Yes, loyal readers, it's that time.
It's that time at the end of the year when even the most socially concerned columnist, who has heretofore been busy enlightening State Press readers on a variety of global issues, becomes a quivering mass of nostalgia, incapable of writing anything other than a final goodbye piece.
I'm no exception.
Faced with what will surely be my last words in these fine pages, I can only bow to the great internal pressure to bid my undergrad years at ASU adieu in print.
These last four years have been a tremendous learning experience for me, both in and out of the classroom.
The Languages & Lit building (the Ladies Love nickname is going to catch on any day now) has housed a full three-fourths of my classes, including one semester where I took 18 hours of English credits and practically slept there.
I'm pretty sure I won't miss the Hogwarts-style arrangement of elevators and staircases that never lead to the right floor, or the way I can never find the right faculty mailbox in the English department office, despite the fact that they're supposedly alphabetized.
I will miss the actual classes and the enthusiastic professors who taught them. Interested in women's roles in 19th century British literature? Want to know why "Titus Andronicus" is Shakespeare's most spectacularly awesome play?
Take me to IHOP and I'll talk your ear off.
The English department refined a passion for literature I've had since childhood.
Meanwhile, I'm still not sure how I'm managing to walk off with an extra degree in political science.
As much as I feel a part of English, what with the thousand announcements they email and post on Blackboard each day, I am bewildered to think that the handful of poli sci classes I've taken out of interest in random topics qualifies me for a degree in the subject.
But that's ASU. In a sea of 60,000 students, school is what you make of it, and if you want to be involved in your education, you have to seek your education out.
The best thing I ever did as a freshman was to start joining clubs. Campus organizations are where I gathered a collection of 300 ill-fitting T-shirts and had some of the most unique experiences of my life.
For example, just last week I spent Friday night standing in ankle-deep mud and filling water balloons nonstop for a good five hours.
I've also traveled to eight different states for various conferences and competitions, planned a Welcome Week event for 5,000 people, and been pelted with chocolate syrup-soaked marshmallows.
But the best thing I got to do at ASU is meet some of the most wonderful and important people in my life.
I've had advisers who inspired me on a daily basis, who roused me to excellence by referencing "The West Wing," and who sent me into fits of giggles with a keenly arched eyebrow.
I've had supervisors at campus jobs who became confidantes and comforted me with the kind of all-encompassing hugs that you can still feel an hour later.
Best of all, I've made friends so good I refuse to give them up when I move my tassel to the other side of my mortarboard next week.
It's not every day you find the kind of people who enjoy quoting Jane Austen, "The Office" and the classic Amanda Bynes film "She's the Man."
What ASU has taught me is that the best thing you can do when you find the people who improve your life just by being in it is to grab onto them, take them out to dinner and enjoy the precious time you have.
Reach the reporter at: hanna.ricketson@asu.edu.
