Dear Flyby: How the heck are we seniors?

You asked, we answered. Flyby’s back with our weekly advice column. This week’s theme: tackling senior year.

Q: How do I answer the question “How do you feel about being a senior?”

A: As the resident senior-in-denial of the friend group, my go-to response is: *sighs and looks down* “It is what it is.”

Class of 2024, it’s weird to think about how we got here. Having just had our last first day of fall classes ever (except for all of you overachievers planning on going to graduate school), I can’t help but think about how long it’s been since freshman fall. With our masks and lanyards in hand, some of us moved into our freshman dorms, whether they were in Pfoho, Lowell or the Yard. Some of us never even stepped foot on campus for the entirety of freshman year, and spent the year at home. But… I’d like to think that we’ve made up for it since. We were the first (and hopefully only?) Harvard class to ever have sophomore convocation, we had single-serve chocolate Oatly in the d-halls (Ah, the good old days) and we got to experience the making and happening of Harvard’s first-ever virtual FOP (can someone explain how that worked? I’m still confused).

Three years later, here we are — experts at sprucing up HUDS dishes, picking classes (obviously jk), getting to Smith early on the weekend if we want to find a table and daring enough to go out on Thursday nights, call our TFs and (some) professors by their first name (I haven’t gotten here yet, but maybe others have) and skip that Gen Ed lecture when class seems just-a-bit-too-far from the Quad on a random Tuesday. So, while being the Covid-19 freshman year class sucked, being a senior means we’ve still had lots of fun memories here at Harvard in the past three years, despite our challenging start. And we’ve got a lot coming up. One more Harvard-Yale with a student ticket discount; one more first snowfall living on campus; one more go at Datamatch (3rd time’s the charm guys); one more crazy (or cozy) spring break. And while we started our time at Harvard on Zoom, I am hopeful that our graduation next May will be bustling with 3-D family and friends.

So, when you get asked about being a senior and graduating soon, don’t be bogged down by things ending. You can still have fun while appreciating the finality of things, knowing that there are so many things to look forward to as a senior (did someone say senior priority status to finally get into that one class you’ve always wanted to take?). Answer with a smile, that you’re excited for all the things that senior year will bring.

Or don’t. Just smile and walk away from the poor little freshman who asked you, in hopes of getting some sage advice. They’ll figure it out and experience it on their own. Or, they can read Flyby. ;)

xoxo,

Flyby Blog

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