Brittne's College Blog
Year-End Summary
June 14, 2010
Since this is going to be my last entry of the year, I thought that I'd do an evaluation of my first year of college.
At this point, it's hard for me to be objective about it. It wasn't a perfect year. I had classes -- OK, one class -- that I hated. There were instructors that I didn't really see eye-to-eye with. A couple of my final grades were less than what I'd hoped they'd be. The buildings on campus were drafty with poor heating. There were times -- usually when the food was especially poor -- when I felt homesick. I had more than one overdramatic long-distance fight with my friends from home. When all the issues are listed together like that, it's easy to worry about college or decide that it's not for you.
On the other hand, though, there were a lot of really great things that have come out of the last year. I really feel that I did a lot of growing up. My relationships with my parents and siblings have changed, yes, but I am optimistic that the changes will be for the better.
I met a lot of really great people, and I am confident that almost every single one of them has changed me in some small way. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I "found" myself while I was at school -- I've always known who I am -- but I will acknowledge that I am overwhelmingly more comfortable in my own skin. I am much more outgoing than I used to be, and I think that it was a good thing to be pushed out of my comfort zone like I was while I was living in residence.
I loved the things that I studied this year and I was pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion to discover that I am interested in things that I had never before considered. Having been out of school for a little over six weeks, it is very clear to me that the advantageous aspects of the last year more than compensate for the disadvantageous ones.
My Grade 11 social studies teacher once told me education is never a waste. Even if you hate every single minute that you spend doing or learning something, you will leave with the concrete knowledge that that, whatever it is, is something that you do not want to do again. You will never have to wonder about the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens.
What he told me has proved to be incredibly true for me in the last year. I have friends in engineering, I have friends who are tentatively set to go into medicine -- both things that I had, at one point or another, vaguely considered -- and, from what they have told me about their classes, I am absolutely certain that I have made the right choice. For the longest time, I thought that I'd like to study history. While I still enjoy historical-themed films and literature, I now know that history -- from an academic perspective -- is not something that I ever want to do again.
With that in mind, I will leave you with my final verdict: A+. I really, really loved it.
Seeing Things Differently
June 7, 2010
This week saw the realization of one of my greatest fears: I think that I may have unknowingly become a pretentious college student.
When I was younger, I used to think that the whole "pretentious college student" label was exaggerated. I was sure that the ideas I had of college life were as bad as the ones that I saw on television about North American high schools -- the ones where there is a popular girl and her clique of usually dim-witted friends who rule the school and whom the rest of the "normal" kids simultaneously idolize and fear, you know? They're ridiculous and I used to wonder if the people who came up with the characters and their stories had ever actually set foot in a regular high school.
I thought that what I thought I knew about how college students were supposed to be was exactly like that. I'm not so sure anymore that this is actually the reality. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a case of something becoming a stereotype simply because it is true.
In the last year, I've been exposed to the ideas of a lot of Big and Important People that I have heard vague references to throughout the years but didn't really know anything about. The writers and philosophers Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir -- they were the big ones for me, the ones who stuck the most. They have opened my eyes in a lot of ways, even when I didn't always agree with what they were saying. Having been exposed to their theories and ideas, a lot has changed in the way that I think about, see and even experience the world.
I've always been a little bit of a skeptic, but I can honestly say that I have become a critical thinker. I look at the things that go on around me and I ask questions. There isn't a lot that I read or hear that manages to pass the scrutiny that the last year has fostered. I've been working a lot lately, so last night I spent the night at home and rented some movies with a couple of friends. It was in the best interest of our friendship that we decided, after about an hour, to turn them off. It was problematic for them, you see, that I was analyzing them under the respective lenses of de Beauvoir and Said. I honestly hadn't even realized that I'd been doing it until they pointed it out. It seems that my critiques of our viewing selections were a little bit distracting.
It might have a lot to do with the kids of classes that I took this year, but I would be willing to hazard a guess that no matter what faculty you are in, the exposure that you have to new and different ways of thinking -- ones that you may not have even considered before -- changes you. I'm not wholly decided on this point yet, but I think that, for the most part, for most people, it's a good thing. One thing that college has really taught me in the last year -- and, in particular, since leaving -- is that not everybody thinks like I do. I used to think that I knew this -- really, I did -- but in the last few weeks I've been noticing it everywhere.