Life Preservers
Two days ago, I walked out of Fitzrandolph Gate a Princeton alum, packed everything I own in the world, and moved into my friend Bronson’s apartment in Brooklyn. Reunions, Baccalaureate, Class Day and Commencement all went by in a huge blur of processions and recessions, speeches and celebrations, tears and beer. I’m not exactly sure how I’m supposed to feel. I guess the word “empty” comes to mind.
My identity has so long been steeped in my status as an university student that I don’t really know who I am right now. Pentagram intern? Brooklyn resident? Recent college grad? I feel unready to assume any of those labels.
The most difficult aspect about this transition is that I am undertaking it without those people who are closest to me. This city feels in some ways too big and too lonely without their company. Saying goodbye to loved ones has always been difficult for me. I feel as though some crucial part of me has been untimely removed only to be replaced by a future as yet unknown.
Opening my diplomas after Commencement, taken by my close friend Angela