WARNING: MAY CAUSE EXTREME NOSTALGIA. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. A lot can happen in four years, but when you’re part of the inaugural class of a so-called experimental university, you better believe it when people say your life is about to change. Everyone has had their share of joy, grief, drama, and ups and down since joining the NYU Shanghai (NYKSH) Class of 2017, so now that we’re so close to the end, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Remember the excitement when we got our first NYUSH passports with our acceptance letters?

We were predicting destinies before we had even met each other

Then came Orientation, when some of us survived knowing 10 words in Chinese.

Lets dwell on the fact that only the Class of 2017 has seen Vice Chancellor Lehman show up as a clown at NYU Shanghai’s first ever Halloween Party

I'm so glad we stopped using these torture devices after freshman year

Remember #Thanksgiving2013?

When we survived through the struggle of communal bathrooms:

Throwback to the several natural disasters we have pulled through together, including Shanghai’s worst pollution day in 80 years and the worst flooding in 50 years:

And when Jacko and Jacob were featured in a Weibo post about how much better looking foreign men are compared to Chinese men:

Remember the happiness when GPS was replaced with Beer O’ Clock

Or when Roman found out that the entire class skipped an important course

We’ve been dwelling over our commencement speaker since 2013, friends…

When Wang Peng created a Facebook account

And when we found out NYU Skopje was more established than NYU Shanghai

When we got philosophical about binge drinking our problems away

I’m not even going to explain this one...

When the ayis at ECNU publicly shamed us for trashing International Students’ Dorm No. 2:

I can’t say I blame them though, I’m sure we left a very strong impression.

Remember the happiness when we were made official at the Century Avenue Subway station?

Who remembers when Campus Beautification Committee was a thing?

Or when NYU Shanghai began sending us random texts?

When David Santiano taught us that product placement is a small price to pay for democracy

Did you know we had a school flag guys?

When Jimmy Kim was found bracing the cold

The Spring Fling tradition that was born (and might die) with us:

Among other traditions like Purple Wednesdays and Fancy Fridays:

We’ve built this school from the ground up guys, from forming the first Student Government to setting the study abroad precedent

We’ve grown together, loved together, been infected with chickenpox together...

We’ve tried to support one another and be there for each other.

We’ve appreciated faculty together.

And while life at NYU Shanghai hasn’t always been a breeze...

Especially during finals season, when it was hard to care about anything and social media was everyone’s outlet (remember #StorageGate end of freshmen year?)

I guess what I’ll miss most is that despite all the problems, controversies, and scandals, we were somehow always reminded that NYU Shanghai will always be there for us.

And if that’s not something to be proud of, then I don’t know what is.

So here’s to you Class of 2017, for, as John Sexton would say it, “playing another octave of the piano.”

This article was written by Lathika Chandra Mouli. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Lathika Chandra Mouli