environmentalist in training: "It's good to be home"

It's good to be home. These were the very first words of Vice President Joe Biden's commencement speech at Syracuse University last Sunday. I pondered for a while upon hearing this line. Do I now consider Syracuse as my second home? Surely after coming from a long travel, say from another state, the thought of coming back to Syracuse is akin to "coming home". After living for almost a year now, I have learned to accept my cozy little attic and the friendly Westcott neighborhood as my new home. I guess it's just like the time when I learned to accept our Clementi HDB flat as our home in Singapore. Now I'm beginning to realize how weird it feels to be jumping from one place to another. I wonder if it's for the better to explore the world and slowly watch the gap between myself and my "first home" to grow wider. I wonder when I could finally and sincerely say to myself, "it's good to be home."

This is realizable for some of us who are about to leave the walls of SU and ESF. After 3 long years of grueling doctoral studies and being apart from family, Jing is now concluding the remaining few paragraphs of her Syracuse chapter. As for Yas and I, it will still be another 4-5 years of journey here in the US. I guess we won't be able to say "it's good to be home" in the truest sense for a long time, but we do look forward to that day when we can truly unpack our luggages and settle down for good.

One commencement down, four more to go. Congratulations to Jing and Nilo! It may be a short acquaintance, but definitely long enough to make us miss you a lot.