Dear Readers,

    Since I am at university and am contemplating the start of my professional career, I have come to notice that at this stage of my life, my path is diverging with many of my friends’.

    Less drastically, for example, quite a few of my high school classmates are “postponing” employment to continue their academic pursuits in graduate school; more surprisingly, some of my middle school friends are now married with children.

    I still consider myself a child so my hat is off to all of them.

    As happy as I am for my friends who have found love and started families, I cannot help but notice the correlation between marrying early and a relatively low level of education: those I know who did not continue their academic careers after high school more often than not got married much earlier than the ones who went to university.

    I am not suggesting this is a bad thing but I do suspect education is also correlated with higher income, and a more rounded character.

    If I could go back and change the paths I had taken, I would still not change a thing. I am content at Princeton, basking in the sun during the warm seasons and cozy in front of the fireplace during the colder ones.

    I am sure all of my friends are happy as well. My only “regret” is that times have flown and we are no longer innocent school children awaiting the bell that lets us return to the playground. Yet those be memories we shall never lose.

    Sincerely, Laiyin