The best four years of my life

My time at UIC is coming to an end, so I wanted to reflect on some of my favorite moments.

Freshman year

One evening, our group decided to play hide and seek inside JST, and the entire building was fair game. I was found pretty quickly, but people went really far, and someone accidentally triggered an emergency exit alarm.

Every Thursday night, the boys and I would go up to the 13th-floor lounge, and Michael would plug in his Nintendo Switch, and we'd repeatedly play Mario Party minigames until we got bored.

I wasn't drinking then, but there were people old enough to drink living with me, so we would line up our "graveyard" of leftover bottles on the window, and we'd compete with the dorm across from us to see who could collect more empty bottles.

For whatever reason, we managed to sneak four shopping carts into our dorm. One was used as a trash can; another was the spot where the toilet paper delivery guy put our toilet paper every week.

There was also "the onion incident." That's a longer story. It's also hard to believe that COVID was still happening throughout all this, and most of my classes this year were on Zoom.

Sophomore year

This was the year I joined UIC Radio!

Over winter break, the World Cup happened in Qatar. I remember predicting way back in September that the final match was going to be Argentina vs. France, and that Argentina would win.

My political interests were reawakened when two rallies happened on campus, and I couldn't help but go. First was a midterm election rally where I got to see Kamala Harris. (Little did we know where she would end up a few years later.) I also saw Bernie Sanders speak at a rally for Chicago's mayor.

I visited Kris in Michigan. I remember feeling carsick after he picked us up at the Amtrak—I joke that, since he drives an ambulance as his job, he might sometimes forget that there are rules of the road.

I don't remember much else from this year. My grandma's death caused some long-term grief and escapism that made it quite a blur. I didn't realize how much I was affected by it until a year later.

Junior year

I found my crowd. This little group that we call "Mont," after the lounge in SCE that we always hang out in, became the place where I would make lifelong friends who supported me through both good and bad times.

This was, by far, my most social year. I made way too many friends, some groups evaporated as a result of drama, and others I just couldn't keep up with. But my social life was colorful, and I felt less like the introvert I always identified as.

We went to Champaign for Halloweekend, and I visited my sister and my friend. Later in the year, a small group of us also drove to Indianapolis to see the eclipse.

I remember walking back to the dorm from a study session at the library during finals week and seeing Class of '24 grads coming out of the Forum. It sent chills down my spine. The reality sank in that I really only had a year left.

Senior year

We visited Mimi, who was in Minnesota for an internship. I convinced them all to go on the scary roller coaster at the Mall of America.

I changed my major. I finally accepted what most people who were close to me knew all along—I wanted a career in government and politics. So I said a hard goodbye to my Biology years, parting with a passion that I realized I'd outgrown.

I made even more friends once I started focusing on my political science classes. These friends were younger, passionate, and idealistic. I see great potential in them, and I am also learning a lot from them.

I hosted an election watch party. It didn't end well.

This year has been chaotic. But I've learned to embrace the chaos, and I've found moments of serenity. But it'll be a while before I truly can look at this year like I can the past three, because I'm still in it.

One thing is for sure, I will miss UIC very much. But my concern right now is not trying to figure out how the end fits into all this. Rather, I just want to be present in it.

Also, I'm looking forward to not having to worry about assignments anymore.