It seems like just yesterday I was just a tiny toddler tumbling around campus with my parents, eager to see a Notre Dame football game, even though I hadn't the faintest idea how everything worked. My only care in the world back then was how many of the different sights I could see during my brief visits to campus. But now that I’m here, I worry that if I blink, I just might miss it.
Fast forward to 2015, and I’m already almost three-quarters through my college career. Little did I know back then that I would eventually get to come to South Bend for more than just the occasional football game, but what I really didn't expect was just how quickly time would pass in my time at Notre Dame.
I still remember freshman year, unpacking my room, making new friends, learning my way around the grounds. Teaching myself all the lingo was a must —“okay guys, we’re sitting right-right in SDH at the Jesus table.” Paddling for my life at the swim test, barely surviving the fitness test, Theology and Philosophy and requirements galore. Football. Tailgating. Notre Dame.
Sophomore year, too, has come and gone. Friends become closer, you feel entitled to laugh at freshmen asking where Geddes Hall is and you start to think that maybe dorm parties aren't all they’re cracked up to be. You graduate to being a tour guide whether you like it or not, flaunting your knowledge of the campus to tourists. Majors are declared, classes get harder, nights get longer — but in the end, it’s still all worth it.
And now, even junior year feels fleeting. Answering career fair after career fair. Answering the question of “Do you have an internship yet?” Junior Parents Weekend is just around the corner. Friends are abroad. Older friends are getting ready to graduate, and you're starting to feel old compared to everyone else. Everything is beginning to come full circle and as senior year looms ahead, I find it hard to believe that I only have one year left.
Sure, this might sound sappy and sentimental, but I’m positive many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. I hope we are all able to make the rest of our time here last.
As Lou Holtz famously said, “If you’ve been [to Notre Dame], no explanation is necessary. If you haven’t, none is adequate.”
