Obligatory End-of-semester/college post

Today is the last day of the semester and of my undergraduate career and I guess I can't just let it pass quietly without writing anything about it. First, a re-cap of this past semester, and then some reflections on the eight semesters before this one.

I'm not sure, but I think that this past semester was probably my hardest semester yet. Sure, I could have taken 12 credit hours and had a great slack-off last semester, but the masochist in me won that argument and so I ended up taking 7 extra completely un-needed hours (Portuguese and Russian). I also tried (and failed) to have a part-time job during this semester, but I had to quit a few weeks ago because I just wasn't hackin' it. I'm glad I did because these last two weeks or so I have been going full-bore just to keep up with school. I didn't keep track, but I don't think there was a single weekend this semester when I didn't have to come to school during the weekend to work on something.

In the end it was a pretty good semester though. It is still too early to officially call it a success because I have yet to receive any final grades, but I am anticpating mostly A's, and I am hoping that I have done just well enough to edge my final GPA up over the crucial 3.5 mark to graduate with distinction. I won't be able to give the official report on that for a few weeks though. Anyhow, my classes were interesting, I learned a lot, and despite the hectic schedule I think I actually enjoyed this semester. How could I NOT enjoy a semester full of linguistics and foreign language classes though?! If only I didn't have that one international affairs class then this would have been a pretty fantastic semester.

It was a pretty good way to end my time here at CU. People keep asking me if I am really excited to be graduating and if it feels weird, but really it just feels like the end of another semester to me. It probably won't start to resonate until about a month from now when the next semester starts up and instead of heading back to school I'll be busy putting my shiny new degree to good use driving a bus.

As for being excited, sure, I'm excited, but at the same time I'm not. I'm excited about making some money and not being so poor all the time. I'm excited about having a job with no homework and where I can come in, work my 10 hours, and not have to think about it again until the next shift. I'm excited about the prospect of maybe having some stability in my living situation (well, eventually...) and not having to live in my grandma's basement. I'm excited about being a ski bum for awhile and doing who knows what after that; the world is my oyster! I'm excited about closing this chapter in my life and starting a new one.

At the same time, however, I have been a student for pretty much as long as I can remember, and I feel like I'm starting to get pretty good at it. I'm not excited about the potential monotony of having a job. I'm not excited about not constantly learning interesting new things. I'm not excited about leaving the college-student social demographic and quickly becoming too old to do fun college-kid things that I never did as a college kid. I'm not excited about no longer being around lots of other attractive young (single?) people all the time.

So graduation is kind of a mixed-bag for me, but I bet it is for lots of graduates, and I bet I'll get over it. College also had plenty of highs and lows. Some classes were great, others were not. Some professors were interesting, some were dull. In some classes I learned a lot, and in others I learned very little. Average it all together and the experience as a whole was good. Here are some of the highs and lows:

Highs

• First-Year Chinese - Everything was new and exciting and interesting and Chinese was fun and the teachers were good and my classmates were cool. It was a great start to college.
• Freshmen Dorms - Some of my best friends from college are people I met in the dorms. Sure, they weren't perfect, but I'm glad we had to live in them.
• Having an apartment and roommate - Dorms were fun, but so was having an apartment.
  
• Physics for Non-Science Majors - My teacher was a Nobel Prize winner and who knew that physics could be so interesting! What a great class.
• Global Change - Another great science class that I would not have taken if it weren't for core requirements. The teacher looked like the Unabomber (who happens to be jailed here in Colorado), but he was a great teacher and we learned all about global warming and climate change. By the way, GO SEE AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH!
• Study Abroad - I am so glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a year studying in China. It was really an amazing experience that I am sure will continue to affect me for many years to come. Also, the research program I did in China before finally coming back to the USA was great too.
  
• Political Geography - I've never worked so hard and still been so afraid of failing a class before. This class was challenging, but so interesting. Dare I say this is the best class in the whole International Affairs major?
• People - I have met lots of great, fun, interesting, smart people in college. They have all helped to influence who I have become over the past 4+ years, and I thank them for that.
• Linguistics - This was definitely my favorite major and I pretty much loved every single linguistics class that I took. I almost didn't even take any linguistics classes, but then I decided to major in it and I am so glad that I did.
• Languages - Learning Chinese is probably the most important thing that I am taking away from college, but I also got to take a little bit more Spanish, I started Russian, and I have a pretty good start on Portuguese now too.

Lows

• Second and Fourth-Year Chinese - It is unfortunate that so much of my Chinese major was so miserable. The teachers for these classes were miserable and they made the class miserable. We had special not-so-nice Chinese names for them. Sometimes we joked about how their evil gazes could melt our souls (and not in the cute, romantic way). Their passive-aggressive silent treatments made our hearts freeze. They were awful.
• International Affairs Seminar - This class was taught by a lady from the Economics department who didn't seem to know or care about international affairs where we have learned to look at the whole picture. She told us on several occasions to ignore the politics and social aspects and instead just focus on the economics. She wasn't very nice either.
• Hmm, there are a few other lows, but they weren't actually all that bad, so let's not dwell on them.

It sure has gone by quickly. I think of the person I was when I came to freshman orientation way back in 2002 and I'm pretty sure I am a better, smarter, more social, more interesting person now on the other side of the tunnel. In the end I think college has definitely been worth the time and money. I don't regret not getting into the other school I applied for and I have enjoyed living in Boulder. I just hope that the end of college does not bring boredom and monotony, but instead brings bigger, badder, cooler, and more varied adventures and stories... starting with bus-driving (starting dark and early tomorrow morning at 5:30am!)

Well, I guess I should study a little bit for my last test, Portuguese, and then I'll be heading up to Vail to rest up for tomorrow's early start to the next chapter. I'll be back in Boulder next weekend to move out of Grandma's basement. I love Grandma, but I'm glad I'm moving out of there.

On that note, while in the USA rappers and hip-hop artists rap about bling-bling, women, and fast cars, Taiwanese hip-hop star Jay Chou raps about his Grandma in this song called "Grandma" (wai po). This is a sweet video about his grandma's birthday and how he planned this big party for her at an old restaurant and stuff but how all she really wants is her good memories of the past. So cute.