My name is Melissa Teo (pronounced TEE-yo, not TAY-oh or TOE or any other combination of sounds) and I first got hooked onto the greeting word above when I read Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White in first grade. It was one of the initial books that had me striving to know more about talking animals until I came to the painful realization that they do not exist. But alas.
I suppose the above bit was just an introduction to my introduction, and I guess one could assume that I am not very good at the whole “talk about yourself/make yourself seem effortlessly cool” thing. I hail from the city of Surrey, commute to UBC on school days (2 hour ride, plus an atrocious battle with the lovely citizens that use the 99 B-Line; bonus points for me if I face crying babies during my commute), and I am a foodie, an explorer at heart, and a sales rack enthusiast.
I was drawn to Arts One because I was the only person from my high school that decided to take arts at UBC, and the opportunity to be part of a community in a place where I knew nobody was equivalent to Gollum’s ring: precious. I also love literature; it was something I found I had a knack for in grade 12 and after taking AP English Literature and falling in love with it, I asked myself, why not?
But the main reason why I chose Arts One, and also the reason why I chose to attend university in general, was that I love a challenge. Menial tasks and routines don’t work for me; I like having something to work on so that I can better myself, and therefore better the people around me.
I guess I’ll end this off with the answer to the question that my relatives ask me the most, which is “What do you want to do after you graduate?”
I’d like to be a teacher, and I want to teach overseas (preferably in Singapore because of their superb fashion, delicious food, and extremely efficient subway system [Vancouver, please take note]). But, most importantly, aside from wages and education, and blood, sweat and tears, I want to be happy, and I think that my first step to happiness – the raw and real happiness that you feel that makes your hair stand up on end and smile like a dork – was when I set foot on campus on my first day and met such amazing people (such as yourselves).
Here’s to the start of an amazing year!
Melissa
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