Congraduation to the Class of 2012

June 15th, 2012,

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to make it to the 154th annual commencement of Northwestern University. I took the 6::54 a.m. Metra to Chicago and walked to Merchandise Mart to hop on the purple express towards Evanston. It was about 90 F and I wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt (so I won't get too tan for my mom to freak out about it). I had a Wildcat hat on (so I won't get sunburnt/tanned). I carried a Nikon D300 with the 80-200 mm lens (which were the heaviest thing ever). I ran around Ryan Field (our football field) with sunglasses, a baseball hat, and a super heavy camera - I totally looked like a spy. Or an amateur photographer in all sorts of ways.

"I volunteer!" was why I was there. I was always of the nostalgic kind. I've had too much attachment with the seniors, in both Chi Omega and also the EP 613 group. My winter and spring quarter wouldn't be the same without them, especially the EP group. I remember how we started with the movie Legend of the Falls in the room of EP 613 - the beginning of everything, of the movie nights and of friendship. At first I felt weird for being the only freshman there (Chelsea would be there too sometimes) among juniors and seniors, but they took me in regardless of the fact that I was younger than everyone. I didn't miss a single one of the movie nights in winter quarter, for it was something that helped me get through that period of time. Movie and wine was the highlight of my night and all the bs that I had to deal with during the week was all worth it and thrown to the back of my head on that Friday night. Those nights walking down Sheridan Avenue in the dead of the night just felt so right. Dillo Day brought great memories as well - all those Polaroid photos are still in my diary, kept close to my heart. There isn't much more to say. Too many memories are shared so we all know. And that's enough.

Commencement was an amazing experience in general. To be there for all the senior friends that I had even though I didn't catch them all on camera for there were just too much people was fun and touching. Being able to capture all you guys' smiles on camera was a pleasure - and that's why I got up at 5:30 a.m. to do this on a hot sunny day. Thinking of all the rising seniors (especially Rachel), the rising juniors (I know a ton more of them) and then me. I guess I might be there for all the graduation commencements in the years to come.

"Tonight / We are young / So let's set the world on fire / We can burn brighter / Than the sun "

I'll miss all of you, and EP 613/603, and many memories, dearly.