Leaving Stanford/Returning Home

Leaving Stanford was bittersweet.

The first thing I did after waking up (around noon) was start cleaning all the chalk off of our walls. For those who don't know, for the last quarter and a half, we've been letting everyone draw on our big white walls with a bunch of colored sidewalk chalk. Well, now we had to remove a full three walls worth of drawing and some stuff on the ceiling. We photographed it all, filled up a garbage can with water, and got to work with some rags. It an hour or an hour and a half plus a couple Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for the toughest parts, but we got it done.

Next, we moved most of my furniture into storage. Now Ben has an awesome, huge single, but it doesn't look like my room, which made me feel a little weird. The best part for him is that we figured out a great way to arrange the furniture so that he could take my mattress and use it to make a queen sized bed. Lucky him.

We went to lunch at Axe & Palm before he had to go to class and we had to say goodbye. It was a little surreal for me. After rooming with Ben for the last two years, we will probably never room together again. It will only be a quarter until we're both in the Bay Area for summer, but it won't be the same.

I packed, took care of some errands, and then I left.

On the drive back home, "Give a Little Bit" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGI6qQHFlPk) came on the radio, and it made me think of all the friends I was leaving down in Palo Alto. I was actually quite sad to say goodbye to them all. At least some of them, truth be told, I will never see again. It made me truly happy that they made a little bit of time for me this past week, just to see me and talk to me and wish me farewell before I left for England. I will miss them all.

In particular, hearing the song made me think of how I left Yost, and how Yost ended up being one of the best parts of the last two quarters. There was some real Yost Love this year, and I feel lucky to be part of it. The community there was fantastic, and I feel that I made some close friends. I hope to see them all again, sooner rather than later, and to stay in touch with those who I won't see for a while.