I hate looking back on old times. That bittersweet feeling in my gut- I just simply don’t like it. So, I have learned to try my best to fight the urge to dwell on nostalgic and melancholy memories. In writing, talking, and simply thinking on the past academic year, though, this task seems very near impossible.
I came to Ohio State a very nervous outsider and an apathetic academic. To be sure, I am in large part the same searching kid that I was around the time of my high school graduation: searching for meaning in my life pursuits, for purpose in my studies, and for answers to questions about my role in the larger world.
Strange and perhaps cliché as it may sound, I think this academic year taught me the value of community within these pursuits. Being surrounded by fellow IA scholars, OSU students, and Columbus citizens certainly taught me many invaluable lessons, and gave me more memories than I could ever begin to recount in an infinite amount of blog posts. But with it all, I look back, and a see that the journey I am traveling is one I travel with fellow learners beside me, with mentors ahead of me, and with God above me. Bittersweet, no doubt. That hard feeling in my gut? Yep.
But a smile, nonetheless. It’s certainly a blessing to have had something worth missing.