Thanks for a Wonderful Birthday! :)

To all my wonderful friends who came out to celebrate my 22nd last night, my sincerest thanks. :) I had an amazing time and I can't remember the last time I had that much fun, except for maybe Hemashi's 21st celebration just two weeks ago. :) I feel especially fortunate to have so many people who care about me and I want everyone to know how wonderful they all are! Thank you for making my last carefree (i.e. not in the real world) birthday my best!

The First Days in the Sun

It's amazing how much happier people are when the weather improves. All the sudden campus is full of people wearing light clothing, sun glasses, and flip flops. Everyone's outside reading or playing frisbee or chatting with a friend; how absolultely glorious! I've most certainly enjoyed this two week streak of gorgeous weather in Philadelphia myself. I've been having long dinners outside and enjoying ice cream on park benches. I've been walking across the Schuylkill River and it feels liberating. The Schuylkill is the great divide between Center City and West Philly and the first crossing of it for the season marks the beginning of warm weather and of many more journeys by foot downtown.

Perhaps the best part of the warm months for me is right at the beginning (right now) when I experience the anticipation of the coming summer. I daydream about places I'll visit, books I'll read, and sleep I'll catch up on. :) I can't wait to bike along the Charles when I move to Boston this summer and play tennis everyday the sun is out. I can't wait to see the French countryside and the Greek Islands and experience again the old world of Europe. This is my last summer break and my last chance for my last hoorah before entering the real world. This is the last time I'll get to daydream about the next few months and feel the excitement and anticipation of what is to come under the warmth of the sun. This is it for me, the last start of a summer, and I am savoring every minute of it.

Winding Down

With a week and a half left of school, I've been reflecting on the past four years at Penn and really the past 17 years or so of schooling. I just can't believe it's all coming to an end. I feel like I've been in school for so long, and that school is all I really know. Sure I've had summer jobs and internships, but in just three and a half months, I will be starting a completely new chapter of my life where just about nothing will be familiar. It's a pretty scary thought.

Perhaps what's really getting me though is that I don't think I'll be as sad to leave college as I was when I left high school. Don't get me wrong - Penn has been great. I've had my ups and downs here, but in the end I don't think I'd trade it for any other college. And I know that each chapter of my life is a unique and worthwhile experience in and of itself, but I can't help but feel that I missed out on something in college that somehow I had found in high school.

The funny thing is that I don't think I could ever return to life as it was in high school, as much as I miss those days. I've changed and have embraced the independence and freedom that college as afforded me. Perhaps, then, still being in college has just blinded me to the great experiences I've had here. After all, you don't appreciate what you have until you've lost it. If this is the case, I guess only time can render a verdict.

In the meantime, I plan to live it up to the fullest while I still can. With a week and a half of class left, a week of reading days/finals, and two weeks to say goodbye to friends, maybe I'll find whatever it is I've been looking for or maybe I'll realize that I've had it all along.