College is a Gas Station

One vital lesson I learned in college is that college itself is not the be all end all. 

This and if you work smart, do your best, then you going to be okay are two things I would say to my high school self.

The fact that college is not the endgame startled me. As a high schooler my one goal in life was to get into college. Once I achieved that, I was lost. 

The next goal seemed obvious - graduate! But then what? And most pressingly what do I major in?

I consider it both a blessing and a curse that my school allows its students two years to explore before declaring a major. I spent those two years exploring a wide range of interests everything from Classics to Chemistry, English to Engineering, Physics to Philosophy. I am so grateful for that extended grace period, but my interests were so broad and my so fickle that I could not pin anything down. 

In fact, I could not and did not declare anything until junior year. Each time I tried to pin down what my major, I froze. 

My next advice to my junior self (in fact earlier if possible) would be to just dive in. Pick something and dive in. Swim as deep as possible, discover everything possible can about the major, try to become one with major. If that is not possible, swim back up and try again. Pick a different pool, a different ocean and dive!

All this time I have been treading water in different seas and oceans, never diving too deeply because I’m afraid that I will be sucked into a riptide, an endless void. A riptide to what I don’t know and that’s what was so scary.

But that’s what college is about - diving into a subject and absorbing it. College is about learning and gaining experience that can be used to enrich life in countless ways — exploring hobbies that can become crafts, picking up skills that builds a career, forming relationships that will evolve in different directions.

My junior self wanted to dive. Truly wanted to dive. Needed to dive. But there was one more mental block - what if it’s all a bust?

“Failures should be embraced” or something like that. Failures are challenges that build strengths and stuff. Failures are guarantees on the path to success.

Failures are terrifying.

I can’t afford to fail.

I’ve already procrastinated declaring my major, I cannot afford to pick a major and decide it won’t work. Failure is not an option!

But it can happen.

And the worst part is, by trying so hard to avoid failure, I’m setting myself up for failure, disappointment, and heartbreak.

It is depressing. It is a downward spiral. It feels endless.

But college is not the be all end all. It is a major chapter of my life ... but it’s not the only chapter. When I graduate with a degree in Computer Science, I do not have to define myself as a programmer, a software developer, or even a computer scientist. I can go on to become a lawyer, an artist, a doctor, a barista. The stories that comfort me are the stories where people don’t stay in one field, one major for all of their lives. I’m comforted by the dropouts who decided to follow their own paths, I’m comforted by the wandering student who goes on to med school or the physicist who decided to study French literature, I’m comforted by the passions of those who know where they are going and the uncertainties of those who do not, but will give anything and everything a try.

Knowing that what defines me today in college does not define me tomorrow is a comfort and gives me the courage to dive in murky water. I will dive into my chosen major knowing that after college I can switch waters. If I switch waters, I will dive. I have learned from college that treading water will only show me so much. It may support me, but it will not sustain me. To really dig into something, to discover a subject’s tricks and pearls, I have to be willing to dive into the darker water, to be drag by the riptide into the unknown, to persevere when the water turns murky. I have to accept that I will fail but I will keep swimming anyway.

Today, I say I am a dreamer, a writer, an aspiring designer, a computer scientist. 

When I graduate, I will say I am a dreamer, a writer, a designer, a computer scientist, and an aspiring adult looking for a job.

In a year, that will change. And that’s part of life. Life is a journey and college is not the destination!

La sfilata delle scienze

Prima Tema (per primo anno Italiano)
Ottobre 31, 2016

La sfilata delle scienze

Questa sfilata ha quattro stilisti che sono persone famose delle scienze - Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, e Jane Goodall. Dottor Richard Feynman e Dottoressa Laura Bassi discutono le tendenze di ogni stilista.

Feynman: Benvenuti alla sfilata delle scienze!

Bassi: Sì! Il nostro primo stilista è Newton. Il suo modello mette una bella maglia con una fantasia di mele rosse. Ha una sciarpa verde e i pantaloni bianchi. Tutti i tessuti sono fatti della lana.

F: Dici bella, dico brutta. La mela dal albero è una storia, non è vero che Newton scopri gravità con una mela. Cucirebbe uno smoking con tessuto colorato e occhiali da sole per la sua idea della luce.

B: D’accordo. Però gli smoking non sempre sono della moda.

F: Sì. È molto fuori moda. La nostra prossima stilista è Curie. Amo Curie perchè è una brava persona. Ha fatto un bel vestito da sera, con i gioielli e gli orecchini che sono fatti con un elemento radioattivo. Illuminano a notte!

B: È pericoloso, no?

F: Sì! Molto pericoloso, ma molto forte!

Bassi guarda Feynman. Sembra che Feynman si vergogni. Si scusa.

F: Mia colpa. Bambini, non mettete elementi radioattivi o potete mettere elementi radioattivi con guanti e un costume di sicurezza! Sicurezza è di moda!

B: Eh, va bene. Il nostro terzo stilista è Einstein. Che si mette? Si mette un costume da bagno.

F: Sì. È buon modello, comodo, non di moda.

B: E si mette molti orologi! Ci sono orologi sulle gambe, sulle braccia, e sulle dita! Mamma mia, c’è un orologio nei grandi capelli! È un’uomo strano!

F: Anch’io.

