The things we do for unrealistic careers dreams

It’s 5 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and I’ve accomplished two things:

1. Left a raging party completely sober, after pretending to down jagerbombs with my friends. They got trashed. I drank the red bull

2. Ignored a booty call text from Mr, ridiculously handsome intellectual that I’m absolutely in love with [a la the last (deleted) post]

and why?

to write articles for the school paper

I’ve thus far written one paragraph of my FM restaurant review, and have yet to start on a feature about Teach for America.

GAH. I’m only doing this for the posh New York City magazine job/apartment/wardrobe in the future

I’M GOING ABROAD!

This is big news, people. I’m leaving Harvard junior year - dropping all extracurriculars (bye, bye Crimson and consulting) and going to Oxford.

Ok, shut up, don’t laugh. I know this is a safe choice. But it’s a huge step for me [proper, conservative, safe, future-corporate-lawyer me].

First step of operation letting the hipster out.

SO FUCKING LIBERATING

HONG KONG

I’m thinking about what happened in Hong Kong this summer. For the first time ever. Reflecting on why - what my thought process had been.

It had something to do with:

(a) for the first time ever, I wasn’t happy to be around Harvard people - people I had been ecstatic to be friends with freshman year

(b) the horrible deliberation of it all

(c) the lack of spontaneity

(d) the pretense

if you’re reading this, I’ll explain eventually

Every term, Phillips Exeter Academy mails its alumi copies of the Exeter bulletin that contain marriages, births, and deaths. I’ve always wondered who would be the first among our class to marry and to have children. But never the first too die - we were far too young for that.

But to read the death of a classmate on the news, to hear him described as “a 2008 graduate of the exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire” - to think of my school that way, is sobering.

Exeter is a community. And it’s during times like this that I truly, truly appreciate Exeter and miss the warmth of Phillips Church.

Rest in Peace

THIS IS AMAZING!

Visiting Catherine in New York City for Thanksgiving. She’s a reminder of Exeter, of the simple, carefree days when we thought we were sure of the world.

During my senior year, someone told me that Exeter’s Harkness teaching was a lesson in existentialism. Only now, do I realize that they’re mistaken. College is the true existential classroom. Here, there are no dickies for not showing up to class, no internet shut-offs to force you off facebook, no mandatory assemblies, no dresscode, no daily schedule. And Lamont is no longer the infirmary where you went to be excused from classes (but the dreaded library where you went to pull all-nighters for papers and tests and face the consequences of your irresponsibility).

Your education and your life is solely your responsibility. And that responsibility is overwhelming.

Life so light