by ALISON LEVIER Photographer/Videographer
SENIOR YEAR. It’s something that seems so far off when you are a child, something that you look forward to during your freshman, sophomore, and junior years, and something that is too horrifyingly confusing and stressful that it puts you in some kind of a smoke-filled daze when it is actually happening.
Now, I know this may seem a bit premature, you know, writing a review on senior year when it is only November, but, since it is “anything goes” week here at the Falconer’s Voice, I thought I would jump on the opportunity train while it was still in station.
Entering my senior year, I had no idea how different school would feel. I always knew it was somehow different, just from seeing my friends in past years enter their senior year and change ever so slightly.
I did not anticipate, though, this surreal feeling that engulfs me every minute of every day.
I feel like I am taking everything in for the last time. I have already completed my last first day of high school, my last Showcase, and I know the rest of this year is just going to be one “last” after another.
With this newfound sense of time and the paralyzing reality that I will be in a different zip code at this time next year, I notice a change in my peers and friends. We do not seem as caught up in the petty things as we used to be. We are only two months into this whirlwind, and already I am noticing an unspoken connection that all the seniors seem to have with one another.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that all our older friends are gone, but I am noticing within my peers a willingness to make friends outside of their usual clique, and a sincere interest in what others have to say.
Of course, while there are senior perks, there are also major downsides to senior year. The college application process is a migraine-inducing horror show that is inescapable (unless, of course, you’re not going to college, in which case RIGHT ON, but this does not apply to you) and mind-numbing.
In the last three years, the idea of college and applying to college has been something that is touched on but never fully discussed. In fact, it seems that it never will be fully discussed because this “discussion” has not happened yet and it is November.
I am not an expert in anything except how to make the perfect bowl of popcorn, so I cannot offer much insight, but I can say that as someone who is going through it right now, it absolutely sucks and I cannot wait for it to be over.
Ha. “Over” is a funny word, lately. It carries so much weight and so much meaning at this point in my life that it feels like I should not be throwing it around like that.
I will conclude the November issue of my Senior Year review with two words I would use to describe my experience so far: surreal and surrealer. Sorry if that is a cop-out, but it is the truth.
I have never felt such a strange feeling before, and that is because I know everything is changing. I cannot say what the future holds, but I think for now I will just sit back and focus on the present. In one year, everything will be different, and I only have a little while left to enjoy my family, my friends, and MTHS.