First Day

Today is the first day of school. Not for me, but for the 35,000 undergrad students and 5,000 graduate students at the University of Arizona. I am no longer part of your population. So for me, today is just Monday.

Today is actually my first not first day of school. And while I am still interning at the same show I was before as the other interns around me slowly disappear in a Stand By Me, walking along the tracks kind of way, I also see what most of them are going back to.

Am I out of college long enough to be nostalgic? Already once or twice I've caught myself muttering "When I was in college-" which is the young adult equivalent of "back in my day." Things really haven't changed that much. If you go to Tucson, Arizona, you will still find a batch of newly turned 21 year-olds and a sprinkling of 20 year-olds with compensating good posture at Champs on a Tuesday night. The football team will still suck, and the basketball team will still be under performing. Freshman girls will still be partying at fraternities while getting hit on by the senior who hasn't yet moved on.

So today is the first day of school; and while I miss returning to the familiar, I know that next year, on my next first day of not school, I'll look back at today with a similar sentiment. I'll make sweeping (possibly untrue) generalizations about my days as an intern and those I encountered with great nostalgia. And when I look back at pictures, I'll say I can't believe I ever thought that looked cool.

But I do look cool.

~Ross