Here we go. It is literally right around the corner: sophomore year. We struggled, suffered, wept, gave up (at times), quit (at times), slept when we should have been studying and laughed until we were once again in tears. That about sums up our freshman year. So what does that mean for the next 180 days?

We are no longer the babies, we are the old babies. We now can no longer use the excuse of, "I've never done this before" or "This is my first time" when it comes to assignments, tests, essays, office hours, etc. We are grown in the eyes of our professors, and honestly that is a little scary. I've been legally an adult for a year and a half now, but I still call my mom when I don't know how to defrost chicken in the microwave. I am not grown, in all honesty, I am still in the process of growing.

We have already done the first-day-of-college circus act, so we have a pretty good idea of the layout of campus. Being late to classes because you got lost is hard to pull off now, so be wary of the excuses you come up with. We all know how to work the online D2L page, so an excuse of not knowing how to turn something in to buy yourself more time probably won't go down as well as it has in the past. If you have an issue with something on the syllabus, you good and well know about office hours. If you never utilized office hours last year at any point in time, you didn't really get the full college experience. You now also know about parking. You have a couple of options: walk, get there early and sleep/drink coffee, park and take the bus, or wing it and pray that the parking police have already done that section of paid spots. It is a no mercy war zone out there in the parking field, you have had experience so brace yourself and stay alert at all times.

Sleep is a whole other world of its own. You now know the perks and consequences that come with such a free-choice options. You can sleep, and wake up feeling wonderful and rested, however, you lose hours on that 10 page final paper or cramming or lab report or literally anything school related. Then there is option two, the one I practice like a religion: no sleep. It is rough and brutal, and sometimes the only thing you want is just another cup of coffee to keep the voices that is your body away. It hurts and you will have mental breakdowns, but the hours you gain while being awake will, most of the time, prove to be of such value that in the grand scheme it is just down right worth it.

It comes every year, and we are never prepared for it. School has been something ingrained in us for over the past 12 years of our lives, and for those as now-sophomores, we will be here for another two to six more years depending on the path you chose to teeter upon. Last year was a test trial; this year is the real deal. Good luck and stay alive.