“Assimilant!” you may hiss. But I’m not ever denying where I’ve come from: arguably, being Singaporean informs a lot of what I do, and I’m happy to go on about my home country. The fact is, however, I was comfortable here.

• • •

And then there were the times I went away. At different points in my college career, I have found myself, variously: burrowing through the musty Gov Docs stacks to collect statistical data; flying into New York to interview a movie director; spinning at the Park Plaza Hotel; lounging in the VIP room of London’s Ministry of Sound; in love.

All of which triggered more “How did I end up here?” moments. So I’ll thank Harvard for transporting me, both literally and figuratively. For introducing me to urban economics, an academic field to which I’ve devoted considerable effort. For sending me twice to Britain, courtesy of Let’s Go. For the chance to write about music for The Crimson. And I’ll thank it for giving me self-confidence. It’s not always easy to believe that anything you say about music is applicable when you’re half a world away from centers of pop culture. It’s a lot easier when Green Day’s publicity firm calls your dorm room to make sure you’re sending a reviewer to cover their concert.

I suppose some of you are so used to living in a big pond that you may take it for granted. But the sense that there are opportunities out there just waiting to be taken—the sense that you’ve got the world at your feet (or on a string, as Arlen and Koehler say)—isn’t necessarily apparent to a person growing up in a small country. And perhaps it’s just the sentimental ravings of a departing senior, but I’d like to think that that sense is one of the things I picked up while studying at Harvard.

• • •

I’m surrounded by boxes I’ve packed, boxes that contain both the highlights and the butt-ends of my days and ways at college. It feels like I’m leaving home.

Daryl Sng ’01, an economics concentrator in Lowell House, was associate arts editor of The Crimson in 2000.