Nostalgia

The Franklin dormitory meant only a foreign building to me. A castle-like structure with the frequent cockroaches. An area where students tend to reside in after class to finish up school work or take a break from a hectic day. 

But that was only how I felt when the program had just started. 

Sooner than expected, that foreign building became home. UPenn was home. And just like anytime when you're away from home, you get homesick. Heartbreak and nostalgia is already following me after recently arriving back in the Bay. 

I've never realized how beautiful Philly is at 6:00 in the morning until today. Probably because nothing looks beautiful at 6:00 AM. But today was special: it hosted the moment when our wonderful journey finally ended. Two of my friends, Annie and Prateek, were scheduled to leave on the 7:00 AM shuttle to the airport, so our small group of friends decided to get together at Starbucks and have one last meal with them. After many exchanges of hugs, we went to see them off, and that's when the chain reaction of depression began. 

It first started when the sky seem to transition into a dull gray and even began to rain at one point. Jordy joked about how rain was a good way to hide your tears, and it wasn't really helping the situation to be honest. Soon after everyone else boarded their buses for their trains, it was the time for my departure. Being one of the last few to leave Penn from my group of friends did give me an advantage to see them all off and wish them a safe flight, and I was more or less ready to leave. As I rushed into my dorm to grab my luggage and check out at the front of the Quad, I couldn't help but feel attached to my triple-room-dorm. It isn't the best place to live, but I had quite a lot of memories in there: from late night blogging to finishing up projects with friends. I had to stare around my room for a bit before leaving, and ended up meeting with the cohort outside. 

#Waka Flocka Group

We were all pretty exhausted from a long morning of good-byes on our ride to the airport, but Mr. Hillyer soon broke the desolate vibe when we went to Chickie's and Pete's for lunch. He also pulled out a game for us, and it was my first time playing Munchkins, but Mr. Hillyer decided to teach us all how to play. The intense game took up a lot of time that we had before our flight.

Being back in the Bay lets me realize how much that I have done and how far that I've went in terms of academics and personal growth. The program opened me up and allowed me to express my true colors, be all that I can be, and strive towards improving the person that I am.

I will never come across another experience such as this one, because nothing else can amount to my amazing summer well-spent in UPenn!