On November third I turned 19.

I cried myself to sleep thinking about how almost a quarter of my life had just passed by. I cried knowing that this would be my last teenage year.

What have I done with my life? Not as much as I would have liked.

The thought of this year being my last year as a teen has really taken a toll on me.

Most of my life I have been sheltered and didn’t get to experience most of the things that other teens experienced. I didn’t party, have sleepovers, go out with friends or even have a relationship with someone.

I didn’t do any of this until I came to Chico State.

It was here where I truly felt like a teenager. I did reckless things and I let myself go. I learned from my mistakes and now I know better. Now I know that I really wasn’t missing out on much.

My freshman year here in Chico made up for the 17 years of being home in my room reading a book.

All the partying gets tiring after awhile. I want to do something more meaningful. I want to remember my last year as a teen as a starting point where everything began.

Now this doesn’t mean that I still don’t want to go out and have fun every once in a while, but I do want to try other things.

I want to learn Japanese, learn how to play drums, travel and skydive.

I want to make this year unforgettable.

Daisy Dardon can be reached at [email protected] or @daisydardon on Twitter.