Looking back over the last six years, there was so much more to school than tests and homework. Sure, right now, we're so stressed out about the Leaving Cert. that the exams seem like the only important thing in the world, but in hindsight, the friends that I've made, who've made the hardest days endurable, they're more important than any exam. The memories we've made together, from Gaisce, to Belfast and all the smaller moments in between, will be the moments I'll take with me. One day when I'm old and grey, I'll be sitting in an arm chair beside the fire telling my grandchildren about "the good ole days" when I was in school. By then the stress and worries of the exams will have faded into nothingness and I'll only remember the good times, the jokes, the tears and the laughter.
I always assumed that when I got to the end I'd be ready to go, and I guess I am in some ways, but the thought of leaving this stage of my life behind seems so surreal. After six years of the same routine it's hard to believe that I won't be coming back in September, to the same teachers, the same classrooms and the same girls I've been with since first year. The thought of moving away from home to a big university, where I'll have to start all over again and make new friends is positively terrifying, but it's also exciting. The road ahead may be hazy, I'm still not sure of what I want to do with my life, and how well I do in the exams next month is the sole factor deciding my fate, but I know I'll be okay and it'll all be worth it, in the end.