I remember taking this photo during the first day of school, thinking, “I can’t believe I’m actually here.” Coming to my program seemed like something that was too good to be true, something that happened to others and to characters in books, but certainly not me.
Yet it was me who stepped into this life.
It was me who adapted, wno toiled, who kept going.
And everytime I felt overwhelmed, I would sit here, staring at the water, breathing in the smell of chlorine and pine.
Sometimes I wished I was the water – nonsentient, a being instead of a doing. Oh how I wished I didn’t have to do so much doing – club meetings here, midterms there, essays due who knows where.
But most of the time, seeing these falls brought me back to first year me, that bright-eyed, enthusiastic girl brimming with possibilities and eager to take on the world.
And I remember why I wanted this life so much.
So I kept going.
Angela Dong 