While You Were Here

Does it feel real yet?

Has the shock set in, or the relief? Does it feel good? Scary?

You did so much to get to this point, and worked so hard. A lot of cups of coffee — and a lot of cups of other drinks — went into getting here. A lot of borrowing friends’ staplers, practicing solos in stairwells and submitting papers minutes before the deadline have shaped you into the student you are now.

Except soon, you won’t be a student. You’ll be something else — maybe you know what that is already, and have known for a while, or maybe you don’t know and don’t feel like trying to find out until your bank account runs too low to pay rent. Still, even once your NYU ID card stops letting you access Bobst Library at all hours of the day, you’ll carry the university as part of your personal identification. You’re a fully blossomed Violet, and you’ve got the subway map memorized well enough to prove it.

In honor of the effort you put in to get here, we present the While You Were Here issue. Leaf through in between studying for your last finals and preparing for your senior recitals. Reminisce on your years here and take a deep breath as you step outside of our non-campus and into New York City and the world at large as a college graduate — a violet-bleeding, network-wielding, city-slicking alum.