I have heard from various elders (a.k.a my mom) that the older you get the faster time goes. I never believed her as much as I have over the last few months. Senior year has been flying by and all of my senior friends agree with me. How is it already mid-November? And more importantly, how do I have fewer than two semesters left at Brandeis?

Of course, I have very mixed feelings about being in my final year of college. On one hand, campus life can be very limiting. I occasionally become frustrated when I realize that I do almost the exact same thing every week, and I do it all in a very limited area. Therefore, I have learned that in order to keep my sanity intact I need to get off campus at least once a week, and preferably more often. Surviving to senior year does have the benefit of knowing what you need to do and what you need to avoid in order to survive.

But on the other hand, I am going to miss the daily routine of Brandeis life. It may be predictable, but it is also very comfortable. By this point in my college career, I am fairly adept at juggling extra-curricular activities, homework, and fun-time with friends. Once I exit for graduate school I will have to rediscover how to co-ordinate my time all over again. Not to mention the stress of moving into a new home and meeting new friends.

So, if I were to summarize my senior year so far I would say that it is an odd mix of extreme comfort with extreme discomfort. My friends and I are all very comfortable as Brandeis students, and some have even become bored enough to graduate early. By now almost all of us have our majors figured out and we know the types of classes available to us. Some classes may still seem exciting, but many are very similar to what we have taken in the past, or we have already completed them.

However, all of us seniors also need to figure out what we are going to do in the coming few years, which is a very uncomfortable feeling. In fact, it is difficult to talk to anyone without hearing that dreaded question: what are you doing next year? Basically we have two choices, to stress about finding a job or to stress about applying to graduate schools. All the seniors know this decision is just around the corner, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It actually makes it more difficult, believe it or not!

The first month of senior year was weird because I had started my thesis and had started applying to graduate schools. It was odd to be thinking about my future while I was also thinking about my college work. But, ultimately it is very exciting to realize that soon I will be onto new adventures. I can only hope that these adventures will be as great as my adventures here at Brandeis!