a semester already over

how did it go by so quickly?

Just yesterday it feels like we were grinding away for finals. And now it’s all gone. That rhythm and pace of life has stopped all so suddenly. Soon, all of us will be back at our homes far away, spend time with our local friends and family, relax, apply to internships, and plan for the new year.

In a way, the end of finals has always felt a bit off. As I was walking back to the quad after playing basketball with some friends, things felt a bit empty. Like—what now? All my energy and time for the past week was devoted to just cramming as much stat and cs knowledge into my brain, so having nothing immediate to do felt weird.

For once, in a long time, there was nothing immediate on my to do list. And that feeling felt wrong—like my mind craves something to do. Like my mind wants something to think about or else it’s confused why it’s free to wander in thought without focus.

And I suppose there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this. This feeling of emptiness might just be psychological from a change of pace instead of something more deeper with my relation to school and work. And I think it’s just that—a sudden shift in priorities that catches me off guard.

But for now, I’ll take this time to just chill and reflect. And then we’re back on the grind as always.

In another vein, the end to the semester has always felt abrupt. Each passing day means another final done and more familiar faces gone. But there isn’t much of a goodbye. Most of the time, your friends are already home before you realize. And in that regard, life and school is deeply individualistic.

People come and people go. And in all the busyness, there isn’t time to say goodbye to all your friends. You just pack it up and leave. And the semester is over. Just like that. It was here and then it’s not. And that feels off. In high school things are different. The last day of class is the last day of class for everyone. You can feel the excitement in the air when the bell rings at 2:15 pm. You know its over. The teachers talk about it. The students are all jumping for joy.

But at college, things are more still. It’s a quiet goodbye. Everyone is spread apart. You don’t usually say goodbye to all of your friends. The end of a semester is more mellow than the start of break in high school. And as much as you want to make it feel special, something is fundamentally different about college goodbyes.

One moment we’re all here. The next we’re all back home in our tiny corners of the world. One moment we’re all studying for our final. The next we’re meeting up with high school friends and applying to internships from back home. It ends so quick.

And so we should cherish it. Each moment we live lasts for only the moment we experience it. And then you’re experiencing new things again with lived experiences becoming memories.

As I reflect on this past fall semester, I would describe it best as work-heavy, learning more about myself and relationships, and the quickness of it.

Work-heavy. Yeah. Sophomore year is known as the grind year at Harvard and this is definitely true. Although, I would also argue that any class load where you are truly learning will be heavy. But this was not easy. And trying to actually learn things became really hard when AI was such a readily available tool to use for my psets. The median for all my classes this year for tests were like a whole standard deviation lower probably because of AI. And so this is something I want to change next semester. Trying to learn much more without relying as much on AI and at the same time studying for finals earlier because I definitely procrastinated. (Hopefully all A’s, right?)

Learning more about myself and relationships. I think this carries on from the summer but this semester I definitely learned a lot about friendship, relationships, and myself. And I think we are always learning about our values and what we want in friendships and in a romantic relationship too. Each failure teaches us something new and is something we carry forward. And so this semester was particularly characterized by these thoughts.

Quickness. By far, I think the fastest semester. Freshman fall felt like ages. Freshman spring was faster. And sophomore fall was the quickest. It feels like time is accelerating once again. Like in high school, time was slowly accelerating as we approached senior year and then freshman year in college became a reset button in that acceleration. And now things are picking up again as days blend and experiences become repetitions instead of novelty.

And I’m sure this won’t even be the quickest period of my life either. I’m sure junior year might whizz by even faster. And when we’re all working, days will blend like they’re all the same.

And so I think the message of all of this is to truly cherish the people and experiences we have. The days are long but the years are short. If we live our lives without thinking where we are going, we’ll find ourselves looking back at our life thinking where did all the time go.

And with that, thank you all for an amazing semester. Have an amazing winter break and see you sometime soon!