Goodbye, 2010.

 I want to say you were the best year, but I'm afraid I can't forget a plethora of shit that happened. Let's be open here, I could pretend to be all pretentious and austere and use grandiloquent words...but let's be real and sincere. I don't think "negatives" suffices.

Don't let me be mistaken, there were plenty of spectacular and exciting moments and seasons that happened in 2010.

///"End" of Senior Year.
I remember Billy and I celebrated at Friendly's a year ago for finally finishing applications. The feeling of going through High School and just not studying for tests is unmatched. Sure, the application results were nerve-racking to wait for...but I applied to reasonable schools, schools within my reach. Except for three of course, but I never really cared for Brown (at least not nearly as much as a certain person), I only applied to WashU for the Multicultural Week, and Cooper Union...well. Honestly, I'd rather go to Northwestern for the "true college experience," but the fact that CU was mind-numbingly cheaper made me want to go. I dreamt of that full scholarship, but never achieved it...but I didn't really expect it.

I got into my dream school of my early high school days, but didn't go. (Okay, let's be honest about this one. I  definitely did NOT deserve to get into Cal, but CA was poor, therefore Out-Of-Staters=CashMoney.)

I guess I'm painting my college application process and bit to picture perfect. I feel like the most important decision out of the entire process was settling on engineering. What a decision of pure luck--

(Man, I am mad tangenting.) I think I've written about why I chose Northwestern, but I'll summarize. Fall 2009, during application process, I dumbly thought that I wanted to become a doctor, so I applied to all these silly 7-year medical programs, making up stories about why I wanted to become a doctor. Most of the schools were schools that I never would have gone to without the program, so when I say I got into 10 schools...really it's not saying much at all. Northwestern was one of the few (next to Brown's PLME program) colleges that I applied to that had an academic reputation for their school, even without the program.

The reason I applied to Northwestern was for their HPME (Honors Program in Medical Education) Program.  When you apply, you can choose between applying for a science or engineering undergraduate, and I remember this conversation with Billy where I simply chose engineering on a whim. This was crucial later on in 2010...

Basically, once I finally came to my senses and decided on Engineering, even if it did have lower pay than Pharmacy (at RU) or MD's...it was what I wanted to do (or closer to what I wanted. I still don't know for sure).

Sure, my mom still bugs me every time I come back about going Engineering Pre-med, or switching to Bio-Premed (she thinks I'm amazing at Bio because I did well in AP), but I shrug it off. I'm at ease with Engineering though--I couldn't imagine myself studying for anything else.

Future Topic: My thoughts on Pre-meds

///Senior Year In General

I'm cheating here, but I hardly think of years as in actual years, but more like academic years. Basically, I'm going to include 2009 winter break in this 2010 summary too. Vermont Ski Trip - one of the best seasons of my life. Two full weeks of snow days? Epic senior year. Not having to pay for it in make up days because we're seniors? Even better. Getting out of Charter before it started sucking? Great.

///Senior Summer
Honestly, I don't remember much of it, but I do remember it was fun. FIFA parties every single day, camping,  VBS, workcamp, Six Flags...honestly, I could probably write a paragraph about all of those, but I'll save you (the reader who actually stays awake reading this boring, sub-par crap), the details. I will note that workcamp was really good for me in that I finally got to know some of the younger YG kids.

///Graduation
....was kind of boring, but I feel like it's sort've a big deal. It's nice to finally be able to put "High School Graduate" on those drop-down menus for random websites rather than "Middle School Graduate" or "Didn't Graduate." I guess it was the feeling of finally getting done with High School.

///Taiwan/Japan
I regret not being happier during these trips. I'm terribly sorry for my Mom and the things I make her go through. What an awesome trip. Delicious food, great sites....it's still weird for me to say "I've been to Japan."

///Beginning of College
-My awesome awesome roommate. I could not have made a better roommate (think Sims).
-Great people that care. I've never been "surprised" on my birthday, so being surprised by people I'd only known for 2 months? Quite surprising.

//2010 Winter Break
-Living in a Presidential Suite for the first time! (and most likely, only time)
-Learning to snowboard (check off the bucketlist!)
-Getting to know people better. This one is surprising, I didn't expect this to happen after everyone left for college, but...it did.

Notice my college list is a bit short. I came to college with a lot of goals and expectations, and I'm afraid I just didn't work hard enough for them. Therefore, a lot of my NYResolutions will be my College goals...again.

As for the "crap" that happened during 2010, I don't really want to put it in print. Most likely, all of it was directly and completely my fault. Lack of judgment, lack of trust, stupidity, poor time management--all normal causes of problems, but it just happened during such a big transition year that everything was (or seemed) much worse.

2010....the highs were so high, but the lows were so low. I might prefer a more moderate 2009 though, I'm not quite sure. What I can say though is that 2006-2010 overall...were pretty much the best years of my life. Far, far better than life in New Jersey. Thank you, Delaware.

I don't consider myself a New Jerseyian.