On the way home from a visit to NUS today, I passed by Ngee Ann Poly to see that they were having an extremely eventful Open House. It then struck me how visiting polytechnic and junior college open houses was a thing for me and my friends, even before the year we received our 'O' level results. It was fun and exciting to be looking at a wide variety of options, pathways, and doors to what seemed to be an endless stream of opportunities.
And now, 8 years since I went to my first polytechnic open house with my friends, it feels a little surreal to look back at all the doors I chose not to open, and quickly glimpse through all the pathways I chose not to take, when I passed by the bus stop of the campus.
I wonder what will happen 8 years from now, and I wonder if I'll feel the same way—the distant nostalgia and the striking realisation of time passing—when I pass by NTU. Knowing that construction sites are a familiar sight to the campus now, I am certain a lot of the facilities there now won't be there anymore in the future. It's unlikely that professors who have been teaching me will still be there either. It's a little strange to think that a lot of the things, corners, objects, images, places, that are so familiar—so real—to me may cease to exist in 8 years.
But well, perhaps in the midst of the potential nostalgia, thinking about what could be lends my emotions a sense of excitement as well. Because there will be something new to replace it. Something to anticipate, something that will surprise.
Perhaps it could even be somewhat just as exciting as being able to see as many available options and doors for me to open, when I walk through an open house.
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