Bassi guarda Feynman di nuovo. Feynman non capisce. Bassi prosegue.

B: C’è solo un accessorio che non è orologio. È una farfalla a righe con i colori arancione e nero, i colori della sua università, Princeton.

F: Ora, la nostra ultima stilista. Goodall è una dottoressa di biologia, ma tutti gli stilisti, Lei, e io siamo dottori di fisica.

B: Non è vero. Curie studiava più chimica che fisica e io studiavo biologia per anni.

F: Sì, e anch’io ho lavorato nel laboratorio di biologia per un’estate. Comunque, il modello di Goodall è anche comodo. Si mette stivali di campeggio e un’impermeabile. Il tessuto è ‘eco’ e la fantasia verde è perfetto nei alberi. Questo vestito è molto utile.

B: Quali vestiti erano bellissimi?

F: Mi piace Einstein o Curie. Non hanno paura di elementi tempo o radioattivo.

B: D’accordo, pero mi piace Newton anche.

F: Amiamo Newton, ma non ci piace il suo modello.

B: Sì. E ho voglia di vedere più fisica relativa che fisica classica, ma non mi piace il modello informale di Einstein.

F: No?

B: Non è di moda e nessuna persona metterebbe il modello in pubblica. È solo di moda a spiaggia.

F: Mi metterei alla mia università.

Bassi ride.

B: Va bene. È il tuo modello. Mi piacciono i modelli di Curie e Goodall. I vestiti de Curie sono di lusso, ma pericolosi. I vestiti di Goodall sono utili, di moda, e comodi.

F: D’accordo, ma Curie è la stilista migliore, perchè scopre un nuovo elemento e comincia una nuova tendenza.

B: Sì. Assegnale due premi Nobel.

F: Va bene. Ascoltate per la prossima sfilata dove vediamo Ada Lovelace e il suo vestito con la fantasia del codice binario, che fa di uno e zero, Stephen Hawking e il suo smoking con buchi neri, Rosalind Franklin e una sciarpa e i gioielli del DNA, e finalmente Charles Darwin e il suo abito colorato nel modello di evoluzione. Arrivederci!

B: Arrivederci!



First essay (for first year Italian)

The Science Fashion Show

This fashion show has four designer who are famous scientists - Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Jane Goodall. Dr. Richard Feynman and Dr. Laura Bassi discuss the trends of each designer.

Feynman: Welcome to the science fashion show!

Bassi: Yea! Our first scientist is Newton. His model is wearing a beautiful sweater with a design of red apple. He has a green scarf and white pants. All of the fabrics are made of wool.

F: You say beautiful, I say ugly. The apple from the tree is just a story; it is not true that Newton discovered gravity with an apple. He should sew a colorful tuxedo and sunglasses for his idea of lights.

B: I agree, but a tuxedo is not always in fashion.

F: Yes. It is very old-fashioned. Our next designer is Curie. I love Curie because she is a brave or good person. She made a beautiful evening gown, with jewelry and earrings that are made with a radioactive element. They glow at night!

B: That's dangerous, isn't it?

F: Yes! Very dangerous, but very cool!

Bassi looked at Feynman. It seems that Feynman is ashamed. He apologizes.
F: My fault. Kids, do not wear radioactive element or you can wear radioactive element with gloves and a safety suit! Safety is in fashion!

B: Eh, okay. Our third designer is Einstein. What is he wearing? He's wearing a swimming suit.

F: Yes. It is a good style, comfortable, not fashionable.

B: And he is wearing a lot of clocks! There are clocks on the legs, the arms, and the fingers! Mamma mia, there is a clock in the big hair! He is a strange man!

F: Me too.

Bassi looked at Feynman again. Feynman does not understand. Bassi continues.
B: There is only one accessory that is not a clock. There is a striped scarf with the colors orange and black, the colors of his university, Princeton.

F: Now, our final designer. Goodall is a doctor of biology, but all of the other designers, you, and I are doctors of physics.

B: That is not true. Curie studies more chemistry than physics and I studied biology for a year.

F: Yes, and I also worked in a biology laboratory for a summer. Anyway, the style of Goodall is also comfortable. She wears camping boots and a raincoat. The fabric is eco-friendly and the green design is perfect in forests. This outfit is very useful.

B: Which outfit was the greatest?

F: I like Einstein or Curie. I do not fear elements of time or radiation.

B: I agree, but I also like Newton.

F: We love Newton, but we do not like his style.

B: Yes. And I want to see more relative physics than classical physics, but I did not like the informal style of Einstein.

F: No?

B: It is not fashionable and no one would wear that style in public. It is only stylish at a beach.

F: I would wear it to my university.

Bassi laughs.

B: That's okay. It is your style. I like the style of Curie and Goodall. The clothes of Curie are luxurious, but dangerous. The clothes of Goodall are useful, fashionable, and comfortable.

F: I agree, but Curie is the better designer, because she discovered a new element and started a new trend.

B: Yes. Give her two Nobel prize.

F: That's fine. Listen for the next fashion show where we will see Ada Lovelace and her dress with a binary code design, that is made of one and zero, Stephen Hawking and his tuxedo with black holes, Rosalind Franklin and a scarf and jewelry of DNA, and finally Charles Darwin and his colorful suit in the fashion of evolution. Goodbye!

B: Goodbye!