People say that college was the best four years of their life. The first thought that comes to mind is partying, drinking, and meeting some of your lifelong best friends. That is the obvious reason people say it was the best time of their life. There is an underlying reason though, that people never think of until the end. It is the best time of your life is because it is the time before you go into the real world, the time to make all the mistakes, the time to get knocked down, the time to mess up. But the lesson college really teaches you is to get back up, learn from those lessons to be ready for the real world or life after college. Of course no matter how hard something is or how big an obstacle may be, you need to just keep swimming.

Freshman year is the year everyone looks forward to the most. Annoyed high school seniors can’t wait to leave their overbearing parents’ rules and go to “freedom” known as college. Little do they know that freshman year is the biggest adjustment year for most people. All everyone sees is a good time, partying, independence, and a new chapter. That is true but there are also many changes people have to get used to when they start college. You will not always have a consistent schedule, you may have had classes from 8am-2pm in high school but in college you can have one class at 8am and no class until 6pm. It is a big change. Living with another person if not two other people and sharing a 10 x 10 box is not something you just adjust to overnight, and no it is nothing like sharing a room with a sibling. Learning to manage your time with school, and play happens this year. Many freshman find that it is hard to balance going out, joining clubs, Greek life, and doing homework all at the same time. If you can get into a routine you will be able to work hard and play even harder.

Sophomore year is the year of comfort. You had a year to settle in, make your friends, get a taste of college life and you are ready to live it up better than last year. There is a thing called the “Sophomore Slump” meaning that there is a point where parties get old, the same group of people do everything together, and you and your friends want to just try something new. Clubs and bars start to over power house parties because everyone has gotten a fake ID by now and they are eager to use them! Sophomore year is a great year because you have that sense of comfort but you are also still being introduced to new things and people. You are given this year to make mistakes and learn from them but also use what you learned freshman year to help you.

Junior year, is the year of time as I like to call it. Even in high school people will tell you that junior year flew by, that after sophomore year you were a senior before you knew it. That is exactly how it is in college, you look at the calendar and realize it is already December and you will be heading home for winter break soon. You feel like you just moved in and set up your room in your house or dorm just like you want it just to be packing it up in four and a half months. Junior year is crazy because people are starting internships, getting a taste of adulthood living in a house with friends, paying rent, dealing with bills on top of school work and having a part time job. It is the year of time because you wish you had more of it, you wish that it all wasn’t going to end soon and you will be entering the last year before the real world. It is a big year but also a blessing year as well.

Senior year is the year. Everyone goes in with plans to make every day count, party every night, take as many pictures to hang in their office after graduation and just make as many memories as possible. People don’t really care about classes anymore, they are going to the on-campus bar that every underclassmen dreams to go to when they turn 21. Seniors are realizing that this is the year that makes college the best time of their lives. There is no more messing up, there is no more “I can always retake that class next year”, there is no more partying once they graduate. They are now realizing that the real world is coming and every year before this was a stepping stone to get them ready. Seniors are not excited to graduate and leave their frat brother or sorority sisters, their best friends since freshman year, their campus, their college selves really. This is the year no one looks forward to.

College is built in a weird way. You get one year to adjust and get used to the new environment. One year to build on that confidence by trying new things, and learning when you fail. One year to get a taste of adulthood and learn to manage more than just homework and partying. And finally one year to look back on it all and see how everything you went through got you to where you were. Standing at graduation you don’t think about that one time you failed a Philosophy test, or that time you and your boyfriend broke up, or the time you held you friends hair back after a party. You think about how you spent three years learning from your mistakes and using those lessons to prepare you for what comes after you get that diploma and shake the President’s hand. You think to yourself that no matter how many times you failed or got knocked down, you got back up. You kept swimming. You will have these memories to think of and share when you get that first job after graduation, to tell your kids, and to keep in the back of your mind when things get rough. Always remember just keep swimming and you can overcome anything. What you overcome will lead you to something down the road that you had no idea was coming.