Last Monday was my last first day of school. Ever. Sure, I suppose I may someday go on to grad school, but those plans are indistinct and far off. It won’t be for a long time that I get that rush of excitement when meeting a new teacher and looking at a new syllabus. This last first day also represents the first of many “lasts” we seniors will confront during this final semester at Middlebury. It’s time for a bit of preemptive nostalgia.

That morning I grabbed breakfast in Ross Dining Hall, and I noticed an awkward freshman practicing his Chinese characters in a messy, loopy scrawl. That was me, I realized, just three short years ago. And in those years I went from knowing not a single word or character in Mandarin to having studied abroad in China and speaking the language with a confidence that would have astounded me as a freshman.

That’s a big change, I thought—so what else has changed in four years? Well, I suppose I’m no longer that awkward freshman either—although I’m sure some of my friends would disagree. I’m a self-assured senior with the ability to speak and present and communicate with confidence and a little pizzazz, too.

I went about my day. First day of classes—man, do I know how to pick them well now. I can select classes that strike a balance between great professors and interesting material and challenging coursework. Heading to the library to work on my thesis—I’m reading academic literature and analyzing it in a way I never would have been able to freshman year. In Proctor Dining Hall, at dinnertime, I see dozens of friends that I have made over four years. And after dinner I spend the evening in extracurricular meetings, interests that I’ve discovered over my four years here.

It feels, in some ways, like so little has changed—but I know that so much has. When I give my information sessions at the admissions office, I see high school juniors and seniors—and I remember distinctly what it’s like to be in their shoes. It feels like yesterday that I was driving around New England with my parents attempting to find that perfect campus. But it’s not yesterday. It’s a long time ago and a lot has happened since then.

There are less than a hundred days before graduation. Double digits. The beginning of the end: The last J-Term is past. So is that last first day of school. And this Saturday was my last Winter Carnival Ball. Every weekend seems to bring about some milestone: the last trip to some restaurant, or the last party with some group of friends, or the last meeting with some professor.

But this mindset, even for a person as nostalgic as I, is a bit ridiculous. First of all, I still have more than three months left at Middlebury. Three months to study and to ski and to sleep and three months not to waste. And second, it would be wrong to say I’m not excited to leave, in some ways. I’ll miss Middlebury, a lot, but because of how I’ve grown in these four years I know that I’m ready to take on whatever is coming next.

Every senior at Middlebury is required to complete some kind of senior work, in the form of an independent project, production, or thesis. There are a couple of guiding principles here: First is the idea of challenge by choice. Students have the option of choosing an independent study or an honors project depending on the level of commitment they choose. Second is the concept of student choice. Students choose a project appropriate to their departmental focus: a music major might write a piece of music; a theater major might direct a production; a science major might conduct laboratory experiments; and a political science major will write a thesis.

How do you choose a thesis topic? After all, this is a project you’ll be working on for at least a semester, if not a year. Of course, you hope that the topic that is both interesting to you personally, and also one that has some academic value and is worth your time. Often students will find inspiration from a paper or project during sophomore or junior year. Others will find inspiration from their time abroad, summer experiences like internships or volunteer work, or some long-held interest. Still, many students will come into their senior with little idea of a topic that inspires them—this is why we have advisors!

I’m a political science major, and for me it was clear I wanted to write about some element of my time in China. Since a political science honors thesis is a three semester/yearlong project, I knew I had to find a topic that could keep me engaged for a full year. My internship this summer at the US Department of Commerce gave me the opportunity to learn about the importance of the Internet in various contexts. And having lived in China and learned about the uniqueness of the Internet censorship that exists there, I knew that this would be an interesting topic for me. My advisor helped me to narrow the topic to something focused, academic, and worthwhile.

So now it’s research time! The first stages of the thesis involve reading as much as you can about the topic of your choice. It is an exciting, humbling, and terrifying stage of the project. And by the end of J-term, amazingly, the bulk of my project will (hopefully!) be written.

People say that writing a thesis is simultaneously the best and worst thing they do at Midd, and the easiest and hardest, too. You have the opportunity to explore a single topic in depth, to become a real expert in an area, and to hone your research, writing, project management, and analytical skills. At the same time, a thesis requires self-discipline and a long-term commitment. Overall, though, it is a project that, after eight months, you can look back on with some pride.

I’ll have some more reflections on what the process is like come spring, but for now I’m excited to learn as much as I can about my topic and to begin outlining my work for the rest of the year.