Let’s reunite after 20 years
They entered Tsinghua University in 1990 for a five-year undergraduate career. It has been 20 years since the students who studied in the Department of Civil Engineering graduated, and the 20 years maybe a part of placid journey of their vigorous lives.
We say placidity, because 20 years can’t expound their marching steps or represent their brilliance and low ebb in life. 20 years’ accumulation precipitates the thickness of those fellow students friendship, either while concerning the long period in which they haven’t met each other and scattered everywhere, or if you are impressed by their spirits of love and gratitude towards Tsinghua campus. Also, their attitude of always paying close attention to the development of the alma mater and deciding to gather together in answering to the anniversary of the founding of Tsinghua University may be more relevant to the subject.
During the reunion after 20 years, the students who studied in the Department of Civil Engineering in 1990 are collectively coming back to Tsinghua and they still call each other “my old pals”. “You gained weight”, “Hey chief, you look the same you did back in the day”, “Are your kids in college?” “How are your parents doing?” “Dude, I have smelt your smelly socks many times”…They gather together but they are not aloof, the simple and direct greetings as well as the “ridicule” completely showcased their thick friendship.
The fellow students’ friendship could also be seen through old photographs. At that time, they were both immature and sentimental, dressing green military uniforms, wearing army cap where the obvious red pentagram exposed a breath of the 1990s, “We started military training in the freshman year’ s summer vacation, and I remember we kept training for over a month. We were not training in the Tsinghua campus, rather we went to the real military team and integrated ourselves into the army troops.” Old friends are recalling the memories of military trainings; while everyone searches from him or herself in the photo and excitedly tell each other “secrets” that they hadn’t told back in the day.
The friendship of fellow students may be embarrassing disclosures: I have saved a lot of money and delightfully bought voluminous books, resulting in eating steamed bread for one week; When you’re tired of the noisy chatting in dormitory, you just leave in anger, but you also miss the gossips and nocturnal conversations; He practices singing in order to aspire after his adoring girl, but he just sings out of tune...... on this special in the meeting after 20 years, they talked freely till the midnight. No one still remembers others’ scores in exams or awards; they also don’t seem to care about their classmates’ salaries. All they want to do is talk about trivial matters from the old days, while laughing and crying and enjoying a few drinks.
During the evening party organized spontaneously by alumni, the friendships and bonds could be seen as they played the familiar melody of “Students, get out of your dormitories, get out of your classrooms and participate in physical exercises, let’s work healthily for our country for 50 years”, which had been played during those days when the students of the Department of Civil Engineering was studying in Tsinghua University in 1990. In the old days, they would come to the sports ground every afternoon under this appealing call. “This melody is the most familiar to us,” they said. Their old photos from their university times were also shown at the evening party, and their children were asked to recognize their parents. With all the laughter the old golden memories were cherished.
After 20 years, we gather on the anniversary day of the founding of Tsinghua University, while all being in our forties. Another 20 years later, we will meet in Tsinghua campus again, and when I think of that, the alcohol of life turns thick and we can only imagine how beautiful our country will be!
From Spotlight Group
