When I carefully tossed my graduation cap in the air and watched as it fell down, I thought those were the ending credits of the best PG-13 high school film ever. I knew that my life would have a sequel but so far, this has felt like one of those movies that just has so many remakes and reboots that you stopped caring after movie number 4 because the plot got redundant. At first, college felt like it would change everything. I thought I would meet a boy, fall in love and graduate top of my class like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. I have never been more wrong and I hate to say it but, if I could go back to that hopeful 18-year-old Blake and tell her to throw her graduation cap in the air a little slower, I would. 

As a Tarleton State University junior, I feel as though I have watched the world change slowly, yet all at once. I saw a normal, party-filled school year, a COVID-19 infected year and a “back to normal” school year. As far as what 2022 has in store for us, I feel like I’m walking into a dark room without a flashlight. Anything could be around the corner waiting to attack. It’s like in those horror movies when the music becomes ominous and you know the killer is coming but then they just don’t. Then they come out with a kitchen knife ready to slow-walk down a dark hallway until you trip over an object randomly thrown onto the ground.

My senior year of high school was great until the senioritis kicked in and all I wanted to do was move to Stephenville and start a new life. Despite the fact that I was fully aware of what Stephenville had to offer, I was so excited to live out my college movie dream. I think it is safe to say that I was a delusional highschool graduate at the time. Once the summer months passed and T-week began, I felt like the main character in a rom-com. The color run at the rec field, Tuesday nights at City Limits and late night trips to Peacock’s for a waffle sandwich were all rites of passage for 18-year-old Blake. I was thriving. I was missing a majority of my college algebra classes  but I was making a lot of friends. I was also losing a lot of friends as well but that is a story for another day. Although it was short lived, I feel blessed to have experienced at least one year of normal life when COVID-19 was not a thing and parking was only slightly an issue. 

I remember hearing the news that we would have an extended spring break. I thought that was great news because that was my first time having an adult spring break experience. I sometimes reminisce on how little knowledge I had at the time. They say ignorance is bliss and March 2020 was as blissful as that first bite of chocolate after a long week of face-to-face instruction. It seems like COVID-19 hit America as hard as those foam arm things that they have on Wipeout. We thought we could dodge it but it hit us like a freight train. However, I must admit that the beginning of the pandemic was like no other, I loved it! Tik Tok was booming with fun recipes, videos on how to do your own acrylic nails and loads of fun dances and challenges to try. The fast food restaurants near my house were closed and Walmart stopped staying open 24/7 but lying in bed all day and watching Netflix was the best. Shows like The Circle and Tiger King were keeping me afloat. I would go back to summer 2020 in a heartbeat. 

“When I first heard about COVID-19, I was a senior in high school. I had a lot of mixed emotions about it because we were out of school which was fun but I was also missing out on a lot of fun activities. I missed out on my last prom and graduation,” sophomore kinesiology major, Adriana Deleon said.

As much as I would love to say that this year has felt normal, I know that it is not true. I just turned 20-years-old and even though I had a normal birthday, it feels like this year has been never-ending. I do love that we are back to face-to-face classes and that sports are back to normal but even that joy has been short lived. With the new delta-variant, I feel like life will never be back to normal. However, 18-year-old me keeps telling 20-year-old me to enjoy these free moments while they last because they never really do. This year is nearing its end and I hope it is not a trailer for 2022.

So far, 2022 is uncharted territory. I’ve been trying to stay positive and think about the good things that will come from the upcoming year. I’ll finally turn 21, I’ll be hearing word back from the teacher education program (TEP) about Block II , I’ll be living with my two best friends in Integrity one last time and hopefully, I’ll be in the classroom working with children two times a week. As far as what I hope to see in the world, I hope we spread love and positivity and that all the bad slowly starts to become good. Although 2022 is uncharted territory, I hope we stumble upon pots of gold at the end of this crooked rainbow.

Being a junior at Tarleton State University has given me the opportunity to watch the world slowly crumble around me in the best possible way. The pre-pandemic peace, the two week quarantine turning into a two year pandemic and the normal, yet fleeting, post-pandemic calm down and the uncharted territories of 2022. I have truly experienced it all while still managing to keep my head above water. It was questionable at that time but I survived the calm before the storm and the chaos after it passed. The chaos, for the most part, has passed. It’s like the last scene in The Day After Tomorrow when all the remaining characters finally take a breath even though the world is ending and then just abruptly stopped ending. These are the end credits of the final movie in the series. We are finally starting a new chapter. Now I’m ready to jump into 2022 head first to see what is yet to come.