The goal of this blog was to get myself writing more consistently. It worked…for a short while. Although I am disappointed by my lack of posts in recent weeks, I guess I am glad that I have a life.

This post did not start out with a point….However, given that my freshman year of college will be over in approximately four days, I suppose I will take this opportunity to reflect.

What have I learned over the last nine months? Time flies.

As cliched as it sounds, it really does feel like it was only yesterday that I graduated from high school and went to my senior prom. So much has changed since then. I have gotten a job, read and discussed ancient philosophy, learned AP Style, bonded with a whole floor full of people, and made it through year one of a long-distance relationship. I have a new outlook on my religion, keep meticulous track of my bank account, work out regularly, and can manipulate HTML code.

I barely recognize myself.

But despite the changes…I like it. I feel the point of college is to get away from home, meet a ton of people, and crack the spines of almost incomprehensible literature, no matter how difficult it seems. Sure, I struggled this year being away from home, but I don’t think I would change a thing. What other time in your life can you sit down and compare Maimonides and St. Thomas Aquinas to Hildegard von Bingen and Julian of Norwich? As lame as it sounds, knowing I have skimmed the surface of the greatest thinkers and writers in history makes me kind of giddy. My literature class makes me feel truly collegiate. Reading the classics gives you name-dropping material for years! Want to sound intellectual? Just start rattling off the list of books currently on my facebook status. Yes, I read all of those.

In one semester.

But seriously. I am only one year in and I can already tell just the academic aspects of college have me hooked. Forget partying, I’ll take books over beer any day. Frat parties? No thank you. Give me a MacBook Pro and the Adobe Creative Design Premium. I know I’m a nerd, but I don’t think I’m paying thousands of dollars a year to sit in some smelly, disgusting basement surrounded by people with BAC’s higher than their IQ’s. Sorry if that’s harsh, but from what I’ve observed, it’s not too far off the mark.

Looking to the next few years, I am excited for the classes I will take and the opportunities I will have to work as a journalist and grow as an individual. I value my independence highly, and it is refreshing for once in my life to be responsible to nobody but myself. I think it’s okay to be selfish and self-centered as far as my academics and activities go.

Ultimately, this is the time in my life I have to better myself, and I am not going to let anything stand in my way.

Cheers to year one, and may the next three be just as successful!