like most of my classmates, i’ve been thinking about what my future holds, seeing that graduation is about 90 days away. and thinking about what my future holds also makes me reflect on my time at carolina. while thinking about this, i surfed through the DTH archives looking at what past columnists and editors wrote about their carolina experience. different backgrounds…but we all feel the same things:

“During senior year, the lure of graduation turned into a siren’s call distracting one from school work…graduation was a tempting way of escaping pointless assignments, nightmarish exams, and mind-numbing lecturers…But such freedom comes at a heavy price- seniors have to leave the university they’ve come to know and grown to love. Chapel Hill is the place where most seniors had their first real taste of independence. During four years seniors have formed lifelong friendships and they’ve fallen in and out of love…Graduation means never hearing the Bell Tower chime out the school fight song while reading or resting on the quad on a warm fall day. It means an end to deciding suddenly to skip class one day with friends and make fun of the Pit Preacher’s sign and inane rantings. It means never staying up all night, drinking Coke and munching on peanuts, writing a history paper that has to be turned in the next day at 9am. Graduation means missing that special hint of magic when you’re the only person walking across the quad late at night and you have the entire campus at your feet. Most graduating seniors have spent roughy a fifth of their lives at UNC over four short years. Those years are long enough to form a lasting bond with friends, to understand the magic permeating the air at UNC, and to realize how much leaving it all behind will hurt. But those years just aren’t long enough.” ~Lucas Fenske, 4.28.03

“I’m thankful for the extracurricular opportunities this Univerisity has afforded me and my fellow seniors. From these opportunities we learn future trades, how to be professional and how much work it takes–but how rewarding it is– to follow your dreams. I’m thankful for the people UNC has introduced us to–for the people who we hold most dear and for the people who have taught us more about the world we live in…And I’m even thankful for all those trials and tribulations that came along the way and made us more thoughtful students and stronger people…Carolina has made me a better citizen of this country and a better member of humanity. My four years here will echo in everything I do for the rest of my life. And that–more than the brick buildings, stone walls or the blooming dogwoods is the beauty of this institution.” ~Kim Minugh, 4.28.03

wow. is it really almost over? i remember moving into cobb my first year here for pre-o. i remember fati living in joyner. i remember joining bsm. i remember jovi being my cochee. i remember retreats, parties, pit-sitting, lunches, classes, meetings…can it really be ending so soon? carolina has given me so much. and to think i had absolutely NO intention of coming here. god has blessed me with the experience of a lifetime. i don’t know if i’d ever be able to express in words what my experience here has meant to me. i thank god for leading me here.

“i’m a tar heel born, i’m a tar heel bred…”

“in my mind, i’m going to carolina. can’t you see the sunshine? can you just feel the moonshine?
maybe just like a friend of mine, it hit me from behind. yes, i’m goin’ to carolina in my mind. with a holy host of others standing ’round me, still i’m on the dark side of the moon. and it seems like it goes on like this forever…you must forgive me…if i’m up and gone to carolina in my mind…”