Ciao lovelies! Today, I’m sharing an open letter I wrote for current high school seniors.

Dear High School Seniors about to go off to college:
About a year ago now, I was in your shoes, preparing to leave the world of academia that I had known since I was five, and preparing to enter a new world of academia that I only had glimpses of through AP classes and older students. Sure, I had toured my top choice university, had been accepted, I was in a fast track careening towards adulthood and responsibility with no brakes.

But I was also a high school senior, I was invincible, I was done with the system of education that had trapped me since I was a kindergarten child, and I felt ready to have the independence I thought that I wanted. “I’ll do whatever I want!” I thought to myself, “I’ll eat what I want, wear what I want, I’m an independent adult now and nobody can tell me otherwise!”
I didn’t understand the reality of adulthood, or the struggles that accompany it. I didn’t expect the tears and the “I want my mom!” moments.
But I also could’ve never expected the second family I’d find, the support I’d receive, the pride I would feel when I realized that I could conquer situations previously thought impossible.
You may think you’ll never miss your old school, or the people you left behind. You may already miss them. You may never miss them. But the friends you make in college/university, that’s different. Those people are more than friends. They’ll be your family. They’ll see you in situations your old friends would’ve made fun of you for, and they’ll be there to support you through it all.


Dear high school seniors, you aren’t invincible. Sure, right now you might be untouchable in your high school, but that’s just it. It’s high school. College/uni is a different world, and you can’t waltz in thinking you’re the greatest and nobody can touch you. Accept the fact that you are going to have problems, but also understand that you are strong enough to overcome them.

Dear high school seniors, your parents are not bad. Sure, right now you might want to get away from them as fast as possible. You’ll think to yourself “they give me too many rules, soon nobody will be making me do anything!” But when you can’t drag yourself out of bed and miss your first nine AM, when you get that first schoolwide bug and you’re too sick to walk, when you’re scared and lonely and miss home, you will miss your parents. And they’ll miss you too. Call your parents. Text them. They love you.

Dear high school seniors, I believe in you. I know you can do this. You can walk across the graduation stage, you can make it to your college/university. You can do this. Yes, it’s hard to become a bonefide adult, you can’t just snap your fingers and be a successful, responsible grown-up. But you can certainly get there. I promise.