had my first complete family photo in more than 15 years. It was more an event for the parents, and I knew that the both of them were tearing (or at least my father was) during the valedictorian speech where the entire graduating batch stood up, turned around, scanned the crowd for their parents and gave them a resounding round of applause. Graduating from university is seemingly not such a big deal for us really, it felt more like a ritual or a rite, but my parents were so proud, I knew I wouldn't have traded anything else in the world for that moment.
And for the most part of the ceremony, I was bored to tears until it was time for our batch to go onstage. I was texting people barely ten metres away, cajoling the people around me (whom I've never actually talked to in my four years in cs) to take group pictures, laughing at the funny names in the graduation name book but really getting a huge headache from the mortarboard until those two seconds of fame.
I miss school though. I can't believe four years has flown by like that, from the sleepless nights in the mac lab in year one editing videos and websites to Hong Kong in year two to interning at a fashion magazine in year three to the insane lastminute dash of fyp in the final year. I miss writing and different kinds of journalism and even Hedwig's classes where we would all grip our seats in fear of being called. The late nights at the cs benches, hall canteens, libraries, airports, rooftops and the chron room. Duffy making me cry, but is now my favourite professor of all time. The first day of every new academic year where the core lecture is fashion and gossip parade -"what is she wearing?", "oh my gosh, did she lose weight?", "they're attached?" - as we came in early, grabbed our seats together and eagle-eyed the room. Hating the redudancy of some courses, never understood why we needed to know about wilbur schramm and charles darwin, and never getting nietzsche's theories. Loving the fact that I got to pretend to write for harper's bazaar for magazine class, and sub-editing for the chronicle at 4am in the morning with macdonalds in tow was a graded job. I'd have done those for free.
And the friends - some loved us and some hated us for taking that trip to KL in the first year in the first semester after barely knowing each other two months. Final year wasn't the same as year one, we were just more jaded and tired but most of us still stuck and for sure, we all grew up. University life was never a dull moment, and I've changed tremendously from the 19-year-old that I was when I first entered. But I would not have changed a single aspect of the experience (except for installing more food machines in cs, or maybe a little cafe, or being nearer canteen a instead of b) because these will all go down as memories I'll want to remember in fifty years.
Goodbye school and skipping classes on rainy days. Hello life, and limited annual leave.
