The Last Semester of the Rest of My Life

Last month, I began my winter semester at UM-Flint. I’ve done it a few times before, but this time is the most bittersweet. Assuming nothing drastic happens, this will be the last course of my college quest before attaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication – Media Studies. It’s kind of a strange feeling signing up for courses, knowing these will be the last memories, the last actions, and the last pieces of your work that you will involve yourself with a university.

Part of me almost wants to stay in college forever. School is a comfortable sort of thing. While it may be challenging, one usually knows what to expect. It comes with a sense of familiarity and pattern that doesn’t occur often in other aspects of life. But come April, that security blanket gets ripped away as those of us who finish are thrust into the daunting “real world,” where no such security or comfort exists in great quantities. It is the great unknown where we must apply the things we have learned in our over 18 years of education.

I am two parts anxiously awaiting the chance to tackle the unknown and one part scared to death. There are some fears I hoped to conquer before I finished my final semester, some personal goals I hoped to achieve. Many I have worked on and met or mastered. Some I have not and really need to. But much of it goes hand-in-hand with the pending meeting with the real world.

I guess I have three months to get it done and get over this whole “scared to death” fraction.