I’ll give it to you straight. This year has probably been the worst year of my life. I watched my world turn upside down, I lost my ability to walk for a year, and I cried more times in one year than I ever have. Hospitals became my home, good friends became best friends and crappy friends became a part of my past. I fell in love with someone I thought was the one, and then got my heart shattered into pieces.

But, I also had the privilege of living in New Zealand for two months. I directed a play, my roommates became my best friends and I got closer to my family.

I can openly say that I am happy to see this year come to a close. While it’s scary that I only have two more semesters of college left, this year was full of ups and downs, and I am happy that next time I start classes, I'll hopefully be in a much better place.

Saying goodbye to another year of college is always a bittersweet feeling. You’re taking a break from all the stressful school work, all the meetings and the crazy busy days. But you’re also taking time away from your friends, from nights at Cookout, and you’re another year closer to graduation, which is just plain bitter.

Summer is always a good time to take a deep breath. To reflect on all the things you’ve been through the previous year, and to think about the things you might want to do differently next year. It’s a new beginning. Every year is another chance to start over, another chance to find yourself.

As you'll know from previous articles, I hate summer. I always promise to talk to my friends every day, but I get into a routine and forget to keep in touch. While I appreciate the time off from school to regroup and refocus, I hate the time away from my friends and my social life. I always feel like I turn into an antisocial workaholic during the summer.

Once another year of college is done, I'm always shocked at how fast it went. The days feel like they go by so slowly and all week it feels like I'm counting down the minutes until the weekend, but when it's finally over, it feels like it flew by.

A tradition I do at the end of the year is write down everything I did, everything that happened to me, over the course of the year. It can be big things, like getting a job or little things, like hooking up with a classmate at a party. It's a chance to have it all down on paper and it's fun to reflect on all the ups and downs you've been through in just a year.

Another year of college down and one more to go.