I have been working on this post for over a week now. There’s just so much that I want to write about, but I guess this is as good as it’s going to get.

So… College. The time to be free and independent. I miss the community, the socialization. I miss a lot of things about living on campus, living among my peers and away from the family. I love my family, but at some point in one’s life, you just have to be out on your own. But now? I’ve graduated. I’m in that transition mode of moving back home to trying to find the next step in life. Sitting here, thinking about it, I recall a lot of things I long for in the days passed.

I do NOT miss the late night papers and cramming. I do miss the classrooms, oddly enough. Sitting in the lecture hall, learning new ideas and interacting with the professors. I found out that one can easily adore or loathe university instructors and professors. It all depends on their teaching style and your attitude towards learning. The ones that I enjoyed the most were the ones really enthusiastic about their subjects, making a real effort to show you why you should be learning what they are teaching. The ones that I pretty much hated were the ones that just gave long, boring lectures and expected you to learn everything on your own by reading the expensive textbooks. Their cold hearts would then give you impossible exams that you have no hope of passing unless you are a certified genius.

I miss my gym classes. I felt a sense of accomplishment after lifting weights and running on the treadmills. I’ve gotten lazier now that I have work 8 hours a day; I’m even less motivated to go to the local gym. I guess the sense of being graded on effort drove me to go. I’m thinking about investing in a bench press and perhaps a stationary cycle. Before, I could just walk to the RAC and work out. Now, I need to drive out to a gym… even pay fees for right to go (money wasted if I decided to pay for membership, and then end up being lazy and not even go). I think I also miss having a weight lifting partner or someone to help rouse me…

I miss the walks to class. While it may seem tedious to some, I enjoyed the trip as I made my way through campus, watching the other students and observing the activities around me. We had a pretty diverse community… however, I always found it odd that most people tended to crowd around people of similar ethnicities. The Commons would always have groups of asians or blacks or whites. I have never, ever found myself befriending a large group of just asians. I guess it must have been a big observation for me because ever since grade school, I was usually the only asian kid in the class. Meh, it never really bothered me and no one ever made it a problem. Sometimes I felt a little like an outcast, but I guess I learned to deal with it. College presented me the opportunity to socialize more with asians, but I felt a little intimidated. Would I have fit in with them? I would ask myself. After graduating, I find that those thoughts were ridiculous… those times should have been over with after high school.

I miss the parties; gatherings with beer pong and comradery. I had never drank alcohol or beer before coming to college. I remember getting really drunk my first time; I was really glad to have good friends to share the experience with. The nights of mayhem at the apartment, the late nights at bars in Baltimore… these times were the most fun since I learned how to cut loose and socialize more. I fancied myself a geek throughout high school, so partying and drinking for me was such a wake up call.

Since graduation, distance makes it difficult to get people together. I miss my friends. We keep in contact. We still hang out from time to time. We just don’t do it as much anymore. I miss how we would see each other everyday, hang out, and just enjoy each other’s company. Sometimes we would just go out for a bite to eat, or catch a movie at the theater, or even just stay in and play video games. Most of the time now we communicate through instant messaging or phone calls. I guess one can look at it this way: now when we do get together, it’s even a bigger cause for celebration. Like we party even harder to make up for the time we’ve been missing. The latest excursion on my birthday being one of the best, if not THE best, in recent memory. I promised myself to make more efforts to party with my friends.

College is done now. I am always telling myself that I’ll go back eventually for my Master’s. I know I want to. Right now, I just need a break from all the exams, papers, and projects. All the other aspects of college that I yearn for seem to be slowly fading away each new day. I have new responsibilities, goals, and activities to focus on: a career in need of development, saving for retirement, a renewed interest in eating healthy and exercising, finding my own place to live in, my newfound love for drinking and dancing at clubs and lounges, closely managing my finances and expenditures, a growing wanderlust for new and exotic places, paying off my student loans, seeking that special relationship with that special someone…

My life has to continue, I guess. I wonder what new experiences await us in the coming years…