My mom and sister came to visit this past weekend to see my choir concerts. This is the first time they’ve been able to attend any of my concerts since I’ve gotten to UPS, so naturally I was over the moon that they could come. (I kind of blew off studying all weekend to hang out with them and do stuff in Seattle.) I’m so glad they got to come, and I wouldn’t have traded this weekend for the world… but now that they’re gone again, I am more eager for the semester to be over than ever, so I can go home and be done.

I thought, by this last week of my last semester as an undergraduate student, I would be filled with nostalgia, not wanting to let go of this experience and not feeling prepared to leave. And while I’m not really leaving (I’m still going to be in Tacoma after the holidays and participating in Adelphians for awhile), it’s still a big change, to be done with undergrad.

Being a senior is this really uncomfortable mix of feeling very ready to move on, and feeling nostalgic for the times when you weren’t ready to move on.

I’m ready to not have classes or schoolwork anymore. I’ve been in school pretty much continuously since January of this year, and I am really burned out. I’m ready for a few weeks of break from working, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to being a student at UPS. I’m not ready to be far away from so many of my friends here, after everyone leaves in May. And I sure wasn’t prepared to have our last class with Dr. Zopfi yesterday, since he is going on sabbatical and won’t be directing the Adelphians next semester.

It’s weird to think that, even though I’m still going to be around for awhile, my experience with undergrad is a thing that’s behind me. It’s tough to be appreciative of school during finals and all, but when I think about the past few years, I feel really lucky that I’ve been here and that I’ve gotten to have the experiences I’ve had.