After high school commencement, many graduates think of one thing and one thing only - college.

What’s odd is the fact that when people step foot on their college campuses, they revisit the days when they were in high school. All the days with friends, the dances, high school sports, even the family they left behind are filling the minds of the new college students.

It’s been just more than two months since I left my previous life at home and moved to MSU. The feeling is bittersweet.

I am not the child who resents their parents thus being happy to “finally get out of the house.” I love my parents, and if it were not for their guidance throughout my life, I would not be here at MSU this moment.

College is a place that allows for more friendships to be made, an education to be furthered and for students to finally experience the real world.

I have taken the first of many new steps into the “real world.” That is the sweetness.

Unfortunately, there is a bitter feeling as well. I’m also one of the students who misses the high school moments. They’re moments that will never be forgotten, but because of college life, they may be clouded for the time being.

The feeling may not be a bitterness, but rather homesickness.

For 17 years, I grew up in a single house, with two loving parents, a loving brother and loving relatives that I saw nearly every day. Most of my nonschool hours were spent with the friends that brightened my life day after day. Times have now changed.

One of my best friends is a freshman at Notre Dame. The other, my next-door neighbor, is pursuing a career in broadcast journalism near home in Canton. My girlfriend is a senior at my former high school. Other friends are scattered across the United States from community colleges near home to universities in New York and Washington.

I played baseball at my high school, and many bonds were formed on and off the field. My coach was a huge inspiration for me and made a gigantic impact on my life. I played with some guys who are now collegiate athletes. Baseball was and will always be a big part of my life.

My life has been shaped by all of my friends and family, and now, I rarely get to see the people who made me who I am. It’s an unexplainable feeling.

Nevertheless, college is just the beginning of another dimension in my life. I have met many new people who have become friends and mentors, including my three roommates.

I am in the College of Communication of Arts and Sciences, one of the best of its kind nationwide. The professors, who don’t fit my high school vision of being extremely difficult and coldhearted, are not only teachers, but mentors for help and guidance.

The college experience is just that - an experience.

All college students reminisce about their pasts, but also move toward the future. College, and in my case, MSU, is just another stepping stone in a life filled with twists and turns.

Don’t get me wrong, college isn’t a bad thing - it’s a good thing. The next dimension in all of our lives is a great way for us to experience the world as it truly is.

But because this is a new dimension and an entire new way of living doesn’t mean that we should be irresponsible. We need to act as if our parents are looking over our shoulders, making sure we wake up for class and do our homework, just as we did, or should have, before we came to MSU.

For me, this four year college journey is the start of my journalist career and the furthering of my education. This is also the time when some students realize what path of life they want to take. Others start playing modified versions of Russian roulette by skipping classes here and there, going to party after party, and forgetting the real reason they are giving money to MSU - an education.

College is supposed to be fun, just as high school was. But in the days of high school, we strove to climb the success ladder so we could be accepted into a university of MSU’s caliber.

We all need to continue striving at MSU as we did in high school. These four years are the beginning of our real lives. This is the time we prove to everyone that we can make it. We must not only speak with our tongues, and say we will strive, because it’s like the old saying goes, actions always speak louder than words.

Chris Mackinder is a State News intern. He can be reached at mackind8@msu.edu