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"My world has been a whirlwind for the past month and a half \u2014 I mean, I was experiencing stressful weeks of exams, planning a bunch of events for my residential college, meeting (even more) new people, applying for campus jobs for next semester, and, of course, finals were looming in the distance... Oh wait, did I say WERE? Because one moment, I was chatting with my friends about how much time there was before finals, and then, all of a sudden, I&amp;#039;m in the midst of said finals period, DROWNING in differential equations and physics and craziness.  Then, the other day, after finishing all of her finals early, my roommate moved out and went back home. My fantastic, beautiful, red-haired, silly, smart roommate was gone. For eight months, we kept each other company and laughed together when life was going well. She left my desk lamp on during those nights when I came back super late from the library, and she comforted me on those nights when I was crying in my bed about some of the toughest things I&amp;#039;ve had to endure in my life. But suddenly, she was gone. Not going to lie, I teared up a little when I saw her off into her airport shuttle with the rest of the people from my hall. Now, her entire half of the room is empty, and even though there&amp;#039;s a lot of new space, it&amp;#039;s difficult for me to even use her desk without feeling super weird. Seeing her empty half of the room made it hit me: my freshman year of college is coming to an end. You thought senior year of high school goes fast? Man, freshman year of college is exponentially faster. I can&amp;#039;t believe it. I&amp;#039;ve spent so much time here, invested so much energy, and now it&amp;#039;s over. Once finals period is done, I&amp;#039;m packing up my stuff, watching my senior friends graduate, and then I&amp;#039;m leaving for New Jersey. I&amp;#039;ll be home, and this year \u2014 a year of making new friends, learning new subjects to an incredible depth, enjoying the Texan sunshine, coming back into my room super late at night (or early in the morning), and experiencing unprecedented, unimaginable growth \u2014 this whole crazy year will be a memory, a dream.  And looking at my roommate&amp;#039;s empty side of the room is a bittersweet reminder of that dream, a dream that&amp;#039;s now over, but will continue into the next three years. Ever had one of those moments when you realize that life has sped on past you? Share your story in the comments!  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a14120/rice-university-end-of-freshman-year/>