I love the analogy of life as pages of a book, and each significant period being a chapter. While applying to colleges, I wrote a ridiculous scholarship essay to UIUC. The prompt was "Write page 128 of your autobiography." I spun a story about how I was at an Illini football game, testing out my robot Head Coach on the field. My friends from college were in the stands, cheeringme on loudly. The committee loved this essay and awarded me the money, but I still ended up here at MIT.
As I close this chapter of MIT, I wonder which aspects will continue to stay with me. During Senior Wills tonight, Joia stated, "In the end, you only can take along your relationships and they are what matter the most." What about everything else? I will take away plenty of course 6 knowledge and memories of lab, for sure. But the connection with other people isn't something achievable in the robotics lab. Unless you're me, you can't talk to your MOSFETs. They never do talk back, though. I've been so fortunate to meet such amazing people at MIT; people that truly 'get' it. Maybe like minded people think alike, so tha'ts how we all ended up here. How do you maintain those relationships when everyone is scattered over the country? I talk to Steph, and she's always talking about how she misses her H-entry peeps. Do you just make new friends to fill the gaps? I don't think people can be forgotten, but new friends come to fill in the shoes. I am going to make a conscious effort to keep in touch with all of the people who really matter to me, though. And I'll be so damn annoying on IM or cell phone that you'll wish you never had me as a friend. Because at the end of my 4 years here, I know that I've been lucky to have all of these friendships, and that it's going to be damn hard to find those connections in my future.
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4 comments:
This is a pretty nifty entry! It's not been forever since I graduated but it has been forever that I haven't seen some of my good friends that went out west and to the middle of the state. This gives me a lovely excuse to travel.
Your comment regarding finding other friends to fill in the shoes of ones that aren't currently in your life... I agree to some extent. Although I haven't yet found friends that completely complement me the way some of the ones that have recently left do, I've met some people that expose a lot of different aspects of myself and now have a new place in my life. The people that you meet through your life and travels are what helps you grow and become a bit more of a complete person.
I hope to be hearing from you as threa... promised!
Hanhan, I'm going to miss you. And email you so religiously that you'll wish you hadn't left me with all that ZBT drama ;)
there's nothing quite like college friendships, although high school friends are awesome too! =)
dave - When are you going to make that excuse to travel to Boston? I'm glad that you're making friends that expose you to new parts of yourself. And maybe that means you're not hiding in lab all the time...your friend the janitor probably misses you.
minh - I'm gonna miss you too! I'll always be on IM to guide you through the drama, though. hehe.
tiffany - Certain high school friendships are awesome. No pale 4 eyes amphibeans though...
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