Growing up as the youngest I had always envisioned this unattainable maturity. I always thought that once I reached a certain age I’d have my act together. Obviously, however, as the youngest child there was always someone ahead of me. Therefore, it became an unattainable goal to reach because just as I was reaching that level everyone else was already on the next level.

The reason I mention this is because I thought college would be the moment when I finally felt I reached this maturity. This would be the time where I would know everything and get my act together. College, especially when I was younger, had this connotation that this was where everything changes and gets real. Up until about now, this notion had never really hit me.

But it just did.

Around the beginning of second semester my junior year I realized that I was starting the count down to the end of my college years. Everyone says it so it probably won’t come as a surprise, but junior year is weird. The excitement of bars and clubs don’t drag you out on Tuesday nights, your classes and workload seem manageable, you begin to really establish your core groups of friends, and most importantly you begin to really develop your sense of self. You are just beginning to make real life decisions in regards to your moral compass, career paths, relationships/friendships, and everything in between.

Junior year I think smacked me in the face in some ways. I’m not saying that I went crazy and had a freak out; rather I just finally realized that things got real. This summer will be the last summer break for who knows how long. My friends will be moving all over the nation in a year. I, as well as millions of people, will be applying for a job. There will be the question of what state to live in, who to live with, and what do I even want to do.

There is a lot of things up in the air to say the least. However, as I watch the seniors go out I am getting the junior year jitters. I am nervous yet excited about what the future holds and all I really know is: things just got real.