A Letter to the Fall Semester--

Another semester down and another semester closer to graduation. As always, this semester was a difficult one, faced with trials and triumphs, failures and successes, tears and laughs.

I want to thank you, the Fall Semester, for all you have given me and for all you have taught me. Thank you for teaching me that I can, in fact, function on 3 hours of sleep and then I can get that 10 page paper I procrastinated starting done in only 2 hours. Thank you for teaching me that studying 12 hours straight will drive me absolutely insane, but might be worth it when I ace that exam I was cramming for. Thank you for teaching me that once you start hallucinating it might be time to close the book and give yourself a break. Thank you for teaching me that hard work really can give you the GPA you could only ever imagine.

Thank you for all knowledge I have gained, both in class and out of class. Thanks to you, I now know how to synthesize an alkene into an alcohol using Markovnikovs addition and I also know the best time to leave the campus to get lunch and not lose a killer parking spot. I learned how to calculate the area under the tangent line to a graph and I also learned how to bite my tongue when I knew I was going to say something that wouldn't make me feel any better. I learned how to properly draw stable chair conformations and also learned-- the hard way-- how not to fall out of boat while collecting water samples on a disgusting lake. I learned how to differentiate fractions and I also learned that not everyone's heart is always in the right place and it's important to know when to stand up for yourself and when to be the bigger person and let that person go.

Because of you, Fall Semester, I learned more about myself-- my potential and my limitations. I am stronger than I thought I was and I don't need constant reassurance to know that. I know my worth and I know when people aren't treating me the way I deserve. I learned that when someone leaves your life, it will hurt, but there are better people waiting around the corner to pick you up and dust you off.

I learned that I have my priorities in check and am willing to sacrifice a fun night out if it means bettering my academic career in the long run. I learned that you will always have difficult professors that seem out to get you but the only thing you can change is the way you handle it. I learned that although things may have come easily to me my entire life, college is a whole new animal and I need to work for what I want. I learned that giving up on what seems is impossible will not make it any more possible. I learned that hard work does pay off and when it does, it is the most rewarding feeling yet.

Thank you Fall Semester, I can't wait to see what Spring has in store.