Sunday, May 21, 2017

OFFICIALLY DONE WITH MY FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE. It honestly feels so good to be FINALly done with FINALs (sorry, that was pretty bad). I was stressing out so much during that week. Finals were immensely more exhausting and stressful than midterms because they cover the entire year’s worth of material and they’re all exams happening during the same week. But in all honesty, I’ve had such an amazing first year at Cal. I really want to reflect and look back to see what really made my year the best it could be. It was so different from anything I could have imagined and turned out so much better. From all the people I’ve met, the interesting classes I’ve taken, the many food places I’ve tried and yet to try, my family who have been my number one supporters, they’ve really made the transition into Cal really smooth and I couldn’t have had a better first year.

Friends really made my first year of college BEAR-able (Go Bears!). They were there to talk to whenever I needed a break from studying or working. They’d listen to my rants and stories whenever I felt stressed or needed someone to laugh with. I loved catching up with them over lunch/dinner which definitely made meals less lonely. Seeing my friends around campus and stopping to say hi and catch up would be nice breaks throughout the day as well. Berkeley now truly feels like a home away from home because whenever I walk around campus or in the city in downtown Berkeley, I see so many familiar faces and recognize people that make going to UC Berkeley so worth it. I’ve met such amazing people who’ve become some of my closest friends – friends who took the same classes as I did and we could study together, my floormates on my all-girls floor (I loved our floor lounge – I would just sit there doing my work and my floormates would walk in and out, stopping to chat and they gave me the study breaks I needed), my roommates, and anyone else who I happened to encounter during my first year. My close friends from high school have actually remained some of my closest, those who came from my high school to Berkeley became more comfortable to talk to and served as a friend I would have already in some classes. There’s something special about coming from the same high school, having grown up together in the same area, and now moving towards a new journey in Berkeley together that makes those friends special.

Roommates are always there to save you and take care of you. We literally took care of each other one week before Dead Week when the three of us were all sick with the cold. One morning when I wasn’t feeling well and had a bloody nose, my roommate went out to The Den and bought me oatmeal and brought it home for me. The following night, that same roommate had a bit of a fever and just wanted to lie in bed so my other roommate and I went out to buy dinner for her. We were each other’s family away from home. They were like my second sisters. We supported one another and could confide in one another whenever we had problems, worried about something, needed advice, basically for anything. I could talk to them about anything. I remember the three of us would have these deep late-night conversations that would go until 2-3 AM. We’d start talking at around 11 PM or so, starting to get ready for bed, and we’d talk about topics such as marriage, love, life, personal morals, etc. They’d be great conversations and by the time it got so late, we were all so tired even though we still could continue talking all night.

My family played a huge part in my transition to college as well. Because I lived so close to Berkeley (in the Bay Area), I was able to come home often. It would be so nice to spend a weekend back at home, where everything was familiar and simple; I’d be reminded of my high school days. I’d get to see my parents and tell my mom everything, catching her up on my life, and watching movies after midterms with my siblings. (I remember I watched Finding Dory with my family after my CS midterm, which was such a great way to celebrate after that exam.) Feeling tired of dorm food, I would get to eat homemade, delicious food at home during the weekends and relax in the comfort of my own home. (In the dorms, privacy is a luxury, especially since I was in a triple, I basically never was alone in my room.) And I definitely do need that personal time, when I simply need to be by myself in order to reflect on my week or think quietly. As much as I like talking, I am quite an introvert and need a good balance between talking to others and being by myself and taking care of myself.

Asking questions! Definitely participating in class helped me have a more enjoyable class experience and helped clarify concepts, curiosities, and maybe even helped others in the class who were wondering the same thing but didn’t want to look confused and dumb in front of the entire class. In my CS discussion, I’d always ask all questions whenever I had one, and answered code-writing problems. Participating in class is super important (even if it’s not for a grade). I definitely participated more in CS than I did in math (because CS felt more interesting to me) and for French, speaking in class was worth about 20% of my grade so I answered questions whenever I had an idea. This was easy because my French class had only 6 students and the professor, so I always felt comfortable speaking and expressing my ideas in all our discussions because we had gotten to know each other pretty well. But not only asking questions in class, but asking questions in general. I realized a lot of the stresses and worries I had could be eliminated with just me going up and asking someone about it. Whether it was an upperclassman, a major advisor, my parents, a friend, anyone, asking another person definitely is better than wondering by yourself.

