It has been done, graduation! As of yesterday (05/13/23), I've
graduated from U of I with a Comp E. degree! As much as I have been
looking forward to kissing school goodbye, it feels as if a hole has
been left in my heart.
It feels nice to be back at home with my family, but I can't help but
feel that it's ultimately regressive. Almost like I'm regressing back
to the way I was in highschool with new elements mixed in. It hasn't
really set in completely, but I'm already missing the way things were
on campus. The college town full of like-minded people all my age. And
the freedom make impromptu plans to visit friends. Not to mention the
feeling of relative safety on campus. Despite there being more gun
violence in Chambana per capita compared to Chicago, I felt much more
secure walking around late at night there than here.
In my last semester, I worked at the Beckman Institute's cafe. And I
talked to other seniors that were graduating with me. Regarding life
after graduation, my coworker Ivan had a list of concerns. One that
I hadn't realy considered, was keeping myself busy socially.
On campus, I didn't really engage in much club-wise. But I always made
sure to go to the Muay Thai gym near campus to train. After going to
such a gym consistently, you end up in the social circle of the gym.
Something something about the camradery formed from everybody training
to get better. And from hitting each other in sparring. But now in
Chicago, I don't really have that. So I have to work to find some sort
of club activity/sport that I can engage in to keep myself from
becoming some basement dwelling gamer.
I used to be involved with our campus Japanese conversation group. So
maybe I can look into something like that? Though I do have some
reservations about the people that may be in a group like that(Weebs).
But at my JP level (intermediate) I'm sure most would've been filtered
out. Or rather, the very in-your-face ones would've been. I suppose I
can consider myself a weeb, but I certainly don't talk about it. I'm
also trying to pick up the Bass guitar, so there's that as well.
What to do! So many things to do in the big city, but what exactly do
I want to do?
