What’s the best way to sum up a college experience?

I could tell you about the time I drunkenly stumbled out of The Hill, lost my phone and sandals and couldn’t find my house until after sunrise.

I could tell you about the the time I almost met Peyton Manning outside of Gus’s.

Or the time my freshman roommate shattered my bottle of George Dickel after trying to get it down from the ceiling hiding place.

I could tell you about the time I met my current girlfriend, our first date, fight and all the good stuff that comes after.

I could tell you about my first weekend in college, sitting on the grassy hill behind the tennis courts, wondering where my friends and life in high school had gone and whether things would ever be the same again.

They wouldn’t, but that turned out to be OK.

I’m not the same person I was when I came here four years ago. I don’t spend my weekend nights chilling on one of UT’s three green spaces (though it would be a lot cheaper). When I first came here, I was desperate to be liked, hungry for attention and not even partially sure of who I was, let alone what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. To be honest, I still don’t know what I’m going to with my life, but this time around, I have something my freshman self never had the benefit of.

I know who I am, and I have UT to thank for it.

So here’s to my time on Rocky Top. To the ugly campus jokes, to the late night Beacon sessions and to all the friends I was fortunate to enough to enjoy them with. Don’t take a second of your time here for granted. Billy Madison may have put it best, “Stay here. Stay here as long as you can. For the love of God, cherish it.”

Senior, journalism, get a job, [email protected]