I will graduate from Brandeis University in less than a month. Even typing that out feels weird. For four years, I was living my life at Brandeis, and a month from now, I will be living a completely new life. Even though people say that time flies when you are having a good time, my high school life feels so distant, like I have been at Brandeis longer than a fifth or so of my life. That may be partially due to the fact that my senior year of high school was entirely remote due to the pandemic. I did not even get to tour Brandeis before I arrived. I went from spending my days entirely at home to being thrust into a new environment, a state that I had not been to since I was a small child and thousands of new people. So yeah, it was quite the shock to the system and I had to get used to everything that was new. Nevertheless, while I sometimes think about what my life would have been like if I went to/applied to different schools, I know that Brandeis was the right college for me to attend, and I would never want to trade away that experience for a life at any other school.
It was this school that helped me discover my love of journalism. Before arriving at Brandeis, while I liked journalism, the field felt more like one I would go into because no other field really interested me, as opposed to a full passion. However, as time went on, my love for journalism grew and it became the field that I am really excited about. I have taken some excellent journalism classes at Brandeis, for starters. I had finished up my minor in journalism by the end of my sophomore year, but I would still fit in at least one journalism class every semester, and these classes all helped me make sure I was prepared for a future career in journalism. Furthermore, the skills I learned from these classes helped prepare me for the various journalism internships I had in college, which helped provide me with many professional bylines and titles that look fantastic on my resume. I am grateful for all of the journalism help Brandeis has provided me, giving that jumpstart to the future. Also, it was not just my journalism classes that I enjoyed, I also loved the classes I took for my majors, English and American Studies. In my freshman year, I only took one class in the English department, American Independent Film, and I took no American Studies classes. When I first got to Brandeis, I thought I was going to major in Politics and Psychology. While I did like what I learned in the few classes that I took in these departments, I soon realized that these majors were not for me. That is one of things that I love about Brandeis, I was not put into a box when I arrived at this school. I got to explore different departments and figure out what drew me in instead of sticking with the first thing that caught my eye. I got to explore, and that is what led to two majors that made me passionate about learning. American Studies was a major I stumbled into by accident, with me realizing that a lot of my journalism and English classes were cross-listed, and it would not take me too many extra classes to have a second major, which also shows the beauty of Brandeis’ flexibility. The majority of my classes had some fun topics, from rom-coms to capitalism to James Baldwin to modern American culture to social media journalism and more. In fact, I could have graduated early, but I took an eighth semester so I could take some more fun classes (I also wanted to see my friends and pace myself in entering the real world, but also the classes). It was a journey to figure out my passion, but certainly not one I regret.
Another wonderful component of my time in college was the people I met. Of course, I can’t honestly say everyone at this school is a great person, but the friends I made were enough to make up for the other people. I met most of my good friends the first couple of weeks of my time at Brandeis and we are still going strong all of these years later. Sure, there have been some ups and downs, and I am willing to take responsibility for some of those downs, and I would not say that all of my friends from the beginning are still a part of my life. Even so, I still have a good group of friends by my side, and I am always grateful for the time we spent together. They are often busy with all of their STEM work, but I cherish when they are available. We have had some great laughs and great memories, and I hope that continues throughout our adult lives. Furthermore, I want to shout out some of the fun people I have had classes with throughout my time at school. They may not be the people that I am out grabbing a meal with, but we have had great conversations when sitting in class together, and I know if I wave at you when I am out and about, you will wave back. There are some terrific people at this institution, and I only wish I could have met more of them, because I know there has to be some exciting personalities I have yet to uncover. Here’s to hoping I get to meet even more unique people after graduation.
Something else that I want to reflect on from my time in college is my entrance into the dating world. In high school, I was kind of an awkward outcast, with no dating life to be found. Once I got to college, I started joining dating apps and my romantic outcast problems faded away. Turns out, being a pretty girl on a dating app means getting a lot of attention. Who would have thought? Through the many years of college that I have been dating, I have gotten to try restaurants I may not have ordinarily, explored new areas of Boston, have some intellectually stimulating conversations with new people and, naturally, kiss some cute boys. A first kiss from a cute boy can often be a great provider of endorphins. I have also liked the variety of dates that I have been on and the variety of guys that I have dated, allowing me to learn what/who I really want and what/who keeps my attention, which are great takeaways that I can carry into my romantic future. Of course, dating has not always been smooth sailing, and there have been some duds. Furthermore, considering the fact that I am currently single, it should be clear that the majority of my dates have not been successful. Nevertheless, I am all about living in the moment, and I have been on plenty of great dates that have given me happiness and a spark in the moment, and those types of dates definitely outweigh the ones that have been duds. Dates with cute boys have been a fun part of my life these past couple of years, and I am glad that I downloaded dating apps when I did. I feel like I am making my high school self proud, as I get to live the fun dating life of her dreams. My dating future could go any which way, so I am going to hope that, in the next bunch of first dates that I have, I will meet more princes than frogs.
