REJOYCED: Every Little Thing is Gonna Be Alright

JOYCE TSUI
Editor in Chief

Just like every other senior on this campus, I have been counting down the days until graduation (16 days and counting); however, throughout the year, I have often found myself reminiscing about the past four years and the memories I have made here at Alhambra. Though high school has been a seemingly endless journey from freshman year to graduation, the time has finally arrived for us to take our final steps across the stage and soon, we will all have reached the finish line, where the next steps include—but are not limited to—going off to college, taking a gap year or going straight into a job or the military.
For the coming fall, I will not be returning to Alhambra High School like I have for the past four years. Instead, I will be attending a school 400 miles away from my comfort zone in Southern California. I have called Alhambra home for the past eighteen years and it is frightening to think that I will be off on my own in just three short months. I will no longer bask in the warm SoCal sun, come home every day to the sound of the Chinese channel playing on the TV in the living room, eat my mom’s home-cooked meals or be bothered by my brother’s uproars while playing games when I am trying to sleep. Now it will be cold and foggy weather and quiet nights in my dorm studying (or trying to study, anyway) with instant noodles for dinner.
But of course, there is always a silver lining to every cloud. While I will be several hours away from my family and friends, I will also be residing in one of the best cities in this country—or so Google tells me. Considering the fact that the only place I have ever visited outside of Alhambra has been Nevada, I am excited for the new environment I will be in, not just the school, but also the city itself.
The change in my surroundings will definitely be a shock for me; however, I am anxiously anticipating the new places I will discover throughout the city, the (very expensive) education I am going to receive and the new people I will encounter and befriend over the next four years.
Sure, it is going to be scary to be away from my family for the first time. Who wouldn’t be scared? Knowing I will have to fend for myself without my parents always being there to look after me when I am sick, helping to do my laundry or driving me to places I need to be is an aspect of my life thats I will have to accept. I will no longer be able to be dependent on my parents to do the little things for me, but as the cliché goes, I must spread my wings and fly.
There is no way to know how my next four years will pan out, but I know that my parents have raised me well enough and that, with time to adapt to the new atmosphere, everything will be just fine.