Friday, December 2, 2016. Wow, this first term has gone by in a flash. The past 10 weeks have gone by so fast, it seems like yesterday I was just a freshman trying to navigate my way through the campus and through my classes. To be honest, I can’t even remember the weeks that weren’t the first week or midterms. Those were the weeks I remember most because they were the most stressful, yet the most rewarding. I remember freaking out about those midterms, wondering if what I wrote on those papers and short answer questions were enough to warrant an A. And for the most part, the next week was awesome, because I did much better than I thought. Especially for History. While the GTF said that the average was around a B, and while most of my friends got Bs or Cs on their midterms, I felt a little awkward saying I got a 96%. But all the other weeks seem to blur together. Last week was Thanksgiving, so it was really chill, not much going on. There were only a few of us that stayed in the dorms over the break, and we had our own mini-Thanksgiving, which was an interesting experience. It was quiet and mysterious because nobody was here, but for us that stayed in the dorms, we had a great and awesome, fun time.
The stresses of midterms have come once again, but this time its finals. The biggest and baddest time of all. The formats of my finals are pretty similar to those of midterms. I only have actual in-class tests for Korean and History, while Writing and Ethnic Studies are take-home essays. I always stress about tests and I am never confident or take anything for granted. No matter how well I did on the midterms, I always think the worst of the next test. My study preparations include looking over lecture notes, discussions on readings, and over past tests. I like to look at past tests to see what comments the grader might have put on there, or just to see how my answers looked so I know how to write for this final. I am a little worried about Writing and Ethnic Studies, because my grades for those classes are on the borderline of A/B. I am worried that I won’t improve my writing skills and my grade may suffer because of that, so this last final will determine my grade. But for the other two classes, I think I have high A’s, so I have a little bit of insurance with my grades, but still I will try hard to maintain them. In retrospect, this term has been really enjoyable. I was not sure how my preconceptions of college compare to how I feel now, but it is both weird and fun living on my own for the first time. That being said, being free and on my own has led me to have some pretty bad habits. I push all my reading to Thursdays, which completely ruins my Thursday nights and my sleeping schedule of Thursdays, making it hard to wake up for the 9 AM Friday discussion. But besides from procrastination, I think I have managed my time decently well. I’d like to have done more extracurriculars and gone out more, but that’s for next term to explore.
I realize that I don’t feel homesick as much, but it will be a huge relief to spend a month at home, away from school and away from my new friends to spend time and reminisce with my old friends from back home. Eugene is starting to feel like home, but San Francisco is where I will always be from. I can’t wait to wake up in my own bed and not have to go to class, at least for a month. But most of all, it’ll be a huge relief for me to be around Asians again. That’s very concrete and “racist” in a way, but it’s where I’m most comfortable. Not saying I detest being around White people all the time, but it’ll be nice to go back to my roots.
I’m not sure how to end this first term and this first blog, but I highly recommend joining a FIG. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably already in the Hidden History FIG. Having classes with the same people may be repetitive, but its worth the connections and friendships you make along the way. Whether these friendships hold up is uncertain, but that is only for time to tell.