A young woman steps on the TCU campus for the first time as a high school grad and entering college freshman. She is nervous, but excited; scared, but thrilled; anxious, but ready.She is 1,200 miles from home, away from her familiar Minnesota territory – the one she grew up in. And the only person she knows is her roommate.

That young woman was me three and a half years ago. Now my college career is about to end, and I feel like I’ve matured quite a bit since freshman year.

If you asked me if I thought that I would be editor in chief of the Skiff my senior year, I would have told you to forget it. I never expected to get this opportunity, or even to enjoy the late nights, stress and overtime that comes with the job description.

But this is my last issue as editor in chief, and looking back, I wouldn’t change my decision for anything. It has been an awesome experience, and I hope you have enjoyed each issue as much as we have enjoyed producing it.

Looking back at my college career, there are a few things I wish I had known coming into TCU, so I thought I’d share them with you in hopes that they will be beneficial:

-Clutter: Don’t bring your bedroom and then some with you to college – there just is not enough space to fit it all in the small residence halls.

-Procrastination: It worked for me, but it never failed to stress me out – I always seemed to finish the projects that were due five weeks down the road before I’d start the papers that were due in the next hour. Maybe you shouldn’t follow my lead.

-Greek life: Before I got here, I didn’t even know what Recruitment was. I never understood why people wanted to pay for their friends, but I found out that Greek life is not so bad after all. A few of my sorority/fraternity friends helped me to realize that – so go through Recruitment if you want to, but don’t do it for anyone else but yourself.

-Work: Every semester I worked 40-plus hours a week, topping out at 70 hours some weeks. That, along with a heavy class load, just doesn’t leave any time for a social life or down time. If you don’t take time out for yourself and have fun, you’re sure to burn out quickly; I know I did – so work, but take time to relax and do absolutely nothing. You’ll be happy that you did.

-Class: There were times where I would make it to one class a day. That really didn’t help my GPA – make the most of your class time in college, and be thankful that you have the opportunity to learn because there are some who would die to take your place.

-Dating: About this time last year, I promised myself that I’d get through college, start my career and then think about dating. Well, not even two months later, I met the man that I’ll marry in January. Don’t try and schedule your life – it will catch you by surprise. It did me.

-Life: Sometimes things happened that I didn’t expect or didn’t like, but things always worked out for the best. To paraphrase Matthew 6:34, don’t worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of its own. Take each day how it comes, and don’t worry if things don’t always go your way. Be thankful for what you have.

And I think that’s all the advice I’ve got. … Well, other than that, we have to remember, as every athlete and coach would tell you, “We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

Editor in Chief Gabe Wicklund is a senior broadcast journalism major from Anoka, Minn.