Memories

I have not set foot on my old campus since I graduated 7 years ago. I did that today, taking the 45 some miles drive up there, and it felt quite surreal. A lot has changed, and yet a lot are still the same. The trees are bigger, the buildings looks a bit more worn, some new buildings are built upon the spots where olds ones once stood, but overall, it’s still the same feeling walking on the sidewalks. A sense of awe and inspiration comes over me as I walked around the engineering side of campus with the 2 kids and took pictures.

The campus was pretty empty, in fact, almost ghost-town like. The only exception was the dormitories. Parents and grandparents and siblings were helping the soon-to-be college students or returning students move in. The parking lots were full of trucks, vans, and trailer/tractor thingies. I can’t remember my parents coming with me at all, not even once. I never requested that they come, and they trusted that I didn’t need them there. The only time when my parents came to the university was for my graduation. Anyway, there weren’t many people walking on campus so we had the whole sidewalk to ourselves. I even went into the ChE hall, sat in the classrooms, peeked into the labs etc.

I have so many fond memories here. I remember the days when I lounged on the lawn in front of the library drinking my coca-cola, watching people go by. Or the days when the library was my 2nd home during exam times. And the memorable all-nighters in the ChE hall, finishing up class projects. The people in my classes, the girls in my dormitory, the guys I had crushes on, the professors who taught the lectures — what happened to them since then?! Where are they now?! Do they ever think back to the college days when everything was simpler? Do they wonder the what ifs?

So much has happened in my life since I started college here, since the days of thermodynamics and mass transfer. And even more has happened since graduation. I can’t help but be thankful that I have Hubby to stand by me now and always. And to think I almost fell for a frog is really laughable. The college days are behind me. They are locked away in some memory box only to be opened once in a long long while.