Today was my last official day of classes as a college undergraduate student. It doesn’t mean much, seeing as I have the Honors Awards tomorrow, a few more meetings with various professors, one more class (even though technically classes are OVER), one final, and one paper standing between me and graduation. But still, because I’m me, I tried to make it a significant day. I think I succeeded.
September 4, 2006
I took my french final this morning and then sold my textbook back to the bookstore (hello, $18! Oh wait, the original book cost $200. FML.) This means that I never have to speak french ever again if I don’t want to. Seeing as the language has been haunting me since 3rd grade, this is an immensely satisfying thought.
After class I met Rachel, my most influential professor I’ve had at NYU, for lunch on the Upper West Side. The only time I am ever on the UWS is to meet Rachel. I think that probably speaks for itself. Ha, but seriously, it was awesome. She is just so wise and puts things in perspective without even intending to, I think. She’ll just be talking and I’ll think, hm, how did she answer all the questions swerling around in my brain when I didn’t even verbalize them? So that was wonderful.
From there I rushed back downtown to meet Bruce Bromley, my Writing the Essay professor from first semester freshman year, with Liz and Steph, two friends who were also in that class. You guys, first semester freshman year was September 2006. WHAT?! Anyway, I am possibly one of the only people at NYU who adored Writing the Essay, and of course it was entirely because of Bruce. We had such a great time catching up, and I got kind of emotional, because it just felt very symbolic and “come full circle”-ish, you know? Hanging out as a grown up real person in a coffee shop with an influential professor who taught my first semester at NYU on my last official day of NYU? Yeah.
Both meetings really put me in a good head-space about my upcoming adventure to Israel. I’ve been nervous, mostly because it’s a complete unknown right now, but also because everything is so good here and I feel so comfortable and like such a part of a community and it’s just scary to think that in a few months I’ll be launched outside of my comfort zone in a very intense way. But, as I said, I feel like after today I am in a good place to embrace that launch.
So. Undergraduate degree, almost complete. Summer, almost here. Loose ends, almost tied up. I’m probably just saying this because I like for things to be poignant and symbolic, but on my walk home tonight the sky looked almost apocalyptic. We had such a weird weather day, with the humidity and the thunderstorms and the wind and the cold and the heat, but at 8pm it seemed as though things had settled, at least for a moment. The sky was a light blue with some deep gray clouds scattered between buildings, and the church on 2nd and 7th was all lit up for an event of some sort, and the air seemed a little bit still but not oppressively hot, and I’d like to think it was a signifier that an end of an era is upon me. Still, even with that truth hanging in the (now oppressively hot again) air, it’s nice to imagine that everything coming up is gonna be alright.
Tags: graduation, gratuitous, inspiration
