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Semester 1 versus Semester 2

By geovolpe

During semester 1 I was looking forward to Semester 2. Semester 2 makes me nostalgically look back to semester 1. Why’s that? I went back to school on January the 16th after a month long winter break, during which I didn’t realize I was crossing an important, milestone line. That of adulthood. Yes, It might sound presumptuous. But that’s how it is: Semester 2 definitely feels closer to what the future will be like, whereas semester 1 in retrospective looks like a period of my life that is unlikely to come back.

You might be wondering what differs from the two semesters. Well, I am working now. Well, I am interning to be precise.

I have worked before, but this is the first time I get acquainted with a Job in a domain that fully reflects my interest. I work at the EU delegation to the US, the most active diplomatic mission of the European Union, in the section of politics, security and development. One of those names that would make your grandma really proud of you without her really understanding what the deal is.

I catch myself saying very adult stuff. “I’ll see you later at the office”, “I’ll get off earlier today” or again, “the sweet green salad I had for lunch was so good and didn’t make me sleepy afterwards”. I started doing very adult things like wearing suits and talking with my co-workers about how annoying ironing shirts is and saying no to going out cause “guys, I start at 9am tomorrow, I don’t wanna be a zombie”. I punctually end up being a zombie every morning by the way. That’s because it is so tiring that when I get back home after work, typically at 5, I doze off for like, 2 hours and mess up my sleeping schedule. So that I won’t be asleep until 1:30 am. (I will take suggestions as to how to interrupt this sleep related problem, and no, melatonine doesn’t work for me, it makes me groggy.)

So yes, maybe “adult” is too strong a word. Although, semester 2 is indeed making me feel less young, less naive, less unaccountable to life. I feel that what I am living right now is the anti-chamber of what life is. Or, at list what it will look like.

And it’s not even a question of wether I like it or not, it is a simple life fact that I (and we, all) happen to have to deal with: time flies. And I can't think of doing anything else right now other than stop and stare at what I was and what I become.