My Sentiment is Showing.

Happy first day of class, readers! It’s time to get back into the swing of things after a hopefully restful and relaxing Christmas break. Are you ready?!

Now, I’m not usually a sentimental person, but as a senior graduating this May, I’m starting to see that there are a lot of sentimental moments that my last semester will be offering me. Let’s take today, for example. Today was the last first day of class. It was the last first day of my undergraduate degree where my only job and expectation is to learn from my professors. At no other time in my life will my job be to sit back, relax, and absorb knowledge. Once graduation rolls around, my job is to do.

Today was also the official end to my three-week Christmas break – something that I won’t get again in my life (unless I’m planning on being a teacher, which I’m not). At no other point in my life, at least in the foreseeable future, will I get a break that long with absolutely nothing to do. In my mind, that’s something to be sentimental about. Possibly even mournful.

These moments combined with the fact that real life is starting in four short months makes me just a little nervous for the present and the future. Here are a few questions that are haunting me at the moment:

• How can I make this the best semester ever and not miss out on a single activity?
• What will I be doing after I graduate?
• How do I stay in contact with old friends and make new friends once college is over?
• What are my passions and how do I incorporate those into my career choice?
• What will I eat once I graduate if I don’t know how to cook? (Probably the most important question of all.)

If any of you have any answers to these questions, please let me know. While you all are getting back to me though, I am going to be exploring these ‘senior fears and questions’ in each of my blog posts. I’m hopeful I’ll get to interview my peers as well as some of my coworkers at the Career Development Center to see what they have to say about some of these topics.

This will help me process my fears/questions as well as give you an accurate representation of what it’s like to be a graduating senior at Hope College. It’s a win win situation, really. Be prepared for a wild ride.

I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you, readers. Until next time!