Five hours. After having spent more than 1650 hours in class over the past three and a half years and who knows how many hours studying, it all comes down to the five hours of class left in my college career. And in those five hours I will be turning in two 15-20 page papers, presenting one and taking two finals.

And in the tradition of scripted questions for college students' conversations, I have answered the question, "Are you sad about almost being done?" a multitude of times recently. If I'm feeling honest, my answer is, "Not so much sad as I am excited." If I feel like pandering to sentimentalism, I say, "Yes! I feel like there's so much more that I want to do before I leave Notre Dame." If I'm reflecting on the future, I say, "No way — I'm scared!"

While the differences in these answers would point to dissociative identity disorder (yeah, I'm a psych major), they're all true to some extent.

But at the end of a major stage in one's life, this is normal. Or at least that's how I rationalize it. I mean, how can I not be excited to have earned a diploma in less than four years with a double major from a national University? It's impossible to not feel overwhelmed about such an accomplishment.

At the same time, though, I have met some incredible people here, from the women I have lived with in Pangborn to the people I spend so much time with at The Observer to the mentors I have worked with academically. And it would be unreasonable to not feel sad about leaving these friendships, even though they will continue after graduation.

There are things I still want to do and things I probably won't be able to do before I leave, but whether I can accomplish them or not is not important, because of the huge number of things I have been able to do here. The good and bad episodes have contributed to my college experience in irreplaceable ways.

Yet what I will be doing next semester, next year, in a few years is completely unscheduled. Any senior will tell you that that is scary. "So what are you doing next semester?" everyone asks. This one is easy, no optional answers: "No idea." Most likely I'll be adjusting to life as a college graduate and maybe making some money before I head off for a year of service or graduate school. Even if I'm doing something menial, I wouldn't trade that for another semester of school, especially at somewhere around $1000 a credit hour. I'm looking forward to not having 12 things to do at any given time, being able to sleep seven nights a week and maybe more than 4 hours a night and reading a book for fun.

So yes, I'm glad I'm almost done with college, and yes I'm sad to be leaving and yes I'm scared about the future. But isn't that the point?

• Identities of a college grad