The Class of 2022 can be described in many numbers — 389 students, 84 represented nationalities, 64 spoken languages and two and a half years of college during the pandemic. With commencement less than 100 days away, The Gazelle asked seniors about their feelings and thoughts on graduation, as well as which parts of their university experience they will look back on most fondly.

Most answers the seniors gave shared the theme of a bittersweet expectation for graduation, while the reasons varied from person to person. “It makes me feel excited, to a certain degree, but my future is up in the air right now, so that’s the anxious part,” said Asel Kularatne, Class of 2022. “Otherwise I’m very, very thrilled about the achievement that we’ve all done here in the past four years,” he added.

Leo El-azhab, Class of 2022, expressed a similar sentiment when asked about her thoughts on commencement. “I feel really excited about it and then I think about the uncertainty of it all and think ‘oh, but what if it doesn’t work out?’” El-azhab commented.

While some students are anxious about the uncertainty of their post-graduate plans, others worry about the introspective comparison of who they have become with whom they planned on becoming. “Every year, seniors get to read the letters they wrote to themselves during Marhaba, and that’s what I’m actually very excited to read before graduating,” Tsedenia Denkenew, Class of 2022, stated. “I’m very excited to see … what I told myself and if I found myself to be the person I expected I would be by now,” she added with anticipation.

Exciting as they are, comparisons and future plans can be stressful, so we also asked students to reflect on what they will miss most after graduation. “I’ll truly miss that safety net around being a young adult, being able to make mistakes and learn from them… With regards to the class of 2022, I am extremely, extremely grateful for the kindness they’ve extended to each other and to me personally,” said Kularatne.

The sentiment of missing friends and being able to interact with peers so readily is seemingly shared between the seniors. Denkenew further commented on such feelings, saying, “that is something we take for granted and I know I’m going to miss so much, because I won’t be able to just go to their rooms or hang out with them whenever.”

When asked about their favorite memories, the responses of members of the Class of 2022 varied widely, from studying away to reuniting with friends. When interviewed on his fondest senior moment so far, Koki Ajiri, Class of 2022, responded that he particularly enjoyed “watching the sun drape over the Abu Dhabi skyline and counting the number of colors in the sunset cocktail” with his girlfriend. While El-azhab talked about her senior fall semester study away in Berlin, which she saw as “a post-graduation trial run” of living and studying in a new city, Kularatne described being “excited to see all my friends come back to campus [after having studied away] for our last semester” as a favorite memory.

Overall, this year’s seniors expressed a good combination of gratitude, self-confidence, excitement and expectations of nostalgia when discussing commencement. The 100-day countdown can be quite daunting, especially with capstone deadlines and job or graduate school applications drawing closer. From us here at The Gazelle to the Class of 2022 — best of luck and congratulations, you’re almost there!