After 42 Years

42 years later, I returned to my university. In 1984, I graduated from what was then the Faculty of Agricultural Mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. Today, the faculty is called the Faculty of Biotechnical Systems Engineering. I came back this year for a very different reason — not for an exam, not for a course, but to request a document confirming my university studies for my retirement pension. For the secretary who received my application, it was just another document. For me, walking through those doors again after 42 years was something quite different. I talked with two current students and discovered that the faculty still graduates roughly the same number of students each year as it did when I was there — around 80. But much has changed. New buildings have appeared, new specializations have emerged, and the surrounding area has become much more densely developed. I remember the area as being more open and less crowded. Today, the landscape is very different. Lacul Morii provides a completely new perspective, Splaiul Independenței has been redesigned, and the Semănătoarea industrial complex that I knew as a student is gone. I flew both my DJI Air 2S and DJI Avata 2 over the area to see the university from a perspective I could never have imagined when I was a student there. Looking at the university from above made me think about the strange path my life took after graduation. I worked in agriculture, concrete production, bus engineering, computer assembly and, eventually, software development. I also spent several years driving long-haul trucks in Canada before returning to software. Many of the technologies I studied at university were not directly useful in the career I eventually built. But perhaps that isn't really the purpose of a university education. Sometimes what remains is not a particular formula, machine or technology, but the way you learn to think. 42 years after leaving, I came back — and looked at the place from above. 📍 POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Romania 🚁 DJI Air 2S & DJI Avata 2 🎵 Original instrumental electronic / progressive rock soundtrack 📅 2026 The buildings changed. The city changed. I changed too. But some places remain part of you.