Graduating college is such an indescribable and odd feeling. Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real yet and we’re less than a month out from it (17 days to be exact!). There have been so many different perspectives we’ve heard from our fellow senior class about this HUGE milestone: a lot of anxiety about the future and adulting, excitement to move on to professional life or a new chapter, and bittersweetness. The two words we would use to describe it are uncertainty and hope. There is so much uncertainty about the future and where all of us will be even a year from now and which friendships will remain, but we also have a lot of hope for this new beginning and all that it will bring — new opportunities, travel, experiences, challenges, and community.
In this post, we want to discuss how we have come to terms with graduating and hope that it resonates with some of you (either now or later on in the future). If you know us, you know that Dawson is READY to get out of UGA and start his job, and Saanvikha is a little more on the fence about this new chapter. Regardless, we don’t want this to be a sappy post but rather a celebration of this milestone with a taste of reflection.
Coming to Terms with Leaving UGA
To be honest, neither one of us is that devastated about leaving UGA or Athens. Yes, Athens has been home for the past four years and we have made some of the best memories and friends in this small college town. But, at the end of these four years, we feel ready to move on and leave UGA. Also, it’s exciting! Our next chapter is gonna be different, and we are both excited to be doing something new. Part of what makes leaving this campus easier is that we both left for study abroad and internships in the past. Also, although the campus and town is beautiful, we want to explore more of the world. There are so many wonderful places out there and experiences to be had, and studying abroad really reinforced that point. We’ve taken advantage of everything UGA/Athens can offer us at this point of time (including the restaurants and coffee shops), so we’re ready for something new.
What’s the most difficult part about leaving UGA? The friendships and community we’ve formed here. Reflecting back on our college experiences and the campus, we’re not sure we will remember the exact layout of MLC, the time it takes to walk from our freshman year dorm to downtown, or our senior year class schedule. But, we will remember the long nights at the library goofing off with our friends and getting no work done, jumping into the fountain freshman year with the amazing group of people we met at the dorm, going to gymnastics meets with friends, and simply staying up just chatting about life and the world.
The people really make UGA hard to leave. There is no other time in our lives that we will be SO close to all of our friends, be able to pick up friends for a sweet treat run, and go ring the bell after an OChem test.
We try not to think about all the lasts (last Milledge walk, last time in the research lab, last night out, last Snellibrate, etc.), but it gets hard sometimes. We know that the friendships that mean the most will transcend college and UGA and that we will still be able to keep in touch and visit and create new memories. But, also, Athens is a place that we can visit for many years to come. That’s what keeps us going…at least for now.
Why We Feel (Mostly) Ready
Like we said before, we think we have made the most of our UGA experience, and we truly think that our time here has prepared us for the future. Dealing with things like rejection throughout college has really revealed that we’re only going to face more rejections and failures in the future, so we need to learn how to handle them and be able to use them as learning experiences (more on this later!). We also feel like we have built a network and community here that will be there for us even past college.
Graduation is not just closing a book and never looking back. The people, skills, and experiences will remain, and we will always be able to pull from them in the future as we continue to learn and grow.
Like we mentioned earlier, studying abroad and doing internships in two big cities last summer really prepared us for this moment. When we were in New York City and Washington D.C., there were several moments where we felt alone. We sort of knew a few other people in these cities, but we still didn’t have our closest friends with us every single day. We learned to not lose ourselves or our aspirations even in these big cities by making intentional efforts to meet and hangout with people, to serve in the community, to reach out to friends through phone calls, and to experience our new environment. This is something that we will definitely take with us post-graduation as we embark on new adventures.
The Money & The Milestone
Graduation not only is a big personal milestone, but it is also a huge financial milestone. For most of us, this is when we start becoming a lot more financially independent (some of you may already have been). Something that both of us have been working on and planning is learning how to create a post-graduate budget and plan for our future. Reading financial literacy books and talking to our parents about investing and donating have been key in helping us plan for the future. Also, seeing signing and relocation bonuses or even knowing what our salary is going to be feels a little intimidating but also exciting because graduation feels so much more real with it. We hope to share more about how we’ve gone about creating a budget and planning in the near future!
Conclusion
Again, we hope graduating seniors can resonate with some of the points we mentioned here. I’m sure our emotions will change and fluctuate as May 9 approaches, but for now, we’re trying to make the most of the rest of our time here at UGA. So, let us know if you want to hang out!
