Senior year blues, advice, and maybe a little venting

Photo by Nicole Pierick

Nicole

Ah, senior year, the year I thought I was excited for. It’s now the end of my time here at Ottawa University, and soon, I’ll be able to go out into the “real” world — whatever that means. Sure, I’ll have rent to pay, loans on top of that, other bills will appear and I’ll have to try to find a job, but I still have a semester to enjoy my undergrad before all of that hits me.

I thought I would like to graduate a semester early and move on with my life. However, I didn’t think about the downsides of graduating a semester early, nor did I think there would be so many, or that they would be this bad. 

In short, it sucks, and I’m here to tell you all the downsides I have come across so far.

First of all, if you never see me on campus, it's because most of my friends have graduated. This makes me sad, so I’m usually hiding in my room. Mind your business (not actually, if you see me around campus please say hey, I probably need some type of social interaction because I'M LONELY AND NEEDY). I guess I should put in here that I’m not completely alone. I still have some friends, but I don't have my BESTIES here anymore; the people that have been here with me from the beginning. So yeah, it makes it a little hard and yeah, I am complaining, but I don't care. 

Most of my best friends have graduated and moved far away to pursue masters degrees and that's amazing for them. I truly am happy for them; I just miss them a whole lot.

I refuse to eat in the caf. Not only does the food hurt my stomach, but I refuse to sit alone. Am I allowed to bring a tupperware container in there with me, then bring my food home? Because I need to find  somehow use the 100 meals I was forced to purchase, but that’s a different story for a different day.     
Let's move onto the next issue; I’m not an athlete anymore. Big yikes. I don’t have to go to conditioning, weights, practice, individuals or meetings. Everyday, 3:15 rolls around and I panic, thinking I’m late for practice because that is how its been for the last three years; but I don't have to go to practice anymore. It’s weird to see my old teammates around because they either just walk right past me or say they miss me, which just makes me more sad.

Being an ex-athlete creates a weird sense of being an outcast. I don't quite fit in with my team anymore, and I feel like I can’t hang out with them on the weekends, or go to sporting events with them. They never said that I couldn't, I just feel odd not being a part of the team and still expecting to be included, ya know? It’s weird when I meet someone new and they ask me what sport I play, then I have to say I am not an athlete. 

Moving on to the academic aspects. People assume, now that I’m not an athlete, I just sit around and watch Netflix, eating sweets, getting all fat and sassy (that’s a reference, I didn't make that up). BUT I DON'T (kinda). I still have an LSAT coming up that is stressing me the heck out. I still have senior comps and other classes that require a lot of time and energy. I also have to workout by myself for myself now; I can't say I’ll condition at practice or that I had to put in extra work for my teammates. I have to do it for myself so I stay in decent shape. Sometimes it can be hard to motivate myself to go to the gym because I know I won’t have my teammates there with me but I mean, I don't want to end up on My 600 Pound Life on TLC, so I drag myself there and get it over with. 

This isn't meant to be all sad though. I’m happy that I have time to do other things, like really put in an effort to study and work hard. This is my last few weeks of undergrad and I know I am going to have to work really hard to get it done. Having a little extra time to work on things is extremely nice; I have time to focus on other aspects of my life like the clubs I’m in, working and enjoying time with the friends that I do have left here before I have to go off into the “real” world. 

My advice to anyone reading this is don't wish your time away, and make friends with EVERYONE, not just the older classes. Enjoy your time here because it really will go by faster than you think and I wouldn't wish these senior year blues on anyone. 

Bruna

I am also a senior who is graduating a semester earlier, and I’ve been finding myself with the same problem as Nicole: all of my really good friends graduated this past year. How sad!

So, yes, because of that, I stay at home and watch like five episodes of Criminal Minds in a row, every single day, then do homework. Sometimes, I try to have conversations with other kids, but I’m a senior now and, no offense, but freshmen have a whole different perspective on things and I don’t really have the patience for that.

I’m also not an athlete anymore. In my case, I’m a Student Assistant Coach for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams. So I actually have to go to practices and competitions, which I don’t mind, because I love the sport. Plus, I don’t find it weird to see my team or to think about fitting in. Since I’m not playing, I just don’t worry about things that I would think about if I was playing. Because of that, it has been a good thing for me so far.

However, I have a lot of walking to do. The amount of extra mileage I've been getting on my Apple Watch is unbelievable. If there’s one thing that I miss about some old teammates, it’s how I would get rides before any sport related event that I had to attend (miss you, other Nicole!). When someone asks me what sport I play, I just laugh and joke, saying that I’m “retired” because why not, am I right?

When talking about motivation, I still haven’t found mine for going to the gym at all, which is not good, I’m aware. When you’re part of a team, you have teammates pushing you, but when you’re alone, it makes things really hard. I’m hoping to find this motivation really soon! Maybe I should stop watching Criminal Minds every single day…