The night before our Arts One final exam, my seminar professor gave us these words of wisdom:
Dear all…. Rest up, relax (yoga, stretching, etc.) and try to remain calm on this Crawfish exam eve. This is a rite of passage for you soon to be Arts One alumni and I know you will all do well. Focus on the exam now and I will have news about essays very shortly.
I remember sometime around the ending of my grade 7 year–which had been a very good year for me–I had meditated and felt overwhelming sentimentality for the passing of an era. Arts One was substantially better than my grade 7 year. (That’s so strange. Being 12 years old doesn’t feel very far away, but suddenly being 12 and being 18 seem so far apart, and it occurs to me that 12 year old Jia and 18 year old Jia are two entirely different people.) Despite the fact that being 18 was much better than being 12, it didn’t quite hit me that I was an Arts One alumni, and I don’t think it has, really.
I think that Arts One has affected me more than it did for a lot of the people who I shared the program with, and I’m not even sure why that is, to be honest. I think we all knew that the program was wonderful, and I think at least on some level, we’re going to miss it (some of us more than others). It was easily the highlight of my first year, and I’m so grateful for what its given me. Other than the academic tools its equipped me with, I’m so grateful for the seminar I was in, to be surrounded by intelligent, worldly, curious, but still very normal students who were given to procrastinating and not always putting in all their effort, normal students who–most importantly–always loved to laugh.
As I write that, I think that’s what I might miss most from ARTS 001B LB2. I intend on having a similar academic experience through the Honours English program, but I will never again be in the same classroom as all 20 of the laughter-loving and wisdom-loving friends I made. Regardless, the things I learned from them and the time I spent with them will always be precious.
To any incoming Arts One students–make the most out of your seminar. The group I was in was so diverse, with a variety of interests (academic and extracurricular) and values and habits, but the group would not have been the same if any one of them had been missing. I could not have hand-picked a better group to go through my first year of university with. We were probably the closest seminar in the entire program, but it’s a scenario easily enough recreated if you put in the effort.
To my dear Crawfamily–thank you for your wonderful thoughts, your company, and your shared laughter. It’s been absolutely one-of-a-kind.
