There are a lot of things that I like about not being a student anymore. Not having to lug a fifty-pound suitcase through JFK and paying hundreds of dollars to store the rest each summer is a plus. I don't miss paper deadlines. But I miss my dorm room, I miss my friends, and I actually miss writing papers about a myriad of topics that I've chosen. It's hard to let go of a place I spent so long getting to, especially when everyone else gets to go back. Kinda like being single on Valentine's Day.
Here's a little haiku I developed in memory of those days when I was one of the few, the proud, the different (forgive me for the not-so-poetic nostalgia):
Monday, airport cab
One hundred dollars
An expensive ride
Empty room, white walls
Try to make your new home from
Bed, desk, drawer, boxes
Reintroducing
Yourself to last year's friendships
And this year's classes
The course catalogue
Must distill just three choices
So many pages
And once you've chosen
There are interviews to do
You're nowhere near done
Tuesday early morn
Ready with pen and paper
Stalk the sign-up sheets
All through Wednesday
Traipse up and down the campus
Why is it so hot?
Thursday, the last day
Squeeze in one more interview
And chat with your don
Make your decision
Registrar's form in your hand
Fill in all the blanks
And then it begins
Friday of uncertainty
The terrible wait
Camped out in Westlands
Staring at a blank corkboard
Waiting for your fate
The verdict comes in
Print-outs stapled, pulses race
Did you make the list?
You search for your name
Cross your fingers as you scan
And hope for all three...
All the stress, the hope
At the time isn't so fun
But graduation
Makes you miss what you hated
And I'd give it all
For one more registration
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