Once again I am writing this early because tomorrow is my college's Day Drinking and Night Partying Extravaganza. Basically, I will be in no state to write. I'll be too busy going to concerts and enjoying one of the last days I have on this campus before I leave for over a year.

In a little over a week I will be leaving this campus and I don't plan on returning until fall of 2012. That is a long time.

Here are some thoughts on my college experience here:

- Winters are brutal here and this year we had the snowiest one in Syracuse's recent history. In December, snowfall broke national records - 95 consecutive hours of uninterrupted snowfall. We didn't get one day off from classes. Annoying? Yes. But it's one of those things that you look back on and smile about. It's miserable and seems impossible, but you get through it. Then, spring doesn't really come here until May (for example, today was one of the first nice days of the year and April is almost over. Last year it snowed on Mother's Day, which was in May). I think the fact that we are all on one campus, buckling down to make it through the harsh winters actually bonds our campus closely together. Not in the way that we're all friends. But we go through the same bad weather and we still go to class. We can laugh about it together when the sun finally comes out for the last 2 weeks of classes.

- I have a new appeciation for the color orange. I hadn't really thought about whether or not I wanted to go to a school with big sports. It wasn't really something I thought about. I came to this university because of it's academics (specifically Newhouse, the renowned communications school, but then I switched my major so that reason didn't apply anymore). It was an unexpected surprise to have such great school spirit here. I never thought I would care about college sports but now I'm a die hard Syracuse Orange fan. I got season tickets to the basketball games this year. I wear orange all the time and I've even painted my face for games. It's a lot fun and now I have a team to support for the rest of my life (in addition to the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, of course).

- My time here hasn't been easy but I this college still means a lot to me. I've met some really important friends here. I learned just how strong I can be when faced with difficulties. I got to have the quintessential college experience, complete with frat parties and dorm living and bad dining hall food and afternoons spent on the quad. While I can't look back on the past two years without being reminded of the really painful memories, I'm still glad that I came here. And I think I'll miss Syracuse a lot next year. It's my school.

I've seriously considered transferring multiple times but I can't seem to leave this school (for longer than a year abroad). It's not perfect and it hasn't been easy, but I think the school was the right place for me perhaps because I made it through. I had a really hard time this year and I still came back here, I stayed. That means something.

P.S. Royal Wedding made me want to move to England right now! Can't wait until September.