\”How does it feel to be graduated? How does it feel to be 22?\”

For the paxt few days, I couldn\’t really answer appropriately, because I was busy with so many other things. Trying to organize people in the right place. Cleaning and moving out of my apartment. Waving my sister goodbye (she flew up to the Bay Area just for this weekend for me!)

And now the excitement has gone. Perhaps it is replaced by a feeling of nostalgia. Yesterday at the engineering commencement, I was reminded of how many people I neglected not to get to know. As I saw my friend Karen bound from friend to friend (I basically played photographer the entire time), I realized how little people I really knew in my major. The day of my commencement, I went directly to the reception. I didn\’t see anybody I really knew…and left shortly afterwards with my family and a few non-cogsci friends to a restaurant. Where were my pictures of large groups of people in graduating gowns? Where?

My 22nd birthday was spent attending the engineering commencement starting at 8:30 am. Somehow I had caught a cold and during the entire ceremony, my head was swimming (not to mention that I had only 5 hours of sleep). I watched the grad student I researched with (he\’s also going to be a professor at cmu!) during the year get hooded by his advisor. The ceremony was sooo long. It didn\’t really end until 1 pm. Congratulations to Jason, Anderson, Karen, Seth, Thomas I, Thomas II, Jimmy, Kun, James, Chris…!

Then I ate at my favorite restuarant, chow for my birthday. Then I tried to go to a dessert place, but apparently the East Bay has nothing like Extraordinary Desserts like that of San Diego. Instead, we got gelato from Downtown Berkeley with my sister and Kathy. MMMm!

Closing note: it has been 4 years since I arrognantly stepped on the Berkeley campus. Despite being a fall extension freshman, I knew there was a huge change for me. Everything that I was stuck with in high school would be redone with college. I would have good friends–people who would do the weird things I liked to do. I would get over my social anxiety. I would have a graduation with people who really was there for me. I would have my first serious relationship. I would have a part-time job. I achieved almost all, lost some and gained some. I don\’t think I would be the same person now if I had gone somewhere else. If UCLA had accepted me, I don\’t think I would have fit there. If I went to Davis, I wouldn\’t be as proud of myself as I am now.

And for now, I am going to Carnegie Mellon starting this fall! :D