Small Town Girl vs. City Culture

I’m not one for the stereotypes surrounding people who come from small towns; I’m from a little town and grew up in the country riding horses, taking my dog for walks in the woods behind my house and living across from the river. Truth be told, I thought for a small town girl I was pretty cultured. After all, I’d travelled around for the majority of my life and read a number of books about different cultures.

So, when a group of people on my floor got together and decided to go out for Chinese food, I didn’t think anything of it and agreed straight away to go.

Chinese food in my town is food court Chinese food – the likes of chicken balls, crappy fried rice and some steamed veggies. This Chinese restaurant was NOTHING like that.

The first major shock had to be the lack of forks – I’ve never used chopsticks before, and the thought of getting through an entire meal using them was terrifying! Out of the twelve of us who went, my friend and I were the only two who didn’t know what the menu meant and who couldn’t manage the chopsticks. The others ordered and we practised with the chopsticks, getting lessons from the rest of those at dinner .

The soup nearly killed me it was so spicy, but I was determined to finish it. Then came lemon chicken, chicken fried rice, salted fish fried rice, snow pea sprouts, sizzling dish, noodles… I tried everything, and miraculously managed to do it all with the chopsticks!

Needless to say, I was in a pretty big state of culture shock. As nervous and intimidated as I was, I’m definitely glad I went! We had lots of laughs, some great food and it was nice to see everyone after being gone for reading week.

When you go to university, as much as new things are nerve racking and scary, you need to put yourself out there and just go try them. Otherwise you’ll miss out on good times, and silly memories.

This small town girl definitely has a ways to go!

Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way.~ Charles Kingsley

Top 5 Misconceptions About University

Having almost completed my first year of university, living in residence and moving away from home, I’ve come to realize that most of the things that I thought university would be weren’t exactly how they ended up .Here’s my personal list of the top five misconceptions about university:

1. Everyone Parties All the Time

Pretty self explanatory, no? Parties do happen in university, and it’s still pretty similar to high school. You get those people, or groups of people, who party every weekend and during the week if they can pull it off.

But the idea that people ONLY party in university? That right there isn’t true. At some point or another, even the party people sit down and crack the spines of their books. Bottom line is, university is expensive, and you’re there to learn. Partier or not, you all have to get through exams and papers, or go home.

Sidenote: If you’re not a huge partier, don’t worry about it! I have a few friends in university who don’t drink, and they’re having a great time without alcohol (and saving money!).

2. Everyone is so Much More Mature Than They Were in High School 

I wish this were true… Sadly, however, people will still be people. There will be petty fights, and those people who you just can’t seem to get along with, and gossip, and drama, and so on.

The difference between university and high school (if you’re living on residence, that is) is that you don’t get to go home at the end of the day. When you’re living on res, you don’t get a break. So, you learn to suck up and put up.

Keep yourself out of the drama as much as possible, and don’t give people a reason to gossip about you. University isn’t high school; but the maturity level doesn’t change much over the two months between graduation and first year.

3. I’m Independent; I Won’t Be Home Sick 

People told me all the time that I’d be home sick when I moved away. Stubborn as I am, I didn’t listen to them – I’m a fairly independent person, and I’m only an hour away from my hometown. Why would I be home sick?

The ultimate reality is that moving away from home is a huge change. Living with other people, being on your own, the workload, the lack of sleep; eventually it catches up with you and all you want to do is go home and cuddle your dog (at least, that’s what I always want to do). It’s perfectly normal to be home sick, no matter how far you are. And, even if you don’t think it’ll happen to you, it will.

Grab a movie, read a book, go sit with your friends, call your Mom – do whatever you need to to get through it, because things always look better once you do. [:

4. Endless Supplies of Food 

Yeah. Food doesn’t last long. And that stuffs expensive!

Wal-Mart flyers are fantastic for finding deals on food. Also, look for student discount days! Loblaws has 10% off for students on Tuesday, and Bulk Barn does the same on Wednesdays. Sounds silly, but unless you have a job, anything you can save on becomes wonderful.

