This is it..

07-06-2010

I can’t believe this is my last column. A rigid move-out date is set where all students have to leave official school housing (which includes almost all the student population). Campus has slowly emptied out, friends said goodbye and went their way. Summer internships, travel, summer courses, each one going his or her separate way. The last few days have been very challenging emotionally; one becomes accustomed to his environment after a certain period, to the community and the sense of belonging. These last five months have flown by so fast that it’s scary to feel time being so slippery. I’m afraid to let time pass by so fast and to wake up one day and see that life just ran off leaving me to merely reflect on the fading memories.

We (the exchange students) all said goodbye and had our last drinks at Smokes. I find it amazing since it didn’t feel this way graduating from my bachelors at RSM. You really get attached to this place, not only to the people but also to the actual campus. The sights and sounds, the facilities, the activities and general bustle, it’s all a part of what makes UPenn what it is.

It’s hard to summarize my experience here in words. I had the time of my life and can recall almost every single moment here with a smile. I’ll remember the people that I met who influenced me and made this experience a pure pleasure. After all, friends make a place feel like home. I’ll miss the amenities and the interactive classes which made me feel so much more significant in my own academic experience. I’ll miss the passionate student spirit which reigned everywhere, bubbling out from the nuts and cranks of Locust Walk. I would advise anyone who has the opportunity to spend at least a semester at an American university. It feels as if they are light years away in figuring out how a college experience should look like.

So that’s it. No more academic course work, just a thesis to write and that’s it, I’ll be officially at “that stage” of my life, post university. It feels odd; it always loomed so far in the future that I could not even imagine how it would be like. But here it is. Thank you Wharton for so much more than an academic experience and who knows, maybe someday I’ll be back...

Jonathan Friedman is a master student in the Finance and Investments program at RSM. He is currently an exchange student at Upenn’s Wharton.