College life thus far...

Unfortunately, college will most likely not be this cool

Another beautiful day here at our lovely campus, and a reminder of Spring...and Spring Break. So, naturally I'm procrastinating again.

It's weird to think that this time last year I was checking my mailbox compulsively for those big envelopes. It's even weirder to think about all the awesome things that have happened in the last year like prom and graduation. The weirdest and most wonderful things though are the things that happened since my parents dropped me off at school in August. There are a lot of things that have happened that I totally did not anticipate, such as:

1) I ran across the MIT campus in the pouring rain
2) I watched Phineas and Ferb while having cheesecake and tea with upperclasswomen(on a weeknight!)
3) I got a 56 on my final, which counted for a significant portion of my grade.
4) I went to Mexico and did NOT get food poisoning.

Now I will put the disclaimer here: I realize that I go to a highly unusual college and will thus have a highly unusual experience. Also, my college experience is not supposed to be representative about what to the college experiences' of my peers. However, I do think that I can speak with some perspective about the college experience so far even though it really hasn't been too long.

To my knowledge, this does not happen to MIT students

I, like many of my peers, had certain expectations of what college would be like. I expected that exciting intellectual conversations would be around every corner, there would be activities galore to participate in, and intelligent and somewhat off-putting people would be everywhere I looked.

And this only happens once in a lifetime

In some ways, I guess that's kind of true-those things do happen on campus. But there are a ton of other things that happen here too, be it productions with titles like "The Vagina Dialogues" to interesting music as seen here. People fan-girl over Glee and funnily enough we do actually see guys here(!!!!). None of this stops them from being among the most brilliant people that I know...it just happens to put things in perspective. In short, it feels like I belong here a little bit more than I first thought I did.

Also, I feel like it's easier to fall into a niche in high school and fall into a routine. It was easy to do certain sports, or drama or clubs just because it's something that you've always been doing and you have continued to do because it will help you get into college. It's kind of like a crutch, something you will always have to fall back on. But what is invigorating(and terrifying) about college is that that does not have to be the case. I will tell you right now that I'm not doing a single activity that I pursued with vigor in highschool. And the world does not seem to be caving in because of it (I know, it seems IMPOSSIBRU!!!).

What most people don't talk about when you see them at Thanksgiving, or over Wintersession is that it's not always awesome and exciting. One look at WellesleyFML will tell you that people feel lonely and out of place a lot of times. So much so that yes, I have heard a LOT of people, not just here but everywhere, saying that they want to transfer schools for one reason or another. Even though I absolutely love our fair college, I felt homesick a lot more than I anticipated in the first semester and definitely felt like I was not doing as well in the classroom as I should.  Wellesley will kick your butt and make you feel like you are simply not good enough. A lot of people tell me that's just adjusting to college and I hope that's true.

The way I see it, college is not really about learning in the classroom because people can do that at any age, in any place. It's more a study of how to be an adult. It teaches you how to take care of yourself without your parents directly behind your shoulder. It teaches you how to deal with balancing academics(which is a stand-in for a future job) and your private life. Above all, it teaches you that the bonds you form with the people around you are also important because whether you like it or not, you will need to know how to diplomatically communicate with people and this little microcosm is prepping us for the larger picture that encompasses our country, as well as the global community.

I hope that we all prove worthy of rising to the occasion.