As my junior year draws to a close and most of my friends graduate, my mind is anywhere but the class I am sitting in. It is outside with my friends who are done with school and hammocking or taking day trips.

It feels like it is time for me to graduate, but somehow I will end up right back here in just three short months. While I long for life outside of GHHS it is hard not to look back and think about my freshmen year here.  

I distinctly remember my first day. I walked in and instantly felt scared to death. I was utterly overwhelmed by the idea that I was going to spend the next four years of my life here. Four whole years of hard classes, early wakeups and countless hours of homework.

Yet somehow, in the blink of an eye, three of those four years are gone and I wonder what I will do when I leave the safety net of this school. I have managed honors and AP classes, studied abroad for a semester, taken the SAT, and am somehow still standing. Even though I still have two semesters here,  I am finding that I don’t really want to leave this horrible place.

It feels like I’ve spent only days here. A collection of good, bad, ugly, stressful, wonderful days that have made up the last three years of my life here at this school.

My feelings are conflicted. There is the cliche idea of senior year that is exciting, but at the same time I am ready for a challenge outside of these walls. I want to join my friends in the ‘real world’.

Next year will have plenty of ups though, between the college applications, scholarship hunts and the actual senioritis that comes with it all, I have no idea what to expect for next year. The only thing that is certain is walking into the rotunda next September for my last first day at GHHS.

I don’t know how it will feel any different than every other first day but I’m sure it will. Just like the last football game and homecoming and prom will all feel different because it is the last one.

The end is already beginning, but I’m ready for it. In just one more collection of good, bad and ugly days it will be time to join my friends out in the world. It will be my turn to wear a cap and gown and walk out of this place and into a new beginning.