lessons from college (part 1 of many)

The hardest thing (about life so far anyway) is not getting into that med school (the one with the 2% admit rate), that internship, that job (yes, the one everyone seems to want), or even figuring out what it is exactly that you do want. All of that comes with time and a bit or a lot of hard work. Luck, also. The things that threatened to ruin my life (failed midterms and rejection letters) didn’t seem so important even a week later. The hardest thing, and I speak for myself and my own character flaws, is simply being happy with what I have been given. Because somehow contentment seems synonymous with stagnation, and well, its just so much easier to keep being greedy.

overheard on a c-1

Two freshmen girls bonding over a pair of shoes. Within minutes they had exchanged names, hometowns, dorm allegiances, and complained about the travails of organic chemistry. Couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic for friendships so easily made before being defined by niches or post-college aspirations. Then again, not nostalgic for organic chemistry or the growing pains that come with these years of college.

Cute

Funny/adorable moment of the day: When the bus driver, upon seeing nolan smith crossing the street, stopped the bus and jumped off to ask for his autograph on a ripped off C3 sign.

“My grandson loves him!” He explained as he got back on the bus. Some little boy in Durham is getting a nice surprise tonight. :)

haircuts

I used to want to do something “cool” every time I got a hair cut. I’d give the hair dresser free rein to do whatever he/she liked without giving any specific directions on what I wanted. Amazingly, my lack of preference usually yielded the same disasterous result. Somehow, the combination of my massive amounts of hair coupled to its unique (for a Chinese girl, anyway) texture with tendency towards frizz would invariably lead the hair dresser to put in an extreme number of layers, to the point where the difference between the shortest strands at the top of my head and the longest strands at the bottom was something like 6 inches.

After years of repeating the same awful experience, I suddenly realized today that I have no more desire for “cool haircuts.” I badly need a trim though, perhaps I will just order the hair dresser to cut exactly one inch off the end of my hair.

lasts and firsts

It just occurred to me, as I mentally prepare myself to head back to school tomorrow, that I’m closing in on the last “winter break” I’ll have in a while, at least, until I go to grad school. But even so breaks aren’t likely to be quite the same. Already friends are scattered in various parts of the world and harder to find around the common hangouts. I guess this real world thing is finally sinking in…

Scary as it all is, it also feels good to be taking on more responsibility. In the past month, I paid my own tuition for the first time, turned 21 and bought my first legal drink. And lately I’ve been poring over interior decorating blogs in anticipation of finally being able to move into an apartment of my own (dorm life has been fun, but is definitely getting old). All in all, its clear that my excitement outweighs my nostalgia. I’m ready to have one last awesome semester in the dear old gothic wonderland before moving on to a great job in a great city, accompanied by my bestest boy. Hello 2011, I’m so glad you’re finally here :)