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More Than Just Surviving

by dorothyl 15. January 2011 16:47

I came into university fully expecting three things to hit me hard in the first semester.

1. Homesickness, since I'd never been away from home for longer than eight days. I came prepared, though. I had pictures of my family and friends on my desk, a lot more pictures on my computer, the Internet, and a lovely old phone that buzzes and gets a lot of feedback sometimes, but hey, it works.

2. Freshman 15, a topic I'd heard about countless times. It also finds its way into plenty of college-related articles, many of which I'd read and hoped would never happen to me. I loaded up on fruits and veggies, lean meats and skim milk. And in the beginning of the semester, my friends and I went to the gym once or twice a week, which was pretty good, considering the fact that I never go to the gym.

3. Procrastination, which, of course, is every student's demise. It lends itself very nicely to online chats with high school friends, emailing, talking with buddies down the hall, and many other activities I tend to do when I'm “thinking” about how to start my essays.

So, what happened? Nothing, really. No major breakdowns, no morning where I suddenly couldn't fit into my clothes, no incomplete or late assignments. Instead, these three things kind of crept up on me near the end of the semester, which I found sort of disconcerting.

In the past few weeks, as I spent Christmas and New Year's with my grandparents and relatives up in Canada, had a lot of home-cooked meals, ate a lot of Chinese food, and caught up on whatever sleep I missed during the semester, I had a bit of time to think. College is more than just surviving the academic workload, finding new friends, carving our niche in society, and in short, going with whatever life throws at us. I called my mom the other day and she asked,

“Do you think you've grown up a lot in these past few months?”

Well, if growing up means learning to manage my own finances, learning to find solutions to problems instead of running to my parents in a panic, learning to communicate clearly and professionally, learning to plan my schedule and be responsible, learning to listen to and be open to new and often radically different thoughts, ideas, and ways of life, and realizing that I can learn and develop in any and every experience I've had and will have, then yes, I have done quite a bit of growing-up.

So, going back to my break. At home, I had some time to reflect on some things I realized and learned in (or from) my first semester as a university student (that still sounds weird to me):

1. How much I miss food from home, especially real, good, Chinese food. Stir-fry every day doesn't quite cut it (sorry Neilson, as good as the rest of the food is). Over the past few weeks I had my fill of tea, dim sum, beef noodles, rice...(I'll stop there. I'm getting hungry too). Way back in August, I didn't think I would miss Chinese food much, but now that I think about it, I'm coming from a family that cooks rice and Chinese dishes almost every day. My diet has undergone quite a change.

2. The Freshman 15 actually exists, and I'm saying this because the pounds have been creeping on. Not that I actually reached fifteen...but still, it's a wake up call and a reminder for me to eat healthy, eat enough (not too much and not too little), sleep a good eight hours (which most college students don't get), and hit the gym. Which brings us to the next point...

3. The importance of exercise is something I never would have thought I'd say. I started the semester going to the gym twice a week, a habit that never really stuck, partially because my friends and I worried more about academics than exercise, and partially because I got lazy. In high school, I had gym class and played soccer. In college, I sat at my desk and typed essays, and when I got tired of that, I went to the dining hall. Hmm...that explains a lot! In the coming semester, though, that will have to change. Nagma and Dawn, I'll probably see both of you at the gym. :)

4. How much I love post-it notes, binder clips/paper clips, and highlighters, which goes to show how much of a nerd and neat freak I am/used to be. As an aspiring English major, I anticipated a flood of papers, articles, books, and, well, words in general. It happened just as I thought, and I warned my roommate that if I disappeared I'd probably drowned under all my papers (piled on my bed, scattered across my desk, fluttering on top of my dresser, you get the picture). The binder clips and paper clips came in handy then, especially when I was sorting all my peer-workshopped stacks of poetry (aka 30 copies) and assorted articles for my research paper (likely to use, not likely to use as sources). Highlighters are colorful and fun in general, but they helped me get through all my readings. I read through most of the articles (especially for Expos 2 and Knowledge & Power) with a bright green highlighter and a pen nearby: the highlighter was for important phrases, and the pen was for underlining and circling the text, as well as rewriting main points in my own words in the margins. The post-it notes were extremely helpful as an organizational tool. I wrote programs or activities I had to attend (name of event, date, time, place) and stuck them in my planner and also on my schedule on the wall. Visualizing the coming week really helped me plan better.