What’s up guys. My name is Aarav and this is the penultimate blog post.
Beginnings have always been easy for me. Whether that’s starting a hobby or meeting new people, I’ve always been able to just go. It’s the nature of who I am – I love trying new things. Endings, however, endings are bittersweet. My conclusions to most of my essays end up being a crappier version of my intro. Final episodes get stuck in the “continue watching” row, their presence shrouded in mystery. How does one walk away from something they invested so much into?
Regardless, the end of this program is coming, so why not start by commemorating this last week, which was weird in so many ways. It felt like last Monday was 2 months ago and 2 hours ago at the same time. Because of the sheer amount of work we had to do, finishing results, PLA’s, and of course, posters, everything blended together. However, I also got to know my fellow participants even better, and I feel like I spent more quality time with them this week than the last 4 weeks combined.
On that note, I started the culture capital question this morning thinking it a chore. We still had a ton of work to do on our poster, and this felt like it was just taking away time to work on it. However, I came to really appreciate the lecture and the time I spent re-reading and revising my first draft. SSP is the most unique place I’ve ever been. It truly feels like every single person is their own piece in the overall puzzle of this program, and the rich diversity of backgrounds brings not only incredible collaborative intellect, but stimulating conversations as well. Throughout the 5 weeks, I feel like I’ve genuinely gotten to know every single person at a deeper level than I ever would’ve expected, and so many initial impressions were wiped clear in that process. I’ve learned so much about myself, what I value, what I represent and my place in not only this community, but my community back at home. The people here are truly what makes this program special, and it’s hard to believe that finding my people was the thing I was probably the most worried about.
Continuing onwards, the last three days have been nothing but posters. Honestly, I was super worried that we weren’t going to finish and our final poster, while servisable, was not going to be one I was proud of. However, thanks to the hard work of my incredible lab mates, Baback and Angie, our poster turned out incredible (water tribe up). The presentation went great, and I was surprised how invested I was in what others were saying. Usually, for these big group things (such as journal club and lectures), I tend to just space out (sorry Dr. Mano). However, this was different. It was the culmination of everything we’ve worked towards these last 5 weeks. What really shocked me, though, was how unique everyone’s results were. Each group found something different, which was not what I was expecting, as it felt like we were all more or less doing the same thing. This made it super interesting to see the differences in each experiment, and I found myself asking a lot more questions than I normally do.
Finally, it was time for the talent show. This was the perfect cap to an incredible day, as everyone had such cool talents. Whether that was Jim’s art, Julia’s piano, Aubrey’s geography or Aibike’s dancing, a lot of what I saw was super unexpected. On that note, Charlie, Anthony and Jonathan’s incredible artistry and Twilly Twonka stole the show with their humor. It was all capped off with a boys performance of call me maybe, a girls performance of see You again, and an incredibly touching karaoke session.
The talent show felt like an encore to the social aspects of the program in many ways. However, as stated earlier, I don’t like thinking about endings. It sounds bad, but they don’t sadden me the same way they sadden others. I feel like we should cherish the good while we’re together rather than dwell in the sadness. On that note, to answer the question from earlier, I think it’s not about walking away. It’s about taking advantage of every possible minute, and when it’s over, cherishing the fact you did just that. Sure it’s sad, knowing this is the end, but the memories we made here will last a lifetime.
I like to look at life as an endless open book with holes in each chapter. Winding bits of string flows through these holes, weaving together different sections into one cohesive piece. And while this chapter may be “over,” the string that connects it to the rest of the story will be there forever.
Tears will be flowing tomorrow, and I want everyone to know if I don’t cry, it’s not because I don’t care. I’m reminiscing on the good while I’m still here, in the presence of all these wonderful people. And it sounds bad, but seeing you all cry makes me feel even better, because it’s your way of expressing how much you care about the community we built here.
P.S., I’m sorry about the length of this blog. It’s partially for me, as, if nothing, SSP has shown me the value of writing stuff down (**lab notebooks). But it’s also partially my way of saying bye, especially as I won’t be coming on the bus and I won’t get to say my final goodbyes there. I would also like to shout out everyone that made this program possible. The faculty and TA’s did an amazing job helping everything run smoothly, and the words written here don’t do that justice. Anyway, here are some pictures of our last few days here at SSP.
