Today, I will put on my black gown, cap and red tassle. Today, I will walk down the isle of Macky Auditorium when my name is called. Today, I will receive my diploma (or at least a book to put it in). Today, is the culmination of my college career. 

Today, I graduate. 

I am full of so many mixed emotions on this day; I’m not certain how I can even explain them. There are so many thoughts – so many memories that keep flashing through my head, just five hours shy from graduation. 

I remember… 

• Freshman year – living in the dorm, trying to curl my hair while checking Facebook
• The endless “bathroom talks” my girlfriends from our dorm floor used to have
• Shower-shoes
• My best friend’s cot that we used for visitors
• The Sig-Ep house with the red door (and the walks of shame home Saturday mornings)
• Burning my Telecommunications book at the end of the semester (even though I learned so much)
• My roommate’s 18^th Birthday and how I dragged her to Fascinations
• Our Red Robin Birthday tradition
• Mach Heroes
• The Russians (and the lap dances that always occurred when we were with them)
• Halloween (there’s truly nothing like a holiday where girls hardly wear clothes)
• Theme parties
• Best friend photo shoots
• New Years in November
• Foam pits
• Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with all the girls on my dorm floor
• Snowed in
• Birthday fiascos
• The Campus Press/CU Independent parties (and long, stressful nights)
• Angels and Devils
• Hookah
• Spring Break adventures
• Country Jam (Do you like it? Do you like it!)
• Buffalo Wild Wings (the great people I met there, and all the bullshit that went on)
• 2 a.m. Wendy’s runs
• CU vs. CSU (RAM THIS!)
• Moving into my first apartment
• Getting Izzy (she was so tiny, we had to put a bell on her so we wouldn’t lose her)
• Pearl Street (shopping, dining and bars)
• Kissing the buffalo on my 21^st
• Dancing at ‘Round Midnight
• Vegas
• Dinner parties
• Making it four years without an 8 a.m. class!
• Laying by the pool during summertime (even though the pool is always freezing)
• Jumping in the pool in the middle of the night because our apartment is so hot
• L.A.
• The peanuts at The Walrus
• Movie/Wine nights
• 80’s night
• Fourth of July fireworks at Folsom
• Football games
• Singing the fight song at the top of my lungs
• CU Spirit

This list could go on forever. There are so many memories from the last four years. I’ll add to this as I think of more.

When my parents (and just about every other adult I knew in High School) told me that college was the best four years of my life, I didn’t believe them. Now that I’ve spent four years in Boulder, Colorado at CU, I believe them.