5. You Don’t Have to do Chores 

Honestly, going into university, I thought chores were a thing of the past! The only difference now is that you actually WANT to the chores… When your fridge starts to smell and you gag because of how your sink looks while brushing your teeth… It ain’t pretty!

Arm yourself with some good, easy cleaning supplies. Things like a toilet brush, Lysol wipes and Febreeze are quick fixes – they don’t work in the long run, but they’re great in the moment!

February = Death by Midterms

All right, let’s be honest. Time management in high school is something non-existant. It’s pretty easy to just study for an hour or two the night before a test or exam and pull off a decent grade. Time management in university? Do or die.

I spent my night locked in a study lounge in my residence, scrambling to shove as much philosophical theories in my head as I possibly could. Was it hectic? Heck yeah! Was it my fault? Also, heck yeah…

If I would’ve just taken a bit of time to study over the weeks leading up to midterm week instead of putting it all off to be social 24/7, I probably would have slept much longer and better last night than I actually did.

I had my midterm this morning at 11:30; I went to bed at 2:00 a.m. and woke up at about 9:30 to study the last minute things that my brain wasn’t retaining last night. For those who aren’t mathematicians (lord knows, I’m not either), that’s a nice whopping of 7 and a half hours of sleep. Which, really, is quite decent.

Except that I did the same thing last week for two days, finishing a paper and getting ready for another midterm. Needless to say, February – or as we call it, the month of death – is killing me right now. My last  midterm of the semester is on Friday, and then the saving grace of reading week comes in.

People say reading week isn’t for reading…. It’s literally a week of reading for me… Mostly from the Bible. Yeah…

All that to say, university isn’t high school. It requires you to work, and care, and plan. It’s wonderful, and hard, and the best time you’ll have. Mind you, it’s not perfect and it’s not all fun and games.

High school is not the time of your life…. Neither is February.

Being Close

I live about an hour away from my home town, so I tend to travel home at least once, twice a month to stay the weekend with my parents.

It’s ideal, really. I didn’t think I’d want to be very close to home because then I wouldn’t be able to have my independence and such. In retrospect, being closer to home was definitely the best choice for me.

All that being said, I came home this weekend, and when I told two of my floormates that I was heading home the first thing they said was “does this mean we get home cooked things!?’ I thought this was hilarious, but they both live pretty far so it really is a novelty for them. We got talking about what kind of desserts they liked, and I ended up being charged with making a cheesecake.

I’ve never even attempted to make a cheesecake before. I’m actually quite nervous – the finished product is in the oven baking right now….

I love being able to bring simple things back up to residence for friends though. If you guys live close enough to pull it off, be a dear and bring your friends some food.

Cafeteria cheesecake will still be worse than my attempt at home-made cheesecake!

Having a Go

So, clearly, I’m quite new to this.

I remember applying to universities last year, and around this time seriously starting to question where I wanted to go and what I wanted to study. I had a pretty tough time figuring it out – picture tears, headaches and multiple tubs of ice cream on my couch. After all the pros and cons were laid out and the accept button pressed, I’m not going to say I felt much better.

I was still scared, and stressed, and felt like I was growing up WAY too fast. I still feel like I’m growing up too fast. Currently, I’m in my second semester, trying to figure out where the time went and looking for a house for next year. I’m starting to worry about things like bills, and finding a job, and furniture. It’s all a little scary, but unbelievably exciting at the same time.

As confident as I feel about my choice to come to Carleton and study the Humanities, I still regularly question what I’m doing, where I’m going, who I want to be.

I won’t tell you it gets easier, because I’m a firm believer that it never actually does. I will tell you, however, that I am having the best and worst times of my life – and all the stress and work it took to get here? Totally worth it.

This is Me

Ta-Da! Face to the text that, hopefully, you enjoy reading. This is me, December of my first year of University.