As I began to wrap up my sophomore year, I quickly realized that I’m halfway finished with college. And I’m sure I’m not alone in saying it’s pretty weird. I feel like I was just a little, naïve freshman with all the hope and wonder your first day at Syracuse University instills in you.

I know these next two years will go by even faster than the last two, and I’ll be vaulted into the ‘real world,’ where I may or may not have the opportunity to succeed, depending on the outcome of 2012.

Not that I’m worried about 2012. If it does happen I’ll be annoyed that I wasted four years and $200,000, but I’ll get over it, especially if I’m dead.

This time last year I was packing up my dorm room, getting ready to leave my freshman year of college behind. I was an emotional mess and couldn’t believe that I actually had to move out of my beloved Sadler 4. I was the obnoxious girl that made everyone congregate in the lounge before my departure. I had to make sure that I gave everyone a hug and told them how much I was going to miss them, and make sure they kept in touch and wah, wah, wah.

Sadler 4 was a different experience that no other freshman floor could ever compare to, so I’ve since forgiven myself. But every other good-bye that I’ve had to encounter in my life has left me in a short state of depression, followed by a considerably longer state of annoyance.

So, yeah, I’m a pretty nostalgic person. I consider it to be one of my most annoying qualities. I’ve easily spent a fourth of my life staring at old pictures and flipping through scrapbooks of simpler days. It’s incredibly aggravating, and nothing gets me more pissed off than when I’ve realized I just spent an entire afternoon looking through my old Facebook albums.

Just two nights ago, as I walked through the front door of The Daily Orange, I stopped and turned to my fellow editors and said, ‘Guys, this is the last time we’ll walk through this door, as sophomores, on a Sunday night.’ You really can’t get more pathetic than that.

Of course my comment was followed by laughs and wisecracks about what a loser I am, a normal reaction to my dramatized emotions. But with another year I’ve grown a little older, a little wiser and a lot more sarcastic.

I’m finally ready to beat nostalgia and start living my life in the future instead of the past (that’s deep.) Because in all honesty, how many people that you’re saying good-bye to are you really never going to see again. Facebook, Twitter, Skype, iChat, Gmail, Gmail Chat and Gmail Buzz have reshaped our world so it takes more effort to lose touch with someone than to stay in touch with them. If you think you’re never going to have to interact with that annoying kid from your biology class again, you’re in for a rude awakening when his friend request rolls around.

Besides, how many of those people that you’re saying good-bye to are you actually, wholeheartedly going to miss? Plus, why bask in old memories when you can make new ones? Better ones! Drunker ones!

So quit the crying and the ‘I can’t believe this year’s over already.’ Pack up your room with a bottle of Jack Daniels, and instead of reminiscing with your roommates you’ll be creating a new memory. Next year you’ll get to say, ‘Remember that time we got drunk while we moved out?’

And for the graduating seniors, good luck but save the tears for your first meager paycheck, first phone bill and your first night drinking by yourself, in your one-bedroom apartment that you share with four other guys.

I’m kidding. Have a great summer, everyone!

Lauren Tousignant is a sophomore communications and rhetorical studies major. She is the Opinions editor at The Daily Orange, where her column appears occasionally. You can reach her at letousig@syr.edu.
 

Published on May 3, 2010 at 12:00 pm