By Alex Jones, Contributing Writer

The high school busywork and the pointless projects are over. When I walked out of my last final exam of high school, I instantly felt a sense of calm and relief spread through my body.

I am writing this article while I am on my senior project, and I will be leaving for college in only four months. I will be going straight from being a senior who felt like he could get away with anything to being at the bottom of the totem pole again.

I don't know if my feelings have ever been as mixed as they are about going to college. I am leaving my family and every friend I have to go and live in a brand-new place. I will no longer be able to go straight from my last class down to the locker room and go to sports practices with my best friends. The weekend nights of us creating mischief because we had nothing to do are gone.

All the great things about high school are over, but so are all the things I hated: the bossy teachers, the small assignments that people freaked out about, and the drama of teenage girls. Even though there were parts of high school I really didn't like, overall my experience was awesome. But after 18 years of living in the same place and seeing the same people almost every day, I feel ready and excited for a new place, new people and new experiences.

The college I am going to is about an hour and 15 minutes from my house, the perfect distance. It is far enough away, but still close. I know the first couple months could be extremely hard and lonely, and I am scared for that, but I'm also prepared to be on my own and deal with problems by myself. I feel mature enough to handle everything by myself, and I can't wait to see how I do. Everyone I have talked to has said that getting involved in group activities is the best way to make friends quickly when you are at college. I'm going to be playing baseball in college, and I think that will help my adjustment a lot. After the first couple weeks of fall practice, I will already know about 50 people pretty well.

Another exciting part about leaving for college is all the cool stuff I'll get to buy. I'm going to buy a laptop, which I think will be extremely handy and easy to transport. I am going to be living in a dorm, which I think is also going to be an important part of my college experience. And of course, what would a dorm be without a mini-fridge? Since I love food, I am going to be extra careful when picking out the lucky mini-fridge that will be in my dorm room. A first impression will be huge at college, so I'm going to make sure I have a lot of clothes and am looking good for all the new ladies.

Along with a dorm comes a roommate. I can't wait to meet the complete stranger with whom I am going to be living for the next year, but at the same time, I am extremely nervous because of all the horror stories I have heard about roommates. Hopefully my roommate will be easy-going and we won't have too many disagreements. I have never thought of myself as being a controversial person, so I think I will be able to get along with almost anybody. But the worries of a complete monster of a roommate are still there, and I guess I am just going to have to wait and see.

For the last two years, I have had a car and enjoyed the freedom that comes with it. But I am not planning on bringing my car with me to college. This is partly because I think not having a car for my first year will help me get the full experience, and also because my parents wouldn't let me bring a car anyway.

All the unknowns about college and the amount of possibility there makes this very exciting for me, and I can't wait to see how it goes. Hopefully every high school kid who plans on going to college feels like this. The best advice I can give is to go with your instinct and choose what school you feel is right for you -- not the one other people tell you is right.