Finals are OVER!

Wow! What a refreshing feeling it is to come home at the end of the day and realize school is over for yet another 4 months. The best part is that I only have one semester left before I graduate here at BYU. I was thinking this morning though how darn fast life goes by especially during college. I have been here in Provo for 3 years and have had all sorts of experiences, but it honestly feels like it was yesterday when I moved in for the first time in my room at Heritage Halls. My sister Ali comes here next semester and I am feeling a little nostalgic as I realize she is about to embark on her own set of fun and wonderful new experience here at the Y. There is nothing like those pre-college butterflies you get in your stomach as you realize you are 4 hours from home for the first time, you're with roommates you don't know, you have no idea where your supposed to be walking on campus because all of the buildings are described using acronyms. The buzzz of JSB, SWKT, JKB, MARB, JFSB, and ASB seem so confusing. You're hit over the head with more homework the first week of college than you ever had in 4 months combined in high school, teachers don't know who you are (especially as a freshman), you wander around with 30,000 other strangers everyday to class, you're homesick, you have no idea how to cook for yourself let alone be in charge of all of your own laundry and cleaning, and (yes Ali you do have to change your sheets!). But somehow, intermingled with all of the new things in your life, you realize you are growing and learning and gaining experiences that will be invaluable to you in the future (especially when you get married) and you love it! Even those nights where you cry yourself to sleep or cry in the shower so your roommates can't see you crying. Even then, you realize that yes you are becoming more independent from your parents but VERY dependent on the Lord.
I am of course so excited the stress of finals are over yet at the same time, I can't help feeling a little bit of sadness realizing this college journey is not that far from ending and a new chapter of my life from beginning. It's all worth it though because that's what life is for....progression and it's all worth it in the end!