While reflecting on Brandeis, I also have to think about my overall feelings towards the environment. I like the environment overall, but there are some mixed feelings. For starters, there is the hilliness of the campus. Walking up those big hills to get to my classes from the Charles River apartments can be brutal. Not to mention, the majority of my classes are in the Rabb quad, so I have to go up those giant steps, and then go down them, most days, and I am always afraid each day that it will be the day that I trip down the stairs. Even so, there are some aesthetically pleasing buildings on this campus, and I just like how Brandeis has a vibe that really feels like a college campus. Furthermore, I have had a decent experience with the dorms I have lived in. That does not mean I have had a decent experience with the housing lottery, because that is definitely not the case. However, the Charles River dorm I am currently living in is probably my favorite dorm I have lived in, and while the others certainly had flaws, they were not terrible in retrospect. Here’s to hoping the housing lottery gets easier for people and more people can have good dorms. On a more positive note about the Brandeis environment, I like how I get to have this life on a college campus, but we also have the shuttles that can get me into Cambridge and Boston whenever I want on the weekends, so I get my fill of a city atmosphere whenever I feel the need, as I am always about city life. Nevertheless, I would often find fun on the college campus. Of course, most events I went to were for the free food or because my friends said they wanted to go, but I still had some good times. In fact, I probably should have gone to more college events for a “true college experience,” but I think I made a great experience for myself, and that is what matters.
Now, this is my senior opinion piece for The Brandeis Hoot, so naturally, I have to talk about my time at this newspaper. If you are reading this opinion piece and you are thinking about possibly joining The Hoot, I will say you should do it because it is one of the best choices that I made at Brandeis. I signed up for The Hoot at my first club fair and I wrote my first article, a review of the pro-shot of “Come From Away,” as soon as I could. After writing a couple articles, former arts editor Stewart Huang ’22 asked me one week to write an article to help fill the newspaper with content, and that led to me writing every week. I then became Deputy Arts Editor, then Arts Editor, then Managing Editor and now I am one of the Editors-in-Chief. In my time at The Hoot, I have written over 100 articles, having written for every section at least once, learned the ins and outs of copyediting, gotten to visit Harvard’s Nieman Foundation on behalf of the newspaper and I have met some wonderful people who are some of the best writers I have met. In addition, I would say that with The Hoot having some of the earliest bylines in college, the experience that I got from this newspaper was a guide, along with my classes, towards my journalism internships, so I will be eternally grateful for that push. In addition, the most important aspect of the newspaper that I will miss is late night production nights. They are where we would be talking about nonsense, listening to music from our youth and working hard to create a spectacular newspaper every time. Now, while my time at the newspaper sounds pretty hardcore, you do not have to do that much to become a valuable member of the team. Even if you write one article for us, you will get a gold star from us. Though, we hope you write more than one, as we would love for you to join our staff, and those bylines could help you out in the future. Plus, as I mentioned before, you could get some camaraderie from your Hoot experience. No matter what fancy publication I may work for in the future, I will remember my time as a member of The Hoot fondly, and I am grateful for the experience it gave me and the people it brought into my life.
As I write this article, I am not totally sure about my future. I know that I am moving back to New York City to be with my parents and to keep myself open to all of the great opportunities that are in New York. However that is where the specificity ends. Nevertheless, I am feeling optimistic about my future after graduation. I believe that I learned a lot while at Brandeis, and I think I can carry those lessons into the real world. Yes, I know that I probably sound like a brochure right now, but I honestly appreciate a decent portion of my time in college, and I am going to miss that life. Even with my optimism for the future, the future world does seem scary after the comfortability of college. Nevertheless, I think my Brandeis time will benefit me once I leave my dorm for the final time. People often say that college should be the best four years of your life. Is it the best four years of my life so far? I would say so, as I have had a lot of thrilling experiences. Do I think it will remain the best four years of my life? Frankly, I hope not, because I think it is a bit early for my life to peak. I imagine my future being filled with glamorous opportunities, cool people and some wild times. Like I said before, I am being optimistic about the future, as manifestation is the best way to get that dream future. Nevertheless, my college years will be ones I surely will look back on fondly, and I bet they and the people I have met, will shape the years to come. It is hard to believe graduation is just around the corner, but there is no turning back now. Congratulations Class of 2025, we did it!
