I got a piece of paper the other day confirming my survival of 13 years of school. I have sat in classrooms for approximately 16,380 hours, not including all of the thousands of hours of homework, studying, and stressing I did over these years. This piece of paper, and I suppose, a brain full of knowledge are my rewards. I guess they will have to do.

Of course I am excited for the social and extracurricular life Furman has to offer next year, but academically, I am more excited to go back to school than I have been in a long time. I get to take classes of my own choice! This year I sat in an economics class. Let's just say that was not my subject. My teacher expressed that to me as well. She smiled and nodded when I told her I would not be pursuing economics and would be pursuing a career of some sort in a creative/writing/artsy kind of field. And next year, I can choose to not take economics and to take an art class instead! Also, I don't have to take for ex., physics if I don't want to. I can take geology or astronomy. Those sound more entertaining than physics, but maybe that's just me. Maybe I will find that I like different kinds of sciences! Maybe I will find a teacher that inspires me to study subjects I never thought I would have liked.

Now I know I just said I was excited, but I have an older brother (who attends Furman) who likes to stress me out. As I was deciding that Furman was the place for me, he clearly made it sound perfect. He decided to not mention the extreme academic rigor involved. Of course I have known that Furman is an excellent school with excellent academics. Of course I had done my research to realize that Furman is always on the top of the "rigorous academics" lists. Of course that didn't really sink in until now...so, on top of my excitement, yes, I am a little nervous about new class loads. I know I am going to have to work hard (I have a piece of paper documenting my understanding and execution of hard work), and I think I am ready for the challenge.