For my final Winter Quarter, I’m looking forward to being a college student again. In the past six months I’ve had a blast completing two internships in two different cities in the U.S. — one of which was my Journalism Residency — but after a stint in the real world I’m excited to be back with my friends in Evanston.

Winter is also my last quarter taking classes, and as my college career is winding down I’m finding that I have more time to do the things that made me fall in love with NU as a freshman.  My senior-year anti-bucket list includes going to as many basketball games, plays, a cappella performances and speakers as I can; basically absorbing all that Northwestern has to offer on campus before I graduate. I also plan to do a little eating out, seeing movies and shopping in Evanston, because I’m pretty sure the next discount I’ll be able to take advantage of after “student” is “senior citizen.”

I’m looking forward to having a fun, comfortable Winter Quarter despite the world outside of NU looming closer than ever. I haven’t been this eager to take advantage of classic Northwestern on-campus experiences, the aforementioned basketball games, for example, in a while. In retrospect, my eclectic experience is why this Winter Quarter is so special. From leadership opportunities in extra-curricular activities to getting the chance to go abroad — and being able to take classes I was interested in along the way — my time at Northwestern was everything I wanted it to be. Having done pretty much everything I wanted to do at NU, I feel like a giddy freshman again. Like then, I’m just looking forward to being a college kid while I can.

–Ava Wallace