I learned a lot about myself as a person, too. I’m the type of person who is very organized and I make sure that I review material covered in class often so that I understand the concepts before I dive into the homework/labs/projects. I take detailed, clear notes and color code them while studying. I’m kind of a perfectionist so before midterms/finals, I study trying to make sure I understand everything 100%. However, during the week of finals, I spent so much more time studying for CS (because I felt more worried about declaring my major and also because I like studying for CS more) than math. Before the math final, I was so freaked out. I felt that I had reviewed basically nothing and was depending solely on the fact that I had studied diligently for my two previous midterms and hopefully the material was in my brain somewhere still.

One thing I noticed was that at the beginning of each semester, I’d come in with a lot of energy. I’d feel so motivated to study, do an assignment ahead of time, and read ahead before lectures. I’d go to info sessions, meetings, and learn about all the different clubs we had on campus. Throughout the semester, I felt like I kept my momentum up, which was good. I studied well in advance for my midterms and kept up with the class pace, making sure I wasn’t falling behind in anything. However, as the weeks went on (when Dead Week rolled up), I realized that I was so behind in math. We were learning about differential equations and I didn’t understand it at all. The first two midterms had gone pretty well, but this chapter I simply did not get. I think I kind of lost some of my motivation to learn and study on my own by then, and I felt really pressured to do well on CS (for the sake of declaring my major), so I kind of neglected math and focused primarily on studying for CS. Fortunately, I did pretty decently on both finals, and the reason I still did well on math was because I had kept up and studied the entire semester, making sure I wasn’t falling behind. So the material that I knew beforehand, I knew really well and it had stayed in my head even if I wasn’t able to review everything before the final. For future final exam prepping, I will definitely begin earlier (maybe even 2 weeks earlier) so that I have enough time to review everything. But I remember the weekend before finals week, I felt so exhausted. I was telling my mom that I was so ready for summer and I’d never felt this stressed before midterms this entire semester. All of a sudden, all this pressure came upon me and I just wanted the week to be over. However, I had worked hard the entire semester, and didn’t want my work to go to waste, so I knew I’d have to keep my game up and finish the semester strong.

The moment I finished my last final (math), it felt so good. My friends and I went out to Late Night and ordered a bunch of food to celebrate our finishing finals. I felt immediately stress-free and so relaxed. Not only was I done with finals, I was done with freshman year.

What I found the most important was coming in with a positive attitude, because how you see and interpret events and the things that happen in your life depends on how you’re viewing the world. I’ve heard from someone that what you put into the world is what you get out of it. So if you’re putting this great, kind, loving energy, the world will give you that love back. I realized the importance of being humble enough to keep learning and improving myself, as well as being confident enough to stand my own ground and stay true to my values. In my education class, we talked about growth mindset and how we must enforce it as a teacher and promote the idea that if we keep trying and trying, we can do it. Anyone can learn anything as long as they are willing to put in the time and effort into doing so. A growth mindset encourages perseverance and improvement, whereas a fixed mindset believes one is simply either good or bad at something. A growth mindset values effort whereas a fixed mindset sees effort as futile. I’d heard about the growth mindset before, but this time when we were learning about it in class, it reminded me to really see my life through the lens of growth mindset. It reminded me to try harder in class and to not lose hope if I didn’t understand a concept or was struggling, reminded me to see the positive side of things that were happening, and to appreciate the small personal improvements that I was making everyday. I’m definitely a huge believer in the growth mindset; I don’t think we come into the world already being smart. I think in the long run, hard work and effort become stronger and we can achieve so much more if we simply try more in our everyday things. After all, in the words of Albert Einstein, “Success is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration,” and he couldn’t have been more right.

Best of luck,

Anita