Month: January 2011

Its 1:48 am and I can’t seem to fall asleep. So why not listen to some music, do a little singing and write a blog? 🙂

As I sit here in the wee hours of the morning, I still can’t believe I am already in university, halfway across the Pacific Ocean from my family, and living a more independent lifestyle. I must admit, it was painful during the 1st few days, waking up in the morning, realizing that your completely on your own and just dreading everything: making new friends, classes, laundry, money etc etc. Every little thing just becomes magnified ten times more and that’s a scary feeling.

But then again, I came to university for a reason and that was what drove me to turn that negative energy into something positive as fast as I could so I could spend every minute here even more worthwhile. I am not going to ramble on about university being the key to your future or university being important because it can get you a job; that’s pretty obvious! University is more than that. It’s a place where you can finally discover who you really are, where you can finally be who you want to be and to finally take chances. It’s a different feeling from High School, and I guess the best way to put it is that…you feel more you.

Yes it was a difficult transition, yes the workload became stressful and yes, your grades (pardon my language) are really shitty compared to High School. I’ve had to part ways from that nice and beautiful “A” for some time – don’t worry, I promise we’ll reunite this semester! But to be honest, that still didn’t stop me from making the most out of my first year and I still am. I’ve met some great people here that have not only become such great friends but have become my family as well, had the most amazing study sessions filled with tears of laughter, joined an exec team for a club, went to my very first party, had my first university “crush”, and so much more. I have experienced so much in a span of 4 months and I can’t even begin to imagine how much more that will come my way. I am honestly excited!

I love university, I love Canada and I love life. I tell myself everyday how lucky I am to be studying in such a great school and in such a beautiful country. Life for now is on my side and I’ll make sure it always will as I continue to walk through this long and winding road. It won’t be easy, but hey, what’s life without a few challenges?

Dear 2010, I love you. What can I say?  You were my year. You were the year where everything seemed to fall into place for me, the year where I’ve experienced one of my biggest accomplishments, and most of all, the year that opened a new chapter in an already heavy book that I call my life. We’ve had out ups and down but in the end, you helped me pull through and we ended our time together with a bang.

I still clearly remember when I first stepped foot into High School territory as a Freshmen and the main thought that jumped at me was how I still had a long way to go. 4 years was going to be hell of a long time. Oh boy was I wrong. Time flew and next thing you know, we’re honking away and screaming “its 2010!” Of all the years, however, 2010 felt like the longest. Maybe it was all the challenges I had to endure, all the opportunities I finally had the guts to take advantage, maybe all the late nights spent studying for the IB exams, stressing over university applications, or even the questions that go through all girls heads “what am I going to wear to prom? Who am I going to go with?!” Nevertheless,  all these aspects – some I dreaded, some I looked forward to – were all worth it and have enabled me to look back, smile, pat myself on the back and say “wow!”

I miss High School and I always will. Yet, we should always remind ourselves to stop looking back and asking “what if…” but to look at what is in front of us and ask “what can be?” So on that note, it’s time for me to finally close the chapter I call 2010 (four numbers say it all) and open a new one that I now call university. As the saying goes, “[we shouldn’t] cry because its over [but] smile because it happened.”

Hello everyone. So I’ve decided to use my blog for something more rather than letting it all be related to the academia. A sort of diary of my thoughts, feelings and who I am in general. We lead a very fast-paced life and there are moments where you tell yourself “if only I had a remote and could press pause.” I’ve had moments where the days just blur together and we feel as if we’ve had no time for yourself; to just sit down and contemplate where our lives our heading, to sit down and just have a little me time. When we get home the first things we university students  do are to either take a nap or turn on the computer and enter the realm of Facebook. If we spend that much time on the computer, why not do something else? Why not have a little me time in the process?

And so I begin this process. As cheesy as it may sound, I am going to start a little relationship with my online diary (sounds better than “a blog” doesn’t it?). I know, we’ve got other social networks at our fingertips but “status updates” or “who I am” can not even begin to capture the complex entities that make us who we are. I want to be able to show people a different side of me, a side that portrays who I really am as a person and just express what goes on in my head at a day to day basis. One of my good friends here at UBC, David Huynh (here’s a shout out to you David) began doing this a couple of months ago, and I was inspired by  his ability to capture life with words. Just like him, I love to write and I believe that here is a good place to continue that passion.

I am Monica and this is my story…