Four. Three. Two. One.

Things I've learned in College:

1) Listen to Yourself. The only one who knows what is best for you is you. Have confidence in your "gut," despite what other people say. This way, if something negative comes out of the decision, you can waste your time blaming yourself rather than other people. It's harder to live with the regrets of what you "should have" done.

2) Life is Not Always Just. There are people who go through life following all the rules and there are people who go through life looking for rules to break. Just because you follow rules, play by standards, and live by deadlines, the awards you won in your Catholic grammar school proclaiming you were "a good Christian," do not necessarily translate into the scenarios you encounter at 22 years old--but, sometimes they do.

3) Everything Happens for a Reason. Fate has put us in a certain place at a certain time. Sometimes you don't know why, sometimes you'll never know why. God sends you people and puts you in situations that you can learn from. No experience was ever a "waste" because of the simple fact that it was an experience. You learn from everything regardless whether or not it was a negative or positive situation.

In the past four years, I've seen three continents, learned two languages, met hundreds of people, and written thousands of words. I've laughed, I've cried, I've screamed, I've sighed. I made best friends, best enemies, and best friends again. I've felt love, fallen in love, and felt hate. I've learned to accept things I cannot understand and realized that if you really want something, you'll make it yours. If not, you never really wanted it.

Tomorrow morning, I will walk across the stage and receive a little piece of paper that several years, tears, and dollars have earned.

Congratulations Class of 2010.