The Shock of Graduation (& my first post)

Like many of my friends and classmates, the last few weeks at Williams flew by in a blur. Between papers, finals, and then the celebratory toasts, mad dancing, and the many late nights spent with friends (some even on top of local roofs), the good folks at Campus Life and the wonderful college staff sure do a great job at keeping you busy. There isn’t much time to even pack up your dorm room, let alone say real goodbyes to the people that you will truly miss in the next few days, let alone the next months or (more inconceivable to my recently graduated mind) years.


And now, I’m home. I still live in the Berkshires, but it’s quieter than college. While there happily aren’t any papers, there are also no friends down the hall to distract me from them. I can’t text my friends to hang out because instead of being only a few houses away they are now in New York, Chicago, Boulder, Berkeley, and even Morocco. (Salam, Kat!) I don’t race to snack bar before equivalency points end at one a.m. because there is already a fully stocked fridge downstairs. (Ok, this is actually a positive thing. But there aren’t any mozz sticks, and that is a travesty.)  There’s no more walking to Paresky to check for mail, visits to Tunnel City to refuel caffeine levels, no more free purple tee shirts from community events and neighborhood parties (you can never have too many). There isn’t always something going on. And while minor compared to my entire experience at Williams, these are the things that I’m remembering.

Though my head can’t quite wrap itself around the fact that college is indeed over, there are plenty of other distractions to keep me occupied and happy, just like those last weeks at school. My favorite form of distraction lately (besides House marathons on tv) has been sorting through the thousands of photos I’ve taken over my four years at school. The pictures are proof that a) I really did graduate and b) I had some pretty good times at college. So, over the course of the expedition, I’m going to share them with you, in addition to those that I plan on taking on the trip. Hope you enjoy, and looking forward to meeting you out on the road. I’ll be the one in the purple tee shirt.

*emily


the Williams class of 2009 marches into Chapin for the Baccalaureate ceremony
the Williams class of 2009 marches into Chapin for the Baccalaureate ceremony