Nash got off the train with the rest of the crowd and followed the stream of students toward the university.
By the time he reached the main building, the tiredness from waking up early had mostly disappeared. The campus was already busy. Students were moving between buildings, some carrying laptops, others walking with cups of coffee they probably wouldn't finish.
He checked his phone.
Daniel: where are ya?
Nash looked around.
Nash: university :P
Three dots appeared.
Daniel: helpful
Nash put his phone away.
He found Daniel near the stairs, sitting on the railing with a notebook open on his lap. Maya was standing beside him, reading something on her phone.
"You did the assignment?" Daniel asked.
"Which one?"
Daniel stared at him.
"Ayoo..That's not a good answer."
"I did one."
"Which one?"
"The one due today."
Maya looked up.
"That's the only one due today."
Nash shrugged.
"Exactly."
Daniel shook his head and closed his notebook. The three of them headed upstairs. Their classroom was already half full. Nash took his usual seat near the window. Daniel sat behind him, while Maya took the seat beside the aisle. Nash pulled out his laptop. The professor walked in a few minutes later. The room gradually became quiet.
For the next hour, there was nothing particularly interesting about the class. Nash took notes. Daniel occasionally whispered something that made no sense. Maya kept typing. Someone in the back dropped a pen twice. Hmmm? ...Normal.
By the middle of the lecture, Nash found himself staring through the window for a few seconds. The campus looked different from up here. Students crossing the courtyard. A security guard talking to someone near the gate. Two people running, obviously late. He looked back at the screen.
The professor was explaining something he had already forgotten. Nash sighed quietly and continued typing.
The professor finally stopped talking, and the room immediately came back to life. Chairs scraped against the floor as everyone began packing their things. Nash closed his laptop and stretched. His shoulders were starting to hurt from sitting in the same position for so long.
Daniel leaned over the back of his chair. "You have lab now, right?"
"Yeah."
"Which building?"
"The engineering building."
Daniel nodded as if that answered everything. "I'm heading to the cafeteria."
"Obviously."
"What does that mean?"
"You always go to the cafeteria."
"Because I'm hungry."
Nash shook his head, smiling as he put his laptop into his bag.
Maya was already standing beside them. "Don't forget the report."
Nash looked at her. "I won't."
"You said that yesterday."
"I also didn't forget yesterday."
"You submitted it at 11:57."
"Still counts."
Maya gave him a look, then adjusted her bag over her shoulder. They walked together until they reached the stairs, where they had to split up. Maya had another class, while Daniel was going to the cafeteria.
"See you later," Nash said.
"Later," Daniel replied.
Maya gave him a small wave before heading down the other hallway. Nash continued toward the lab building. The lab took longer than he expected. There were a few problems with the setup, and one of the computers refused to cooperate for nearly fifteen minutes before suddenly deciding to work again. Classic lab.
By the time they finished, Nash was tired enough that he didn't feel like talking. He packed his things and checked the time. He still had a while before his train.
Instead of going straight to the station, he headed toward the library. The library was quieter than the rest of campus. Most of the seats near the windows were occupied, but he found an empty one toward the back and settled down.
For a few minutes, he did nothing. Then he opened his laptop. He had originally planned to work on one of his assignments, but somehow he ended up opening a blank document instead.
He stared at the empty page. After a moment, he typed:
Plan
He considered changing it. Then decided it was good enough. Underneath it, he started making a few categories.
University.
Keep his CGPA above 3.8. Finish the semester properly. Improve the subjects he wasn't particularly good at. Finish his degree without leaving everything until the last minute.
Then came Career.
That one was harder. Data science. Machine learning. Research. Internships.
He wasn't completely sure what he wanted yet. He knew what interested him, but that wasn't quite the same thing as knowing what he wanted to do for the next twenty years. He added a few more things anyway.
Money.
Scholarship. Internship. Part-time work. Savings.
He stared at the last one.
Savings were slightly optimistic at the moment.
Still, it was worth writing down.
Then he reached Family.
His hands stopped above the keyboard. He looked at the word for a few seconds before typing.
-Help his parents.
-Make retirement easier for them.
-Take them somewhere nice.
He paused. Then added one more line.
-Don't wait too long.
Nash leaned back in his chair. The list looked surprisingly neat.
His life, on the other hand, was not. He kept going anyway.
One year became three. Three became five. Career goals turned into financial goals, which turned into things he wanted to learn, places he wanted to visit, and a few ideas that were probably unrealistic enough to be deleted later.
By the time he finally looked at the clock, almost an hour had passed. Nash saved the document and reached for his phone.
A notification appeared in the corner of his laptop.
New email. He frowned. He often checked his personal email since conference and hackathon notices, along with other university-related things, sometimes ended up there. He didn't recognize the sender, though.
From: Equinox Systems
Subject: Your Personal Growth Begins Here