May will be the last month of my high school career, and I can’t wait to finally graduate and go off to college at Washington University in St. Louis.

To me, my life has never been very exciting. All of it mostly consists of doing homework, hanging out with friends, playing chess, and sleeping.

Partially, I blame this on the fact that I’ve been stuck here in Champaign for all my life and having attended only tiny schools in my educational career.

For example, I went to elementary and middle school at Countryside School, which only had a total of 15 students per class. As a result, when I first came to Uni, I was amazingly surprised at the class size of 60 students per grade!

Because I have been always exposed to a small environment of students, I want to experience what it’s like to be living in a bigger place. I’ve always enjoyed visiting huge cities like Chicago and St. Louis because of the sheer amount of interesting stuff you can find. Unlike the big cities, there’s not really too much to explore in Champaign besides going to Savoy 16 to watch movies or the University of Illinois campus.

As a result, when I leave for Wash U in the fall, I’m glad I will be able to experience the city life of St. Louis. For example, some of the few things that make St. Louis so much better than Champaign is its Gateway Arch, Six Flags, and a $1 million chess club!

In addition, while I’m at Wash U, it’ll feel so great not having my parents and brother constantly hovering around me. I’ll be able to sleep as late as I want, join more clubs, and buy junk foods my parents would question or never let me get.

However, of course, leaving for Wash U has its consequences. I’ll miss my family in Champaign and the great five years I’ve had at Uni. At Wash U, I’ll no longer have mandatory fitness days and an official school chess team to attend to.

All in all, I’m still looking forward to graduating from Uni and taking a nice three-month summer break before going to college at Wash U.