The Best Four Years of My Life: Reflections From a Recent College Grad by Christina Iannotti

It’s hard to imagine graduating from high school, leaving all of your friends and going your separate ways. Going to college is a difficult transition, but one of the best transitions an 18-year-old will ever experience. Standing in your room packing up the last 18 years of your life will be difficult.

When you first arrive on campus you may feel homesick, but the people you meet will have an impact on your college experience. Enjoy it.

You’ll spend the year creating bonds with people like you never have before. You’ll spend nights that turn into mornings with friends that turn into family. Enjoy it.

The four years that you spend in college will be the best four years of your life. You’ll make some good decisions and some bad. But you should live these four years with no regrets, because every choice you make will help you grow as a person. You’ll feel closer with your friends than you ever have before, and your roommate will know you better than anyone ever has. Enjoy it.

Fast-forward four years later and you will be sitting in your cap and gown, wondering where all the time went and how you ever lived life before knowing these people. You’ll move your tassel from left to right and drive home after packing up the memories from the best years of your life. You’ll lay in bed and remember that four years ago you were crying because you didn’t want to go, and now you’re crying because you didn’t want to leave.

Just remember that family lasts a lifetime, including your college family, and there are new memories to be made. Enjoy them.