A couple months ago, on a Sunday off from Flyer News, KU cafeteria was inexplicably closed. So, I trudged up to Marycrest to eat for the first time in a very long time. After I got my food, as I made my way up towards the register, I heard a small gasp come from someone standing to the left of me.

'Jerry? I haven't seen you in ages.'

I turned my head to see who was addressing me. It was Linda, a Marycrest cafeteria register lady who I hadn't seen since I lived in Marycrest ' three years earlier as a freshman. Not only had she remembered me (which, after three years of fluctuating weight, hair length and style, and eye wear accessories, was no easy task), she also remembered my name, even the name I go by instead of the name printed on my student ID.

Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. I walked away from Marycrest that night with a big smile on my face.

To me, that experience was a perfect metaphor for my time here at UD. Every time I'd get bored, or think I'd seen everything this university had to offer, something or someone was waiting just around the corner to make me laugh, smile and remember why I love this place so much.

Even so, as I sit here trying to write the perfect ending to my four years at UD, my swan song in perfect pitch that will sum up my experiences at this institution, I am at a loss for words.

I want to be able to tell all the students younger than me how to best enjoy their remaining time at UD, but I'm not sure I even know how to do that. I want to tell them to 'not let the rest of their time here to go by too quickly,' but they won't listen. Each year goes faster than the one before and no one really figures that out until it's too late.

I want to tell everyone to go nuts, and drink with your friends on a Tuesday night when you feel like it, no matter what your schedule looks like. But classes and work are real, and need to get done.

I want to come up with a quick little inspirational quote about how and what I will remember about college. But, contrary to what AOL instant messenger may try and teach, life just simply isn't contained in three-line inspirational quotes.

As I sit here trying to think of something to say, all that passes through my head are images, the mental pictures that, to me, define UD.

I see my first meeting with my roommate freshman year, the guy I wrote off as a preppy Abercrombie advertisement, the guy who would go on to be my roommate for the next four years, the guy that still lives with me today.

I see meeting my short, spunky neighbor who, for the life of him couldn't remember my name, the same guy who started just calling me Curly, the same guy who still lives just down the hall, as my roommate for the third year in a row.

I see a couple of guys from Cleveland who decided to live with me sophomore year, the guys who introduced me to all of their friends, the guys who would take me into that group of friends as one of their own.

As I sit here thinking about all of the things that have made UD home to me over the last four years, the only advice I can think to give about how to enjoy your last moments here is to spend those moments with your friends. This may seem like obvious advice, but sometimes it gets lost.

We get distracted by things like Lowesfest and warm weather, and we forget about just being with the people that make us happy. It doesn't have to be sappy; it doesn't have to be the 'prefect ending.' All it has to be is typical, a typical Saturday afternoon with your friends. After all, that is truly what we will miss when we are gone.

That's all I can say about it, it's the only advice I have left to give here. Thanks for the last four years, UD, they have been the best of my life. As I sit here, about to walk away, the only thing blocking my tears is the big smile on my face.