Welcome 2016. I can’t believe that it’s finally here. Four years can go by very fast. This time four years ago, I was a senior in high school, preparing myself for college. Now, fast forward to today, and I’m a senior in college, preparing for the real world. Sigh. It’s a hard pill to swallow. I’m also amazed at myself because I’ve changed as a person within the past four years.

I’m not the type of person who makes resolutions, but I just want to enjoy myself this year. I also want to try different things. For starters, I decided I was going to wear red braids instead of black because I wanted to try something different for a change. I was kind of skeptical on how it was going to turn out, but I’ve gotten great responses from it.

Before this semester started, I thought about the past years, and what I have accomplished in my life. I see most of my friends I went to high school doing awesome things like traveling to different places and studying abroad. I always wanted to travel to different places, and do different things, but fear always held me back. But one of my friends who was studying abroad last semester in Germany pushed me into trying new things.

For this last semester, I want it to be something that I can remember. I don’t want to look back and think, oh I should have done this or that, or I wish I had the opportunity to do this or that. I’ve been always the type of person who plays it safe. I stay in my comfort zone way too much. Now, I’m not saying it’s not okay be comfortable with what you like, but if you don’t push yourself to try new things, then you’re missing out on life.

One of the big things besides G-Day (that’s what I’m calling graduation), I want to start a YouTube channel. I’ve seen most of these YouTubers getting great opportunities in the media. Of course, not everyone is going to have the same opportunities, but why don’t I take a whack at it? If it doesn’t work out, then that’s fine. But I have a feeling that this might work. I still haven’t decided what the direction I want the channel to go in, but it might fall under pop culture. Maybe….

Over winter break, I felt like every single person kept asking me that dreaded question. The question that college seniors don’t want to hear: What are your plans after graduation? I don’t know how many times I was asked this question over break. Dude, can I get through my last semester before I start thinking about the future? Thanks.

I’m trying to think about the future too much this year because I don’t want to overwhelm myself or scare myself to death. I think people put too much pressure on students after they graduate. It’s a different time period, and some of us don’t know what’s going to happen with our futures. How are we supposed to figure out anything after graduation? When people kept asking me what are my plans after graduation, I honestly don’t know. If there are any opportunities out there, I’ll take them.

It’s too early to tell, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great year. I have no idea, but I have this gut feeling it’s going to be great. Taking over as managing editor this semester should be interesting.

After graduation, I want to see old faces I haven’t seen in four years. There are some people from high school I haven’t seen in a while. I suggested to my friend that we should go down to Wildwood and rent a house for a week or two. I also want to go to KCON, which is an annual Kpop convention.

Time does run fast. It feels weird because it felt like I was in high school yesterday. It doesn’t feel like four years already. I know that I’ve changed as a person. But it’s a good kind of change. For the goals I want to accomplish this year, I hope they become stepping stones for me, especially the YouTube channel. I think that will be one of the goals I want to see go through successfully.

I also don’t want to stop writing. I did apply for a paid summer internship at a publishing company in New Jersey. I hope that I get the position, but I can also start my own website, where I can just write my thoughts on anything.

I also want to travel right after graduation. That’s one thing I always wanted to do. Travel. I hope that goal gets accomplished before the year is over. Like the title says: new year, new beginnings.