Everything You Will Miss About Uni After Graduation
Dis one’s for dem graduates.
The past week saw me scrolling past sentimental commencement post after sentimental commencement post on instagram. My friends wrote captions about how meaningful the journey has been, even though they spent most Wednesday nights at #TGIW and only went for half their lectures. Some of my thoughts included, “Walao eh can post multiple photos together he post 3 separate posts for what?” and “What the hell she’s from NUS meh?”
Not gonna lie, more than a few were unfollowed.
While no one likes to read long, convoluted recounts of someone else’s tough or fun times in university, we know that behind each post lies a sea of good and bad experiences, of 8am classes and shit group mates, of fake MCs and late submissions. No one is to blame for the cheesy and sappy posts - after all, there's much nostalgia to feel about the 4 year paper chase.
For the recently graduated, here’s a list of everything you will miss about uni after graduation.
Being able to plan your own timetable
For those who are fortunate enough to have found a job, we have good news and bad news. The good news is, you managed to find a job in this shitty market. Good for you. The bad news is, you will never be able to wake up at 12pm again until you retire. Unless of course, you’re one of those dream-chasing, start-up-starting, purpose-finding (probably rich) millennial, shitting on everyone else for selling their soul to the corporate world.
Your days will start and nights will end too early, and weekends will be relegated to staying in bed all day to repay your sleep debt. Those days of getting to plan your timetable such that you have a 3 day school week are over. Now those 10am lectures don’t seem so bad anymore, do they?
No long weekend? I'll just have to make do with the extra long midweek break then.
‘Optional’ classes (i.e. lectures)
Ah, the lecture. God’s gift to university students. The only thing better than a lecture is a lecture with a podcast. Why go for a $31.80 lecture when you can watch it at 1.5x speed from the comfort of your hall bed, literally a 5 minute walk from the lecture hall?
Imagine being able to do that for a 9am client meeting in your office at Raffles Place.
Best viewed about 3 weeks after the actual lecture.
S/Us
An S/U saved us when we knowingly committed CAP-suicide by taking that language module, and an S/U saved us that one semester we naively took in an exchange student as a group mate.“Klaus is gonna turn up for the project meeting right?”, you thought to yourself. “I mean, he hasn’t replied all week and we haven’t seen him since the first tutorial, but…he’s probably on his way right?”
No. Klaus is not on his way. Klaus is in Phuket getting pissed on Chang beer by the beach because Klaus is on exchange and is automatically S/U-ing this module.
Unfortunately, there are no S/Us in real life.
Cheap food
While the prices in NUS are nothing like those back in secondary school, no one can deny that dishes like the $2.40 bak chor mee at The Deck and the $2.00 breakfast set from the NUS business canteen saved us all a significant amount of money. Money that we then splurged on paying for cover at Zouk.
Now, with your office located in the CBD, that bowl of bak chor mee at Lau Pa Sat or Food Republic easily costs you a good $6. You curse yourself for having to spend so much on food, but continue to throw your life savings away at Zouk nonetheless.
You will also most likely miss the Ayam Penyet (both dish and makcik).
Living on campus
Whether you joined a hall to make new friends or simply because you lived too far away, everyone enjoyed the autonomy and privacy (from your family) that came with living on campus. You could sit on the rooftops with your hallmates and sip on warm whisky till 4am before heading out for some Ameen’s and you could go on a night out and actually bring someone back to your room, without having to worry about your parents knowing.
Now, as a fresh grad, staying up till 4am is practically impossible, but not nearly as impossible as being able to afford your own place to get away from your parents. Ironic that you had more privacy as a uni student than you do now, as a working adult.
Squeezing in the bus to get to class
A1 was hell and D1 kept stopping at an awkward angle on the slope outside of Raffles Hall, but literally anything is better than taking the MRT at 8am, drowning in a sea of other working adults who want to kill themselves every morning. Especially recently, with the North-South (Red, for the uncultured) Line giving everyone the finger and choosing to break down every couple of days. And don’t even get me started on the new trains’ hideous display screens (check out this beautifully written article by Tech in Asia on the topic).
Eat, sleep, train, repeat.
Being able to choose who to hang out with
Back in uni, you could choose to sit wherever and with whomever you wanted during lessons, and have lunch with that funny coursemate you’ve known since year 1. Now, that (ex)coursemate’s office is in Jurong while yours is in town, so you’re forced to hang out with your 40 year old supervisor who clips her toenails at work in the neighbouring cubicle. “Lunch?” she asks warmly without having washed her hands. You spot a stray nail clipping on her desk from the corner of your eye. It’s a classic case of quid pro quo in the workplace. “Sure,” the smile doesn’t quite reach your eyes but you agree anyway knowing she does the performance evaluation for newcomers.
Alas, everyone has to graduate and enroll into the school of life sooner or later. On the bright side, you finally can say goodbye to a few things from hell like the dreaded bell curve, modules with 30% class participation and module-f***ing-bidding.
The Bullet wishes the class of 2017 a happy graduation and all the best in the working world! May your starting pay be above average, your work attire allow Stan Smiths and your office pantry contain a Nespresso machine.
Anything to share from on campus? Let us know at thebulletcampus@gmail.com!
