Dear freshman year of college,

Thank you. Thank you for being the best year of my life so far, and for setting the standards very high for the rest of the years in my life. After a year like that, I will never allow myself to live a life without passion, confusion and happiness ever again. You were the scariest beginning and the hardest goodbye. Starting you was a moment I had looked forward to my entire life and as you came to a bittersweet end I never expected to miss you as much as I do.

Thank you for introducing me to the most incredible people. Really, freshman year, you outdid yourself in that aspect because you put such amazing, talented, supportive, kind-hearted and open-minded people into my life and I owe you everything because of that. I can't imagine a life without these people in it and thanks to you I will be living the rest of my life with these outstanding people by my side.

Thank you for showing me what school pride is. Yes of course I went to football games in high school and knew all our school's chants but that had nothing on you. I mean I had no idea what school pride was until I got to you and every living breathing moment was a chance to be proud of my school. Every person in college may have a declared major, but I know for a fact that we are all undeclared fanatics of our school because that's the only way I could fathom why everyone is so utterly obsessed with it and talks about their love for it every chance they get. So thank you for showing me what true passion looks like.

And also thank you for teaching me not only chemistry, biology, philosophy, sociology, statistics, photography and calculus, but also that I am not as smart as I thought I was in high school. Academically, you were the most challenging experience I have ever endured. Thank you for teaching me what studying actually is and how much procrastinating will actually bite me in the ass. Every. Time. Without. Fail. And hey thanks for that slap in the face when I found out my GPA at the end of each semester. I didn't even know GPA's that low even existed.

Thank you for giving me experiences that I will never forget. Thank you for pushing me so far out of my comfort zone I don't know if I'll ever find my way back to it. Thank you for lifelong friendships, endless laughter and painful hangovers. Thank you for the hours of studying, the hours of crying when the studying didn't pay off, and the intoxicated hours when it did.

Thank you for changing my life for the better. Freshman year, you may be gone, but you will never be forgotten. Nothing will ever compare to the happiness you brought me. My heart will always ache and long for the memories you have given me.

Love,

Alisa

P.S. Hey, sophomore year, you've got some pretty big shoes to fill.