Blog Post #17: Ends or New Beginnings?

I’ve made it halfway through college, and it still feels like I just started. Except that my hair isn’t dyed completely red anymore. Only the ends are a reddish brown, lighter than the rest of my hair. Boxes and suitcases are currently strewn around my dorm, and as I look back, it’s easy to be sad that another year is ending. And yet, I’m grateful to be sad, because it means the memories were good, the friends are close, and that I’m proud of who I’ve become. I’m also incredibly grateful to all the friends I’ve made along the way- I am very much looking forward to another two years with them. Yesterday I spent some time with a new friend I made, and he made me say a rose, a bud, and a thorn. For those who don’t know, a rose is something good that happened, a thorn is something not so good, and a bud is something you’re looking forward to. Today, my rose was when my friend called me down to the dorm kitchen to eat some protein pasta, because I was feeling sad about leaving and the kitchen hang turned the sadness into reflective joy (and still some sadness). My thorn was having to say goodbye to another friend, who is leaving for two years to serve in the South Korean army. But, perhaps one day I will be able to visit him in South Korea. And my bud is going home for the summer, and all the things that come with- laying in the springy green grass and reading, swimming, eating watermelon, hanging out with my family, and dusting off the keys of our amber brown piano to start learning new music. Onwards!