no way eager, freshman Erika would've been able to throw out terms like "offensive and defensive consumption" on a communications exam with any degree of confidence - largely because, before taking this course, I didn't know what communications was. More than just what I've learned in books, though, university has taught me so much about the world around me. I've met all sorts of people - some that just threw me off, some that I like, and some I hope will be a part of my life for a very long time. And every new experience taught me something new about myself.

It's been eight solid months of difficult questions like:

Who are you?
What are you doing with your life?
Uh huh, you sure about that?
Are you really going out in public looking like that?

Yes, that last one has been a legitimate concern on more than one occasion. Dorm rooms with full length mirrors are both a blessing and a curse.

I am both so completely different from the girl I was in September, and so much the same. To celebrate the end of exams, I did what I do to mark basically any major life event: I ate pancakes. A group of friends and I - people I only just met this year who have quickly become some of my very favorites - crammed into one boy's tiny Volkswagen and got lost on the way to IHOP. We talked, we laughed, we ate, and the entire time there was a little voice inside my head whispering, "This is it. You've got it good, girl."

I can't believe that this - my new friends, my new home, the entire universe up on my mountain top - is just ending. And people will graduate and transfer and move on with their lives. But I'm crossing my fingers that there will be more pancake dates and celebrations to come.