Roomy's White Coat Ceremony

I could not believe that was Mariam on the stage! I was so happy to see her finally achieve her dreams. Mariam (aka Roomy) moved out and started dental school in Chicago about a month ago, and today was the day of her white coat ceremony. My sister struggled through many different trials throughout her high school and undergraduate career. Through this she has inspired me to keep fighting no matter what barriers are in my way. Mariam started off at the University of Illinois, studying bioengineering. She was extremely happy to have been accepted, however, I saw her struggle through most of the classes and feel like giving up a lot of the times. Nevertheless, she never gave up. She inspired me - no matter what course she was having difficulty with, she stuck with it until the very end (unlike my brother who’d take easier online classes for the tough courses). And through this, while her grades weren’t the best, she was able to get into dental school. 

After Mariam graduated undergrad in the spring of 2018, she had no idea she wanted to do - so she took a gap year. Me, being a young freshman who runs off of schedules and routines, was really nervous for her, but I was also ecstatic to actually be able to hang out with her. While Mariam was in college she would spend most of her days in the library and would get home really late, which meant I barely got to spend time with her. After I started sophomore year and she was in her gap year, I really felt her presence in the house. We started hanging out - we did many DIY crafts together, went on spontaneous weekend getaways, cooked together, and she saved me from the burden of taking the bus home everyday after school. She was always there, which sometimes became annoying - her constantly being in my ear about cleaning, or doing my homework, but it was mainly all fun and games with Roomy :) 

It was February when I heard Mariam squealing from her room. The whole family, my parents, brother, sister, and I, all rushed to see what had happened. At first, I thought there was a bug, but then realized Mariam wouldn’t yell - she was usually very calm in most situations, and it was weird hearing her squeal. Once we were in her room, she told us she got accepted into her top choice dental school, and that’s when the whole family erupted in cheering and yelling. It was chaotic, but happy chaos. We all knew how hard she worked. Even though this gap year was technically supposed to be her “relaxation year”, she never complained when we asked her for a huge favor or to do an energy and time-consuming task. Roomy really deserved this, and we all knew it - my mom was crying tears of happiness and everyone else was bombarding Mariam with big bear hugs. For me, it was a bittersweet feeling. I was so incredibly happy and proud of Mariam, but part of me was also sad because I knew that meant she was going to move out.

Fast forward a few months, after she left to Chicago and already started graduate school, I received a message on our family group chat that was an invitation to a “White Coat Ceremony”. At first I was confused, Mariam just started dental school, how’s she already getting her white coat, isn’t that something they get when they graduate? After some clarification on the ceremony, and what a white coat ceremony is, I was so excited and I couldn’t believe it. A few weeks before the event, Mariam asked me if I can take pictures of her so she could have “professional” looking photos. I immediately borrowed a school camera and practiced portrait photography, taking pictures of anyone who would agree to it.

Before I knew it, I was in the car driving to downtown Chicago to take photos for Roomy. My family and I met with Mariam and had a photoshoot where we took bomb photos of her. Soon after, we met up with my uncles, aunts, and cousins and the ceremony started. They had some opening remarks and then started calling off names, and the students would wear their white coats - but something felt off. After thinking about it for a while, I realized it was oddly quiet. When a name would get called, there was only clapping - no cheering, which sounded dull. My family, being naturally rowdy, was already counting down until we could all stand and cheer for Roomy. All of my cousins were planning what phrase they were going to yell (they decided on the classic, “proud of you Roomy”) and my uncle was urging my dad to do his obnoxiously loud whistle. A few minutes later, I was on the stairs in the aisle with the camera to my eye, snapping as many photos as possible, and the rest of my family was yelling and cheering their heads off. After they finally got quiet, there was an awkward silence when Mariam was putting on her white coat, but (of course) one of my cousins had to cheer again, and coincidentally another one of my cousins yelled at the same time. The person announcing the names, crowd, and professors erupted in laughter - we were THAT loud and crazy family.

For some people, a white coat ceremony may seem like a small thing because technically they’re “not a dentist yet” and “they haven’t actually done anything.” But for me its huge, it marks the end of one chapter and the start of another. I spent SO MUCH time with Mariam this past year and we got closer than ever. After she moved out, it felt weird not sitting next to her in our weekly Sunday breakfasts, or talking to her late at night or even getting picked up after school. Roomy’s white coat ceremony really hit me hard because I realized that time flew by and she’s really left home. But I’m happy and proud of Mariam, because she’s living her best life and if there was one person who deserves it, its Mariam. Honestly, she worked her butt off and I can only hope to be a fraction of her - Roomy, thanks for being my inspiration, love you girl <3. 

UI Turfs and Breaks

As I yawned for what felt like the billionth time, my eyes started to water out of exhaustion and I let out a big sigh. My brother, Bara, noticed my exhaustion and asked, “hey I’m going to turfs if you wanna come.” Initially, I was annoyed - he clearly saw I was fighting to keep my eyes open so why would he ask if I wanted to go play soccer. Then I thought about it, I glanced at the clock and it read 6:32, I realized I’d been studying for 6 hours straight. It made sense, I did the physics worksheets, Latin homework, English reading, history questions, and a bunch of smaller tasks. When Bara asked if I wanted to go to turfs he didn’t ask for the sake of being polite, he wanted me to come so that I could take a break. 

Half an hour later I was standing in the goal attempting to block his kicks, but it got boring very soon - we wanted to play an actual game. My brother approached these random guys who looked like they just finished a game and asked them if they were going for another round. “Yeah we’ll probably start in a few, and we’re playing last one back can touch with hands - so no goalkeepers.” said a tall guy who I would eventually figure out is named Clay. At first I told my brother I didn’t want to play because I’ve never played any position other than keeper, but he refused and said that I’m at the turfs, so I have to play in a game. A few minutes later I was playing defense and had just gotten body nudged to the side.

Playing defense on the field was a lot different than playing keeper. Instead of having to stay behind the players at all times, I needed to push my way through and try to get in the action. Also I needed to make spontaneous decisions. When playing goalie, it’s a lot of pressure to save the ball, but once I had it in my hands, I could take my time to survey my options and get the ball to the best place. This was different, and somewhat uncomfortable because I wasn’t used to planning ahead and being aware of where all the people in my team are. Especially since they kept moving around. Also, at the beginning I felt a lot of pressure because my brother has never played with this group of people, so everytime I messed up, it reflected negatively on him. Luckily though, my team was good with guiding me where I should be and giving me easy passes to pass to someone open. 

Five - that’s the number of times I had the ball in the first half hour. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t mind. My team realized defense wasn’t the best position for me because I was good at pressuring people and getting them to make mistakes; and defense was mainly trying to get possession of the ball. I played forward for the second half of the game, and although I usually wouldn’t win the ball, I would at least mess up the plays of people from the other team. I’ve played with countless groups of people and this one definitely had the most skills. Seeing how well they played from the earlier game, I was nervous to play with guys so much older than me. Once the game started and I messed up the first pass and I got nervous. I didn’t enjoy it until my teammates started yelling encouraging words and they were pushing me to better myself. I didn’t realize it until afterwards but going outside and playing soccer with my brother and a bunch of strangers was a good break to not think about school and clear my mind.