This Transition Period

IB is over!!!!!!!!!!

... but what now?

I have one exam left to go (oh Data Management, how I regret taking you...), but my summer has basically already begun.

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It's not a normal summer either.
It's the summer that marks the end of an era.
My last summer.
My last moments of freedom.
Before the gaping mouth of post-secondary education and co-op swallows me whole.

And I've effectively spent the beginning of it at the computer filling up on Youtube. (Side note: did you know that they have full episodes of MasterChef on there? I sure do love watching others cook better than I do and be criticized for it!)

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Besides tanning by the light of my computer screen, I've also been doing some serious thinking. Yes, I did finally decide on my university of choice. No, I will not reveal whether I ended up choosing University #1, University #2, or another university. Since that post, people have sent me guesses, and I have to say that it's amusing how my description seems to fit so many universities... and sometimes people even reverse #2 and #1. I guess it all really does depend on perspective.

Now that the major uncertainty is out of the way, I'm able to get into the half-excited half-panicky frenzy that comes with every new milestone in life. What should I do to prepare? What will I bring? What will I wear? What will I buy???

The answer to that last question is EVERYTHING. I live about 6-7 hours drive away from campus, so I'll be living in residence. Since this is my first time living on my own, I'm totally pumped. I'm not too much of a decorating person, but I love to organize... which means trips to IKEA looking for functional organizers that don't break the don't-nail-stuff-to-the-walls rule. Besides residence accessories, I've also been shopping for formal wear. People seem to dress up pretty often for various events in my program, and I want to play the part. It's hard to find nice formal shoes though... while most stores say they carry down to a size 5, there's always conspicuously no shoes of that size in their store. WHY.

Surprisingly, StudentAwards is still a site I frequent often. I would have thought that after the university debate was over, I would lose interest in severely biased judgements, but as it turns out, there's a bunch of other topics to consider. For example, what are the best residences? Is the caf food any good? What clubs should I most definitely join?

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But even as I feel myself being sweeped up by pre-post-secondary jitters, I can't help but stop sometimes as a wave of pure nostalgia washes over everything. The people that I've grown so close to are all heading off in separate directions to fulfil their own destinies, and even as I'm moving forward I sometimes yearn to just stop, and run back... only I'm afraid that when I do, no one will be there.

Whoa, that got sad fast. This transition period is hitting me pretty hard, but there's still an entire three months ahead of me.

Here's to a summer of making lasting memories.