My undergraduate years at U.C. Berkeley were among the more exciting and optimistic times that I would spend as a student. The reason is rather simple really. During those four years I was introduced to more new and fundamental ideas in physics, mathematics and astronomy than in any time previous or thereafter. Maxwell's equations, Schroedinger's equations, and of course Einstein's gravitational field equation were the human instruments of comprehending the incomprehensible. I was humbled whenever I thought about the power that they contained. By the end of my undergraduate experience, I came to know each of them, how to solve problems with them, how to extract their latent secrets, and how to admire their beauty. As an amateur, I had committed to memory an enormous collection of astronomical minutae, but now I became familiar with the physical and mathematical underpinnings of how these facts were related to one another.
But the heyday and newness of Freshman year was soon replaced by a growing jadedness about campus life. With every passing quarter, 'things' became just a little less of a big deal. It became less of a thrill to sit on the Moffet Library lawn doing your homework, and you spent more time in all afternoon physics or astronomy labs. Subjects that were trivial the first two years suddenly became more and more difficult as we continued our journey into the evermore complex and subtle worlds of mathematics and physics. My last days at Berkeley came swiftly. In a whirlwind, I handed in my last final exam, took part in the Commencement and received my Baccalaurat degree. A phone call from Harvard in March had told me that I had been accepted into the Astronomy department there in the Fall, yet in the face of all this good fortune which I had carved out for myself, I still entertained doubts. They were not doubts about my intended career as much as they were concerns about the price I would have to pay in order to subsidize it. I was being invited to travel 4000 miles to another world called Cambridge, Massachusetts , a world I knew as little about as the far side of the moon or the inside of the blackholes I had been so ardently studying. In the pursuit of my future I would always regret the family gatherings and events that I would be missing. Had I not continued my journey, had I returned to the comfortable womb of a then familiar existence, I would never have realized my childhood dreams. I would never have stepped beyond myself or been forced to try to exceed my own grasp.