Watch Out, Senior Year

I've been a senior for one week, and I'm already overwhelmed. While I do not consider myself to be extraordinarily sentimental, I do have a penchant for collecting and remembering experiences, particularly first and last moments.

Last weekend, I sang at the Welcome Mass for first year students, the beginning of the end of my journey at LMU. I worked my last fall move-in shifts and had my last first day of school (until I decide to get an MFA or PhD or whatever). Next week, I will attend my last audition for the fall dance concert. I am taking classes for my senior thesis and capstone, which will usher me into the world of creating my own art.

I've been trying to say yes to this year and these experiences, and it has been incredibly emotional in unexpected ways. On the first day of school, I woke up at 5:30am to catch the sunrise, and while the sky was beautiful, I didn't feel a thing. But I've cried before every Mass I have sang at in the past week (and I have been to four). 

The beginning of the end makes me realize the people that are truly important to me on this campus, and many of them are my professors and mentors. It's easy for me to imagine a life without constant essays to write, but really hard to think about the people I see every day that I will no longer be around.

Then the other half of me is laughing because it's week one, and I still have two whole semesters ahead of me. I know how long a school year can feel, and I hope this one goes slowly. Either way, I am trying to make every moment count.