For some reason I always thought my last day of college classes would hold some kind of special significance. As cheesy as it sounds, I pictured it as a sentimental affair, one where I would show up on time, pay more attention and maybe retain a few snippets for when I look back on it decades from now.

Of course, things generally don’t go the way they’re expected to. My last day of class began with me hitting the snooze button too many times, jumping in my car without showering, wearing sweatpants and then showing up 10 minutes late to my first class because the parking lot in front of the International Center was full.

So much for a special last day.

Now, just like many of my peers, I’m all finished with classes and have moved to writing stacks and stacks of papers for my final exams. Just like any other semester, except this one seems a bit more final. My last one.

As the day I move out of East Lansing gets quickly approaches, I can’t help but notice everything in my day-to-day life is turning into “lasts.” The last time I walk into Berkey Hall as a student, the last work shift, the last time I go to Bell’s Pizza. It’s pretty disconcerting.

Even so, it still doesn’t feel like I’m graduating. Not yet.

I already attended President Lou Anna K. Simon’s graduate reception at Cowles House. I keep getting emails from the Alumni Association pressuring me to join. My friends and I have even taken graduation pictures in front of several campus landmarks sporting bright green caps and gowns.

Despite all of the constant reminders that, yes, I’ve completed all of the necessary credits to leave East Lansing with a fancy diploma, it still hasn’t sunk in. I still have exams to complete, I still have end-of-the-year get togethers to go to, and I still have plans to go to my first — and last — Burgerama. It can’t be over yet, right?

I’m sure it will feel more real when all of the seniors crowd into Breslin Center next week and hear everyone laud our collective accomplishments. It will feel more real when friends I’ve known for years start packing their bags and heading all over the world, leaving behind the hangouts and dive bars we’ve frequented for so long.

I know I’ll get a little emotional when I give up the keys to the house I’ve lived in for two years and leave it behind for the last time, or when the numerous realities of being a “professional” with no student status attached kick in. I’ll certainly feel something when bills for thousands of dollars in student loans start filling up my mailbox (I honestly might cry about that the most).

Just the thought of all the changes coming up makes me want to run around East Lansing and redo all of the things I loved again to make sure I don’t forget them.

But I think that would be a fruitless effort. There is no way I’ll forget the parts of MSU I loved the most.

The people I love, the connections I made and the memories I have are going to stick with me for a long, long time.

Yeah, of course it’s sad that this part of any graduating senior’s life is coming to a close, but it’s also rather freeing. Even though we’ll still be a part of the university, we will no longer be physically tied to it.

No matter where I or any of the other graduating seniors end up, we can take solace in the fact that we will always be Spartans, and all of our “lasts” will stay with us.

Lauren Gibbons is the managing editor of The State News. Reach her at lgibbons@statenews.com.