When I started sophomore year a few weeks ago, I felt invincible. I was no longer one of the youngest people in college, I knew my way around and I knew what my teachers expected. And when it came to assignments and book reports, I started a new habit of quoting Disney movies in German at least once in a report. I am making the most out of every annoying assignment now.

Sophomore year is fun and relaxed, the year I will be teaching at my old high school and the year of the Berlin Trip. But that's not the end of it: sophomore year is also the year of my first college graduation ceremony.

In the Netherlands people like handing out diplomas. It makes us feel smart. To make everything extra complicated, we make college students everywhere work hard for 60 credits; If they pass all their tests and receive all 60 points, they get a propaedeutic diploma. It's not very valuable, but if a student doesn't have the 60 points from freshman year at the end of sophomore year, they can't finish the course and will have to get their education elsewhere.

I never really had to worry about those 60 points - which doesn't mean I never worried. Oh no, I worried about it a lot. Total waste of time, because Thursday morning at 9am I was called onto the small stage of my college's "symposium room" along with 10 classmates to receive our propaedeutical diplomas.

At 9am no one of my friends and family was able to come to my graduation ceremony, which made me very sad. That sadness lasted until I entered the symposium room, which looks like a miniature movie theatre. One of the chairs had a pretty, official-looking sign with my name on it. I felt so important, I forgot all about my sadness. 

The ceremony itself was brief but great. I was called onto the stage with two of my classmates and our mentor told a little something about all of us. Those moments were almost as awkward as the moments you spent awkwardly staring at your cake while people sing 'Happy Birthday'. For me it was extra awkward. My mentor told a little bit about how I was always working hard, then said: "The quality of your work is always extremely high... Is that true, Envy?"

I had no idea how to respong to that. As my head was slowly turning bright red, I just blurted out: "Sure, if you say so!" Never before have I made my classmates laugh out loud for as long as they did yesterday morning.

After signing the documents, everyone went up on the stage for group pictures. Everyone started hugging everyone, cameras were flashing from all directions. It was great.

Me (left) with a friend and our diplomas

I know loads of people who don't make a big deal out of this diploma, but to me it meant a lot. When I was still in elementary school, my teachers said I'd never achieve anything. I proved them all wrong on Thursday. It was totally worth the embarrassment of walking around college all day long with a rose in my hand. I am well on my way to become a teacher, but for now I'm going to sit back, relax and enjoy the calm first few weeks of sophomore year.

Stay Awesome!