As a December graduate, the excitement and fanfare is extremely downplayed. Very few of my friends are in the same situation as I am, so we can’t bond over the relief of making it to this milestone. Instead, it just ends with a whisper. A few more classes, a few more presentations, one more final test, and then I walk away from this place as a student for the last time. This school isn’t perfect, there are plenty of things that I could complain about (hello, parking) and even more things that I wish I could change. I’m sure many graduates, December or otherwise, will be able to walk away from this place and think nothing more than “good riddance.” I have gotten to that point many times over this semester. The closer I’ve gotten to the end, the less tolerance I’ve had for pointless assignments, busy work, readings, and the like that comes with being a student. The shine of college has worn off, and just in time. Now it is the beginning of my final full week of college classes, and I have to shake off my exasperation so I can truly reflect and appreciate what this place has given me.
Philadelphia University (as it will always be known to me) is my home away from home. It took a while for me to warm up and see it that way, but this place has grown on me. I can’t walk across campus without thinking of a million memories, one for each step of the way. I can’t help but be thankful for freshman year, when my friends and I were all cooped up on campus all of the time, no cars for even a quick trip to Target. PhilaU was our infrastructure. When we were bored we had to make our own fun, even if that turned into a weird wrestling match outside in the grass. When it snowed, we went sledding. When the leaves fell, we jumped in the piles at 2:00 in the morning. We’d walk 30 minutes to Manayunk for consignment shopping sprees and we’d make chocolate pretzels in our microwave. I have made lifelong friends here, and what saddens me most is the excuse to see one another almost every day is about to come to an end.
Philadelphia became my new home, and without my choice to come to this school I never would’ve found my city. My traditions are here now; annual food truck festivals, Christmas light shows, and haunted houses have become staples in my very regimented schedule. I am so lucky that I was given the opportunity to get comfortable somewhere new, because some people are not. There are new restaurants to try and new street festivals to attend all the time, and I can’t wait to keep exploring. I have to thank PhilaU for introducing and acquainting me to this city. I took advantage of all the discounted school trips I could and it paid off. I found something that I couldn’t have imagined finding when I left home at 18, truly feeling that I am where I’m supposed to be.
Every class I took was not a gem and the things I have learned might not all be things I can discuss in my Hallmarks Folio (eye roll), but I have truly learned a lot in my time here. A lot of it has been about myself versus more tangible subjects. I have been completely disgruntled with projects, but I learned how to work with people (and I’m sure the higher-ups would love that I’m saying that). I learned how to manage my time and how to be present while also being very forward thinking. Maybe I won’t miss sitting in class and always having work to do when I got home, but that’s not all college has been to me. It’s been my work-study that I got so weirdly passionate about, and this club, that has given me a platform to have a voice. Most of all, it has been inside jokes, routines, comfort and community.
It’s so strange to think that I will never walk into some of these buildings again. I’ve never been one to appreciate change, but the preparedness I feel for the future and the feeling that I have outgrown a college campus makes it easier. It is still bittersweet, and I plan to do my best to appreciate these last two weeks. There’s a lot of community here, even if it isn’t always expressed as school spirit. We become our own, smaller communities and there are things we all share, although I will admit I never got the hype of chicken finger Thursday. As I leave here, I will miss the trees, the buildings, and all of the people I gave nicknames to but never actually spoke to. I am in love with my life, and I don’t know if I have this school to thank, or myself, but definitely the people that I’m surrounded by. As time moves further and further away from my college years, I know I will only become more nostalgic about them. Even now, as a senior, I am way more nostalgic than I ever thought I would be when I arrived here. So to my friends that I’ve known since day one of orientation, the friends who didn’t realize we were friends until like 6 months ago (you know who you are) and the friends that became my study abroad family, here’s to the next step!