to have and to hold
for my roommates past- if i ever stole a thesaurus the first thing i'd do would be to look for synonyms of you four. i say this a lot, to all of you, but i am honestly so so so glad we met.
for Sara- my first friend in America, really, and the one person who taught me how to pronounce "tortilla" properly in the chips aisle of Kmart at 10pm on a stupidly chilly September night, thank you for all of freshman and sophomore year.
for Lauren and Ami- it is such a terrible cliché to fall in love in Paris, because that just seems so blindingly obvious, isn't it. but that's honestly how i feel about us, our silly asian trio of 7 Rue Albert de l'Apparent sitting around the rickety dining table with its polished wood, the french sun spilling itself across our living room floor, talking and laughing in a patois of chinese, japanese, korean, french. i will always run out of ways to say, je t'aime, always.
and finally, for Nikky- who saw the worst and the best of me through senior year, for the long nights and the wine, for putting up with Thesis Wen even after i wallpapered our living room with my statistical results, thank you. so much.
my Berlin friends- especially Fay, Nat, Jade, and David, ich liebe dich. it is probably the only phrase i can properly enunciate in German, but that doesn't make it any less true.
the Singaporeans i've met at Penn, Chicago, NYU, (and that one DC kid..)- one thousand thanks for putting up with my annual (persistent) cravings for hokkien mee. a million more for having me as your adopted countryman. you guys are the sweetest.
my Model UN team- it takes a lot for me to regard Stern UC (of all places at NYU...!) as a second home. here's to four years of literal sweat and tears, maybe a thousand nights of arguing over systems, and exactly 3.5 days each year of yelling myself hoarse. it was once a high school dream of mine to be able to do Model UN, and regardless of how many damned times you guys drive me to the brink of combustion- i am so happy to have all of you. for my mentors- Harini, Jonathan, Cathy, Victoria; and my standout peers- Arnav, Luiza, Victoria, Anna et al, thank you for believing in me even when i almost stopped myself.
my thesis friends- so proud of us. no other words.
and, my favorite brooklynite- thank you for you. the Q train may run southeast across the brooklyn bridge, but if my body were a compass its true north will most probably be prospect park. i am so glad you exist.
finally, for papa- who holds the burdens i cannot. for mama- who makes the sacrifices so we don't have to. thank you for letting me traverse this whole crazy, crazy journey from that day in december when i first moved to singapore alone, till that wednesday when i graduated college at yankee stadium in new york. and for may- stay tender. please. there are some battles i fight so you don't have to. i love you all so much. such a tiny family. such a big hug, across oceans, continents, timezones. even on long nights i never feel alone.
one last one, for grandpa- nineteen years later, and i miss you still. at yankee stadium, at radio city- i whispered a prayer for the both of us. wherever you are i hope you saw me graduate, and i hope i made you proud.
