school

"I want her to text me. I want her to call me; I just want to know she’s thinking of me."

My days are busier than ever - starting in the morning at 10 AM to my forced bedtime at 1AM. But finally, for the first time, I know exactly what is going to happen, when everything is due, and what I said I would do.

While spring semester began just two weeks ago, so much has happened at Berkeley, and my particular experience has been a mixed bag. But if there’s anything that Berkeley taught me, it’s how to find my own happiness.

Through attempted internal reflection and time spent with loved ones, the same daunting question circulates in our minds: How do we survive — and potentially thrive — in such a transitional time in our lives? The simple answer is by romanticizing our lives, riding out this wave donning a rosy pair of sunglasses until we can feel alive again for some holiday cheer. 

I did get into UC Berkeley in the end, but college decisions were a huge reality check for me. And it also brought into conflict two aspects of my personality: the confidence in my academic ability, and my lack thereof in pretty much anything else.

This is the time to intentionally do things that make us happy. As another school semester approaches, here are ways to avoid burnout and stay passionate.

When academic expectations are sky-high and the appetite to grind is insatiable, illness can feel like a thick fog that I should just turn up my collar and trudge through.

The ever-winding road of life only allows a couple passengers to stick with you along the way.

It's in all the little mannerisms and phrases I've stolen from “you”, it's in the way I dress and the way I define love; all little pieces of you that are stitched into my identity, woven seamlessly into my life, seasoning all of my experiences like a familiar recipe.