Published Apr 28, 2006
Yesterday was my official last day of class at Marshall. Barring an incredible reversal of fortune on the two papers and one final left, I’ll officially have my MBA in just two weeks! It’s an exciting thought, and I’m thrilled about what is in my future. But, ya know what, I’m kinda sad too.
When I was in junior high, I went to summer camp at this program called CTY. CTY was, basically, nerd camp — a place where us inappropriately smart kids could gather for a few weeks every summer, take classes (during summer!), hang out with people who had the same social proclivities as ourselves, and generally have a grand old time. There was too much Ultimate Frisbee, too much pizza (way too much), co-ed sports, endless Risk games, and even the famous (and feared) Meat Market. It was weeks of heaven. And then I’d go home and I’d sleep for 20 hours straight, because who would do anything but stay up ‘til all hours in an environment like that. And I’d cry, too, because I wouldn’t be this happy again for another year.
Now, this is not one of those blogs that’s about how much I cried when I was a teenager, and I’m not claiming that I’m sitting here crying right now, either (again, not that kind of a blog), but it feels like those old days today. I’ve spent the last two years around people who are excessively smart, discussing incredible ideas, feeding my brain at every minute, and having fun besides. Sure, it’s not like I’m going to go back to burly lacrosse players who didn’t think much of me or teachers who think I’m too stupid to grok calculus, but I do predict a good dose of culture shock.
Plus, what the hell will I do with all this new free time? I’ll miss the routine, I’ll miss the firehose of information, I’ll miss the highly-targeted 15-minute deep discussions that were all we could spare between work, I’ll miss free beer on Thursdays, I’ll miss rock-paper-scissors tournaments, dammit, I’m ready to go back already.
Think I might be the one to renew? Maybe I’m lucky there’s no Carousel; I am about to turn 31.