The ‘S’ Word

A few announcements and updates for all the tabloids/paparazzi covering my life:

1. INTERNS WON KICKBALL! 12-3. First intern staff to ever beat the deans. Should you call us gods? No. Legends? Maybe.

2.  R.I.P. Jay-Z. You were a great kitten, and you will be missed.

3.  I went on a vacay! Well, a family reunion at least.  The King family flew from CA, AL, and VA to meet in Chautauqua, NY, which is apparently a “resort” where fun goes to die.  Surprisingly, we were still able to have a pretty incredible time; I rarely get to see my extended family because we all live so far away from each other so it was good to reconnect.

In other news, it is the last day for two of our interns.  I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone; I remember at the end of last semester, when found out I got this internship, I was beyond excited.  Summer was the only thing I could focus on.  I had heard the countless stories of previous summer interns and how amazing the experience was –becoming BFFs, playing kickball with the deans, taking random road trips to the Outer Banks, going to their boss’s husband’s sketchy dance club, and really just experiencing the people and campus of the College in a new and completely different way.  So, needless to say, I couldn’t wait for  my  summer to begin.

But I also think my excitement for this summer came from more than that.  I think that for me, this summer became my blinder to the fact that I am really going to be a senior. As long as I could look forward to this summer, I didn’t have to acknowledge and accept what came after.  As long as it was still summer, I was still a junior…or at least not a senior.

Now, summer is almost over and I can no longer deny my fate: I am a senior.  I don’t know why this scares me so much, but all I know is that it immediately conjures up words in my mind like: job, graduation, bills, real person, depression, taxes, and midlife crisis.  I’ve already noticed a shift in my mentality; all of a sudden, every building, every song, every smell brings up some memory or feeling from freshman year.  A  simple trip to the Sadler Center Dining Room with a few of the other interns suddenly becomes a discussion about old roommates, old eating habits, and that first weekend of Orientation.  We talked about the adjectives we chose for the Name Game, a game that every freshman hall plays the first time they sit down together in which you have to choose an adjective that begins with the same letter as your first name.  Because I was a superstar from the beginning, I told my hall I was “J-Awesome Janet”.  Anyone who has known me since freshman year still refers to me as J-Awesome, which I can’t really blame them for (HAVE YOU MET ME?!).  Anyway, as freshman move-in day approaches and Orientation Aide training begins, I am recalling more and more about how exactly I felt that weekend four years ago.

I had never seen William and Mary before I came here Orientation weekend; I would like to say I was one of those cool kids who was really psyched to leave their parents and go to college, but I was actually the kid who cried the entire 12 hours it took to drive here.  However, while I was not in the most stable emotional state when I arrived to campus, by the end of Orientation, I knew this was my College.

Ultimately, I think that is why I am most scared about senior year; this is my College-it is where my best friends are, where my favorite professors and faculty members are, where I’ve grown up and figured my stuff out.  And while I know the real world is full of promising opportunities and cool people, the College of William and Mary is the home of the best and most defining memories of my life…What could ever top that?