A year ago during this time, us college freshmen were presenting our senior projects, trying to fight off senioritis with every ounce of energy we had in us, planning prom tables and graduation parties; the thought of where we'd be now didn't even cross our minds.

May of senior year for me was a time where I truly just showed up. I was physically there, but mentally I had been completely checked out for weeks at this point. A year ago now, I was focusing on making playoffs for softball and figuring out if my bruises and scrapes would be visible or not for prom. A year ago my life was in my home, but now I realize my life lies elsewhere.

A few short months later, you find yourself walking across a campus much larger than the one of your high school with thousands of people that are nothing more than a face in a crowd to you. But give it a few weeks, and a few weekend parties later, many of those faces soon become acquaintances and friends of yours that you can confidently say "What's up?" to when you walk by. Those faces become your people; you're connected with them and it makes you feel comfortable.

When the time comes for winter break, you don't want to go home but you know its necessary to see your family and take the mental break that you need from all the schoolwork. You see your home friends; you see your family and answer thousands and thousands of questions about your classes, GPA, and social life.

Coming into second semester, you don't even realize that the year is coming to an end because you're so excited to be back with your roommates and friends that quite honestly, the important things like school work seem to fall o the back burner. But second semester means it's the home stretch. 16 weeks until you're done. Before you know it, midterms are happening and your instructions for your final research paper are being handed out and suddenly all of your hopes and dreams are falling apart because you're running on an average of one and a half hours of sleep and haven't eaten in three days because who has time to sleep when you have five papers to write and seven final exams to take?

You've successfully reached the point in the semester where you're calculating the lowest grade you need to get on the final to still pass the class and which classes you can afford to skip in order to get the extra study time in. Congrats, you did it. You're officially a burnt out college student.

One thing you need to realize throughout the mess though, is that you made it. You made it through one of the toughest transition periods of your life. You left your parents, your house, your friends, your pets, you left it all. You're on your own for the first time really and you successfully did it. You also left your comfort zone to make new friends and memories from experiences that not everybody gets to go through. So with it being the end of the school year, don't be afraid to stay up late and go out. You earned a night out; work it.