Fall 2010

This has been a good semester. Actually, now that I think about it, I think its been a great semester. I don't remember a semester having flown through this smoothly ever before. This whole semester passed by in a flash, and I have no idea where the months went by. Although its not over yet, it is coming to a quick end. Yet, I cannot help but feel both excited and nostalgic. Now I only have one more semester of undergrad remaining. Only one. It feels like I was just now getting the hang of things - just now enjoying college and feeling that sense of belonging on campus. That level of comfort and that sense of pride walking on campus in my university to my classes had just kicked in. And now it feels like its time to leave again. A new beginning already. Sigh.

I was just now starting to enjoy college and cherishing these moments. Despite all the long nights and the bag of sorrows that I carried around with me everyday on campus, I'm really going to miss this place. I still have a semester left, and I truly hope that I can enjoy it and appreciate it as much as possible. Because no matter how much we hate studying for exams and keeping our noses buried in textbooks, college is truly an experience that we'll always remember. After graduation, everything will change. Everything. I don't know what lies ahead, but whatever it is, I know that it'll be very different from the present.

This semester I learned and grew up a lot. I mentioned in an earlier post that I've learned that smiling and learning to love life is actually a lot harder than drowning in your sorrows. I think that's the biggest lesson that college has taught me. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, know that others are worse off than you are, and appreciate all the good (and the bad actually) that live has thrown your way. Its a lot harder to smile and love life than be depressed all the time. A lot harder. But once you overcome that hurdle and you jump that fence and come to the other side - the grass is actually a lot greener on this end. Nothing brings me down anymore. Does that mean that it does not hurt sometimes? Of course it does. But I get over it, and I've taught myself to get over it again and again. I'm a definite work-in-progress.

Back to the campus. I'm really going to miss it. Little things like the bench in front of the old science building where I sat with my friend and ate chocolate frosty's from Wendy's. Or the computer in the corner in the Honor's College computer lab where I spent many days of my college career. Even the Learning Commons where brown guys stare at you unashamed. My workplace - where I've worked for the last three years, and where perhaps I feel the most at place. Working there has taught me that life is so much easier when you love doing what you're doing and can do with as much passion everyday. I'm going to miss walking on campus ... from the early hours of the day, half asleep all the way to nighttime. I have the campus memorized at this point, and I feel like I can walk through it with my eyes closed and still know where I'm going.

I don't know where the last four years went by, but at this point, what I do know is that I don't regret a single minute of it. Even when things didn't go the way I wanted them to, I learned something. And that's what counts.