We are only halfway through the semester and I am already counting down the days until Dec. 21, the last day of finals and the day I am going to kiss the academic buildings goodbye.
Considering this will be my last semester taking classes, I have no words for the amount of anticipation festering within me. I look forward to the days of not pulling all-nighters, not going through 10 packs of index cards and not chugging Red Bulls as if my life depended on it.
Anyone who was fortunate enough to graduate college feels the need to remind me not to rush through my time at New Paltz. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that my life may never be this easy again. Despite that fact, I will continue to count down the days until graduation.
And then, out of nowhere, it hits me. In less than a year I am going to graduate college. I am going to be forced to enter the real world. I am going to get a real job (hopefully), and my real job will not accept doctor’s notes from the health center.
I probably will not have the luxury of staying up until 4 a.m. for the hell of it. I will most likely be too tired from my real job to stay up and watch hours upon hours of reality television. And the worst part is, I won’t have Dining Dollars to buy Ben and Jerry’s.
Life will be different, and it might not be as easy, but at least it will be filled with memories of New Paltz. I have had three good years at New Paltz and the good outweighs the bad. For every final I studied for, there was a Jazzman’s coffee by my side. For every Friday filled with class, there was a happy hour. For every uninformed student, there was The Oracle.
So thank you in advance, New Paltz. It’s been real.