Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Ice Breakers

Finals week is over!!! Another semester has come to a close, and I am so ready for a month of vacation and holiday celebrations, and I'm excited to make some headway on this blog and see what comes of it with all of this free time on my hands. (: I'm also pretty happy about my classes next semester. Winter break is that wonderful time where you dream about all the interesting things you will learn and the people you will meet in your new classes, and then you actually start, and lo and behold they are just as stressful and annoying as the ones from last semester. Not to be a complete Debbie Downer, but it is definitely true that the pre-semester expectations are usually a little higher than what you actually experience in a class. 

One of the most aggravating aspects of starting up new classes, as I learned this past Fall, are the "ice breaker games". Apparently they are just ways to kill time among the attendance taking and syllabus overview that is the first week of school, but by the end of the week I was pretty fed up. I probably repeated my little monologue of 
"Hi, I'm Krista. I'm a junior psych major, and my ideal vacation right now would be a trip to Alaska."
at least 15 times. I mean really, does anybody really care about what anyone else has to say when groups do these? But undoubtedly my first week of Spring semester will be plagued by stupid ice breakers like this. So while thinking about this and preparing myself for next year, I realized that I should have some sort of introduction for this blog and its author. 

So in addition to knowing that I wouldn't mind going to Alaska at some point in my life, most importantly you all should know I am a proud Cal Bear at UC Berkeley. (: I have dreamed of going to Cal since my early high school years, but definitely did not have the grades to prove my ambitious goal. After graduating I went straight into a community college, and was able to finish my general ed in 2 years with a 4.0, and transfer as a Junior to UC Berkeley. So I am not exactly your typical college student, but I have worked my ass off and am pretty proud of myself. The whole "real college" thing is also pretty new to me too then, and I have definitely learned a lot after surviving my first semester at one of the toughest universities in the country. I also have lived in the Bay Area my entire life, so rather than pay ridiculous amounts of money to live in the dorms, I pay ridiculous amounts of money each year for a parking permit and commute to work and school. I guess I live my life half as a college student and half just as a regular person, not being completely surrounded by a bubble or atmosphere of college life. But I have made some great friends at school and can't wait to see what the rest of my time in college has to offer. 
So here is to a new year, a new blog, a new semester, and probably new ice breakers.
Go Bears!



(RU3SYJ8U7YCT)



Friday, November 30, 2012

The Collegiate Life

What is it that defines the life of a college student?

An entire spectrum of stereotypes could be used to describe what we do in our day to day -- from the serious and sophisticated young philosophers enriching their minds and future careers, to the party-animal, toga wearing, inebriated delinquents just prolonging their youth for as long as possible. In reality most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle. A balance, in my opinion, is probably the best way to keep yourself sane throughout any given semester, because college is far from being a cake-walk. It has moments of enjoyment and moments of true misery, and overall, as much as it is a privilege to be able to go, college is really just something you have to get through.

They call these the "glory days" -- the best days of our lives. And ironically I think that might be true down the road. But what do I think I will remember when I reflect on my college days?
-The friends I have made.
 -Constantly dreaming about the future.
-All of the caffeine I consumed.
-Pulling all-nighters because I procrastinated, and being forced to procrastinate because of course all of my classes decide to assign exams and projects at the same time.
-Constantly being on the verge of broke.
-Walking everywhere, and wondering how many miles I walked overall.
-Blowing off homework for a night to go out with friends, and then sacrificing the rest of the weekend to studying in order to catch up.
-Eating crappy food in the campus dining halls.
-Panicking when my crappy computer decided to shut down in the middle of writing my paper.
-The feeling of pride and accomplishment of getting an A back on a paper, and the feeling of getting much less than an A.
-Reuniting with old friends over holiday breaks.
-Trying to get ahead while at the same time trying to figure out exactly what that means.
-Window shopping for all the clothes I wish I could afford.
-The stress.
-The sleep deprivation.
-Wanting so badly to be done with college, but also being completely freaked out about what comes after graduation.
-And laughing at all of the ridiculous moments and circumstances I find myself in, and at myself.

This blog will hopefully be a place to share these stories, probably a place to vent, to give advice and lessons learned (if they are wanted), and a place for myself as I discover, figure out, and make my way through the journey of my collegiate life.