Year-End - First Year of College Complete

My first year of college is finally over. I still have two backlogs to clear, but now I’m in the first semester of my second year. Looking back, this year was full of different experiences—some good, some not so great.

It all started in Tirupati. My daily routine was simple—wake up at 7 AM, get ready, and catch the college bus at 8:30 AM with my friend Shashank. In college, I hardly paid attention to lectures. The theoretical subjects never really interested me, so I spent most of my time scrolling through Twitter, reading articles, or sometimes even looking up the same topics being taught, but in my own way. Mostly, I was just waiting for the lunch break—not for food, but to play Free Fire with my friend. We played non-stop, skipping meals and ignoring everything else.

Afternoons were unpredictable. Sometimes, we stayed in class, sometimes we skipped and went home to play Uncharted. Evenings were the best part of my day. I would meet my friends—Nitheesh, Jaswanth, and Pawan—and we would roam the outskirts of Tirupati, sit around SV University, and just talk. About life, random things, anything that came to mind. I would return home late at night, sleep, and repeat the same routine the next day.

But after May 2022, things changed. We moved to Srikalahasthi because of my father (I’ll write about that another time). Life became different. Now, I had to wake up at 5 AM, go for a quick 2K run, freshen up, eat, and rush to catch the college bus by 7 AM. The ride was about 45 minutes. In college, my routine was the same—scrolling, reading, chatting. But here, I couldn’t skip class. If I left, I wouldn’t be able to get back in, and that meant missing my bus home. So, I spent my free time in the library, played games, or just walked around.

One good thing about moving was meeting a new friend—another Nitheesh. He was a lot like me, maybe even more curious. He loved tech, was crazy about physics, and was a professional badminton player who competed in tournaments every month. Our bus rides home were always interesting—we talked about all sorts of things, and it never got boring.

At home, life was structured—early sleep, no junk food, and homemade meals. In a way, things were smooth. But even with everything going fine, one thing always bothered me—I didn’t like staying in Srikalahasthi.

Walking through the same streets every day, passing by places filled with memories of Harshi—it made me feel uneasy. It was like being trapped in the past, thinking about things I wanted to forget. No matter what I did, that feeling never went away.

Now, my second year has started. There are still two backlogs waiting to be cleared. But for now, I just keep moving forward, one day at a time.