Last weekend I went home to spend Easter with my family. My parents are moving into a smaller house since my sister and I will both be college graduates and (hopefully) will not need to live at home any longer. We spent the weekend going through storage bins full of our childhood things. I found a graduation cap I made for my preschool graduation and we joked about how I should wear it to my upcoming graduation ceremony so I won’t have to pay to rent one.

It was kind of fun to go through all of my old things. I found my swimming medals from high school, artwork and report cards from elementary school, and my favorite books from when I was a kid that I didn’t even know we still had. I definitely had one of those good “Wow, I’m actually growing up” moments where I was a little impressed with how many things I’ve actually done in my life up to this point.

That moment made me start thinking back on my time at Iowa State. I love being a student at Iowa State. I have made so many great memories (and there is still time to make a few more) and I will be very sad when the time comes to leave and the time will come for me to have a “college” box in storage.

Approximately five weeks from now I will be a college graduate. That thought both horrifies and excites me at the same time. I do not have any concrete plans set up and I have no clue what I want to do as a career. To those of you who do have plans and goals, please do not talk to me for the next five weeks. As much as I like not having a set plan and having the opportunity to explore different things, it also terrifies me. I have had a great run at Iowa State and I think I join other seniors in saying that I am going to miss the place that has become my home.

For me, graduation has the same feeling of coming into college as a freshman. I have no idea what to expect or what adventures I will choose in the upcoming years; all that I hope for is that it is great in every possible way. I have chosen some pretty cool adventures at Iowa State over the past few years, and hopefully this trend continues for me and everybody else in the class of 2013.

It was great to spend time with my family and get my mind off of the feeling of impending doom that I get whenever I think about graduation and my general lack of motivation now that the weather is getting tolerable. Usually when I go home for a weekend I end up feeling more stressed out about graduation than I usually do, but that did not happen last weekend and it was great.

Unfortunately, graduating from college is something we have to face. If we didn’t, Iowa State sure would have a lot more people enrolled. It’s weird to think about becoming a real adult and having to deal with the “real world.” I know absolutely nothing about the real world and I know I am going to have many wake-up calls the next couple of years. Hopefully everything will work out and be completely fine and Iowa State will be my stepping stone to a very happy and successful life.

So, to all of you graduating seniors out there, let’s make the next five weeks count. To the rest of you, make the most of what you have left.