For the most part, the day was just like the one before: long, boring, and insignificant. At this point, I don’t even remember what day of the week it is.

It started like every other day during the social distancing: wake up late, eat brunch/lunch, help out around the house a little, and then computer games until dinner. Hours later, after finishing pasta with red sauce, I went back to my room to isolate myself and play other games with friends from the SAC news staff.

During the call, one of my closest friends had mentioned that her friend had gotten accepted to Cal State Fullerton, one of the top journalism colleges in California. It was one of my top two Cal States that I wanted to get into alongside Cal State Long Beach. I had been waiting for weeks to hear back from them, and now might be when they had finally gotten back to me.

Long Beach and Fullerton both have heavily impacted programs, and Long Beach is a tough school to get into on its own, so I figured that since I had gotten into Beach I was pretty much guaranteed to get into Fullerton. But I still had some doubts.

After playing JackBox over Zoom until midnight, I checked my Fullerton student portal once again. I navigated to the status tab, and there it was.

I was not accepted to Cal State Fullerton.

I was pretty surprised. Not so much shocked or disappointed, but just surprised.

Then the slight adrenaline rush came. For weeks, I was torn between wanting to go to one university or the other, assuming that I was going to be accepted into both. But now my decision was made: Long Beach here I come.

I hurried downstairs to tell my mom and sister who were watching a Korean drama in the living room. I don’t normally come downstairs like that, so of course they thought something was wrong. But it wasn’t any emergency. In fact, it was the opposite.

I told them the news. “Well, I’m going to Long Beach.” It was simple as that. I told them that Fullerton had rejected me, and that I wasn’t upset at all. I was relieved that I had finally heard back from Fullerton, and that I knew where I was going to transfer. A lot of thoughts were rushing through my head about the future and what’s to come in the following months. All the planning and packing and the next steps in my educational career. It is something to look forward to.

Through all the distress of the lock down, I found something that brightened up my day. Well, technically my night.