Last class..

Yesterday, I attended my last class in university without even realizing it. 

It was the Chinese oral exam. Well, that was not strictly a class, so lets see.. it was the Chinese class 2 weeks ago. (I stopped attending other classes).

And today I will be finishing my last assignment!

A close friend of mine graduated 6 months ago and left for the US to work. He was feeling.. sad I guess and emotional. The way you feel when you leave your parents to come to a foreign country. It was rather unusual of him but this was his first home away from home, and he would be leaving the place, the environment, friends... indefinitely for quite sometime. He was starting a new life. This was not an exchange. When he came back, he wouldnt be the carefree student, but a responsible worker!

Now, I am not leaving this place anytime soon, but I will definitely miss this important chapter of my life. I have been doing a course I liked, I did fairly well academically, enjoyed my courses, and learnt a LOT both inside and outside of my course. I extended my study for 1 additional semester, partly to buy some time and partly to finish my minor. And this additional semester, i decided to explore. Besides, the 2 modules I had to do to graduate, I finally decided to learn Chinese.  I also did a math module "purely for fun". Both were very satisfying and enjoyable!! On the side, I worked on my startup. Half sem through, I was working mostly and studying by the side. Towards the end, I have completely lost interest in the studying part (except the "purely for fun" math module). I am learning much more from my startup. Assignments feel like a waste of time (who cares about this code? It is not going to help anyone.. I might as well work on something more useful!). For the first time, I went to demo my project and the tutor gave me pity marks because nothing worked. For the first time, I skipped assignment submissions completely. For the first time, well I did a lot of firsts. Some of which I d rather keep to myself ;) Things that a lot of people generally do much earlier in University. 

My point is, I have withdrawn myself from university gradually. It wasnt like I spent 4 years mugging my ass off and then suddenly started working. I spent 4 years half studying, and 1 semester 1/4th studying.. and its time to jump off. It feels right. I dont want to study any longer and I feel I have had my fill!!

But even so, the protection of the uni was nice. There was this safety net that made sure you wouldnt fall too bad. Mistakes resulted in bad grades not lost money / lawsuits. You were still a student. Responsibilities were minimal. And now, in a couple of weeks, I throw that protection away to explore the big bad world all on my own :) I feel a bit scared, but also confident that I will be able to pull through.. I feel a little nostalgic but also happy to be moving on...

I dont know where this will lead - I would definitely not have predicted my current state 4 years ago - but I am sure it will be as much fun as the years that preceded it. As I see it, the process counts as much as the result! And the only thing affecting the process is my attitude! :)