Two of my best friends and I all dressed up and ready to graduate!
I feel like a bit of a cheater writing this. After all, this is a Pomona student blog, and technically I am no longer a Pomona College student. As of Sunday, I am officially an alum. Continue reading
What is next for Pomona College seniors? We’re headed off in all kinds of directions! I want to start with one of my favorite authors, because Dr. Seuss says it best:
Selections from “Oh the places you’ll go!” (read the full text here!)
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away! Continue reading
“I’m spending my Fall 2012 semester in Edinburgh, Scotland. My process in choosing this program may be optimistically described as “holistic” because of what I half-jokingly identify as crippling indecision (I’m at Pomona because a Canadian penny landed on tails, after all. But that worked out well!) And although I have perhaps never been so excited in my entire life ever ever ever, I’m still very nervous.”
I wrote this in my first blog entry of the year, and now I’ve found myself months and months later reading it over again (slightly cringing as I usually do when reading some old thing of mine) and reminiscing about my junior year, something that will have passed tomorrow at 4pm. Edinburgh was such a monument in my life, and now it has passed, along with another semester here in Claremont, and I like to think I’ve steadied myself from this “crippling indecision,” although I admittedly still suffer from its plain-non-crippling variety. I like to think I’m more secure with myself and my major and my future, but I nonetheless wonder where I’ll end up after graduation next year, as unlike a host of my friends, I still don’t have a grand plan in mind. I like to think of myself as more worldly, but Edinburgh made me realize more than anything that the world is so vast that I’ve just plunged the tip of my finger in the pool, and even if I travel forever, I can’t know every place, and I certainly can’t know them with intimacy. I’ll have to settle for mere acquaintances and brief sightings and photographs.
If I could send this to myself nine months ago, I could tell myself to avoid certain foods, to try others, to book plane tickets at more opportune times, to give in and buy a heavy sweater earlier, to ride double deckers more, to go to Frary breakfast more often, to arrive at my trains a little earlier, and to stick with the courses I love the most. However, these trials and tribulations have shaped me: they’ve given me a reason to whine, they’ve instilled in me (a little) patience, and they’ve left me (slightly?) wiser and more prepared for the world that lies beyond the gates. Although my summer beckons more abroad adventures and more work, I feel as though I face it in less of a frenzy, even as it wafts closer and closer to me. I’ll update you on this wafting when September rolls around. Until then, thanks for reading.
The fact that I just wrote that title is so crazy to me. JUNIOR!? As in more than halfway through. As in, officially an upperclassman. How is that even possible!? I remember like it was yesterday moving in, signing up for my first college classes and meeting my sponsor group for the first time. Now I’m two years away from that!
At 11:00 AM today, I handed my physics professor my exam and walked out of the classroom. That was it. With that two second exam-exchange came three months of freedom. It’s been a tough last few weeks with essays, lab reports, final presentations, and final exams. But suddenly, all school-related responsibilities have diminished. In one instant, my stress level went from extremely high to absolutely nothing. It’s time for summer 2013!
I’ll be spending my summer here at Pomona working and researching in a neuroscience lab, but I plan to come home every weekend to enjoy family, friends, food, and relaxation.
I’m still having trouble believing I’m a junior, and it probably won’t hit me until I begin school in the fall. Then again, I still feel like I’m a first-year, so maybe it never will hit me!
Now it’s time for my summer to officially begin! Happy summer 2013 to all!
To me, one of the weirdest things as I finish up freshman year is that I’m having to come to terms with saying goodbye, and not just a ‘ have a great summer, see you in three months’ type of thing, but actual ‘hope to see you again sometime, but if not, have a great life’ goodbyes. I just assumed that this wouldn’t be a problem in my first year. I mean, I’m still going to be around for the next three years, but I guess I realised not everyone or everything else will be. So I guess it’s time to get super sentimental start saying goodbye. (Yes, I am going there as a freshman. I’m going to be a complete mess in three years.)
Continue reading
This week and the one before have for me been full of lasts. Well, technically the whole year has been full of lasts but I’ve tried not to dwell on that. In the past couple of weeks I have had my last orchestra rehearsal and concert, my last a cappella rehearsal and concert, my last tap club rehearsal and concerts tonight and tomorrow (see a pattern?), alongside the more momentous ones like last college class and last college assignment. Facebook is full of seniors’ statuses saying something along the lines of: “I’m done with college!!!” It is all very exciting and kind of terrifying as well. Continue reading
I spent last Saturday morning manning an archival table for alumni weekend, and found myself greeted with premature nostalgia, if there is such a thing. First, a group of ’08 alums bounced in for their five-year reunion, looking at old diaries and laughing about how long the sponsor program had been around. One talked to me about collecting Pomona memorabilia from Ebay. Another reminisced about his old on-campus job. Next, a 1950 graduate moved in, slowly perusing the scrapbooks. He told me he was looking for mention of a family member. And all the while I sat wondering what if must be like to arrive at Pomona again, to see my friends as older, now-productive men and women (not that they’re not productive now [sometimes, especially the week before finals, I question my own productivity.]) I wonder what it’s like to feel as if the campus has changed, perhaps seeming somehow smaller, or sunnier, or just different.
The dining halls are a pretty standard and yet important part of our college experience here at Pomona. Since most people live on campus, most of us eat the vast majority of our meals at the dining halls, either Frank or Frary (or Oldenborg) or at another campus. All issues between the administration and the dining hall workers aside, I think our dining halls are pretty good. Having cooked for myself when I was abroad and during spring break this year, I know it saves me a LOT of time not to have to prepare meals every day. However, sometimes nothing looks particularly appetizing, and after four years I am kind of done with the dining hall food. People kind of like to complain about them, too, but seeing as I’m on basically my last week with the dining halls, I was thinking about the really amazing aspects of them as well. Continue reading
A lot of recent stuff has been happening that I haven’t been able to talk about, so I will simply upload pictures as though this were Facebook/Instagram for your viewing pleasure.
This has been life at Pomona.
Celebrating out to dinner after the craziness
As we near the end of the year, all sorts of things are coming to a close. Final papers, last assignments, concerts–all chances to put all the year’s hard work on display in various capacities. For me this means a plethora of performances, many of which happened this past weekend. This made the weekend a bit crazy, but also a whirlwind of fun. I guess I like being busy! Continue reading
