It’s been a crazy few weeks. Within the span of a few days, we went from testing out our online capabilities at USC to being online for the rest of the semester! As a senior, this has been particularly hard. A few of my friends left for spring break not knowing they wouldn’t come back for the rest of the year. I still don’t feel like it has completely sunk in that I won’t walk to class on Trousdale again or spend finals studying in Doheny Library. Reflecting on my last 3.75 years, however, I have felt more grateful than sad. It is truly special to go to a school that you will miss this much. On the note of reflection, I wanted to name a few things I will miss about going to school in person at USC, and what I will miss when I graduate (maybe on Zoom who knows!).
First, I will miss my fellow Viterbi students, shown in the picture above at Universal Studios. Viterbi students are truly one of a kind. They are quick to form study groups and lend a helping hand to classmates. They will truly help you with any homework or studying. I honestly haven’t done homework alone in like 2 years… I will miss being around such incredibly intelligent people who want to use engineering to make the world a better place. I am grateful that I will be able to join the Trojan Family and keep in contact with all of my peers and see what incredible professionals they become!
The next thing I will miss is just spending nights cooking with friends (above you can see my soup that I posted on my instagram story, check me out). There have been so many nights staying in with my friends cooking a new dish that I will not forget. It’s during these times that we laugh so hard we cry and we tell stories of our crazy professors or new romantic interests 😉 . Just living so close to your best friends is a blessing that I definitely took for granted!
I’ll miss gamedays. This is something unaffected by social distancing, since the last football game was in the fall, but it is still something I reflect on that reminds me of the USC Trojan spirit! There is nothing like being decked out in the cardinal and gold and making the march through campus over to the Coliseum, kicking the flag poles on the way for good luck. These are traditions I will never forget, and ones I can hopefully do again as an alumni at Homecoming games!
The last thing I’m going to miss is my Troy Camp family. For the last 4 years I have mentored the same kids from the LA community, and I am going to miss them so, so much! Above you can see us making our recycled materials project, a bookshelf full of Hot Cheetos. Troy Camp has been my escape from hard classes or the stresses of the day for my entire college experience, so it will be tough not getting to see the kids or fellow counselors again.
This has been a super emo blog post, but it just shows how much I have loved USC and how much I will miss it. Classes aren’t over, and my mom won’t hesitate to say I haven’t gotten my diploma yet, so I will still be around for questions about Viterbi and events online! I hope you all can see how much I love Viterbi, and let me know if you have any questions.
