Have you ever crossed the Ramsay 300 hall and noticed our “17 Signs You Are Definitely A Sophomore In College” corkboard? People largely ignore these kinds of silly facts, either on the hall board or on BuzzFeed (Yes it’s on BuzzFeed also!), but I did spare a little time one day reading the board as a means to reflect on my one month here – one month as an international sophomore.
And there are definitely some true things!
- You are NOT getting lost everyday! The only struggle that I had during the first week, however, was remembering where my classes were, as I forgot to note them down. It made me finally learn which building belongs to which department, which I bet almost every other sophomore already knew (the sadness is real…).
- You’re no longer incoherently nervous around cool upperclassmen (Yay!). I still remember how the rushing process in the second semester of last school year had drained me. I was so anxious around some cool sorority girls, and it was such an effort to remain myself among them. But the experience allowed me to see how diverse and involved sororities and fraternities at Furman are overall! Since it was a truly rewarding experience for me, I will recommend freshmen, particularly internationals that might be interested in Greek life to at least try out the rushing process.
- You will treasure the freshman-friendships that matter to you. Lucky me that I found my best American buddy during freshman year, and we still hang out a lot in this sophomore year. He is a big source of assurance that keeps me cool with being myself. In fact, I stopped my desperate friend-seeking phase, had deeper conversations with random people and enjoyed where it took me with them. SO a huge real-life lesson learnt from an ostensible cliché: “Keep Calm and Be Who You Are.”
- You take all the study help you can get from the Furman campus – which is so true regarding that I now visit the Writing and Media Center and the Career Office TWICE more often! I just realized the usefulness of our Writing Center one day before I submitted my final paper in a Sociology course last semester. They helped me re-outline the paper a little and develop a sense of writing as a native speaker for me, which earned me an A on that paper! Also, the Career Office is really helpful in the field of resume, career interest testing and beyond. There is a Business Etiquette dinner at the end of this semester held by the Career Office as a way for you to build your networking – definitely going!
- You have yet to know all about this place, but you still give out advice to the freshies. I do especially as an international partner. The biggest thing I keep advising them is NOT to forget to explore the beautiful Greenville downtown – even though I have only been downtown three times! An overnight downtown picnic will be a great relaxation that I will try experiencing with my friends this school year!
- You have chosen one professor that you want as your life coach – I don’t know about you guys, but it is Dr. Armstrong in the Communications department in my case! He is hilarious, casual and sincerely caring. He is so casual that he even has casual Fridays in every one of his classes when he would dress like a soccer player or a marathon runner – he has so many sports T-shirts! If you wear a fancy scarf to class on any Friday, he will pick on it and say: “It’s not casual!” As one of his advisees, I schedule regular meetings with him every two weeks to update him about my life and get updated about his too. We will have a lunch date soon!
- Lastly… You are going to enjoy this year anyway! I have been enjoying it to the fullest through works: immersing myself in a newly-found interest: blogging about Social Entrepreneurship (I’m handling 4 blogs right now!); shooting and live tweeting for events on campus such as the Moon Festival by the Chinese Student Association and the upcoming Art Therapy event by APO (this Oct 16, 12 PM – 8 PM on Library Steps, mark your calendar and have fun with painting and live music guys!!); and emailing high school seniors. Besides, I have meal dates with old friends, new people, go shopping, hang out, etc., and enjoy life as every other college student does!
Life has just been great living that way!!
