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This evening, after walking back from an impromptu study session, I walked into my room and poke my head around the partition to see what my roommate was up to. I peer over and see an empty room. My roommate moved out two days ago. That’s when it hit me: my freshman year is basically over.

I’m definitely a creature of habit and finals week has definitely thrown me for a loop. Couple that with the end of the spring semester and I’m totally disoriented.

I’m pretty sure that my brain thinks these finals are basically just huge tests and afterwards my friends and I are going to continue on with the same class schedule that we’ve had for the past five months. I’ve gotten accustomed to this lifestyle and it has become the norm. The “end of freshman year” is basically something that is too far away to care about. On more than on occasion I’ve said something like “See you next week!” only to have the person respond by telling me that next week is summer vacation. With that situation, I laugh and tell them that if I don’t see them again have a great summer but it doesn’t really register. I feel like I am going to see them next week but that is definitely not the case.

Within the past few days, the end of the year has become palpable with one word – Goodbye

It isn’t the temporary goodbyes that strike me, but rather the permanent ones.

For instance, I said goodbye to two of my friends last Saturday. However, I know that I am going to see them next fall when school begins again. This goodbye was sad, and I am going to miss them over the summer, but it’s not like I am never going to see them again.

I’ve already said two permanent goodbyes, and they were much different. Last Wednesday, I said goodbye to a coworker. This guy is a senior, and will be graduating in May. Wednesday was his last day. I had a few minutes to stop by, so I walked into the office and said goodbye. I basically told him to have a nice life, congratulations on graduation from college, and that it was great getting to know him over the past year. He didn’t say anything about it, but I could tell that this was strange for him. It’s almost as if he realized at that moment that his life here at Syracuse University was coming to a close.

I said my second permanent goodbye today. This guy was also a coworker of mine. It went along the same lines as the first. I wished him a good life and such, and he actually offered to buy me a drink (which I would never take because that would be illegal). This goodbye was a little weird to me, because this guy is the person that I am basically being trained to replace in the long run.

With both of these people, I am most likely never going to see them again. It’s weird to think that.

I am a firm believer that anyone you meet has an effect on your life whether you realize it or not. I hope that I have had an effect on these people, because they have definitely affected me.

If the rest of my college career goes as fast as this first year did, than it’s going to be over before I know it. When that time comes, I’ll be saying a lot more permanent goodbyes than temporary.