Goodbyes and appreciations
Why Hopkins?
During these last four years, I’ve worked as a tour guide for the admissions office. When we reach the last tour stop at Decker Quad, I always wrap up by answering the question, “Why Hopkins?” For me, the answer is simple: the people.
Everything I incorrectly predicted about my college experience
If I had a nickel for every incorrect prediction I made about my college experience, I would have…a lot of nickels. On March 14, 2020, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. Staring back at me and my parents was the long-anticipated email from Johns Hopkins University congratulating me on my admission to the class of 2024. I vividly remember spending the rest of that evening daydreaming about the four years ahead of me.
Looking ahead to my Long Island interlude
Much like the last day of a vacation, my excessive awareness of the fact that my time at Hopkins is coming to a close has made it difficult to fully enjoy myself. Instead, whenever I check my calendar, I find myself counting the number of weeks left until graduation u2014 and, six days later, my flight home.
An attempted goodbye to the Gatehouse
I’ve started saying my goodbyes to Homewood Campus. As I conclude my last year of college and my third year in Baltimore, I think back to the places where I passed my time. The dorms, the library, the stuffy classrooms. It is easier to grieve brick and mortar than the people I may never see again.
Embracing the unexpected
I will never forget the day I was accepted into Hopkins. Not because it was rosy and life-changing. Antithetically, it seemed that everyone thought the world would end that day. It was Friday, March 13, 2020, which became our last day of “normal” school before everything shut down due to the pandemic. Now, my graduation gown stares at me from my closet, a self-imposed reminder that my time at Hopkins is almost over. How did we get here already?