Dear Sophomore Year,
I learned so much this year from you. I learned that the shuttle from the Quad is pretty great, except when it’s the 8:50 or 9:50 one, cramped with angry sleepy students trying to get to class on time. As Game of Thrones predicted, winter came and stayed, and I realized that New England actually only has two seasons: a 9-month long winter and a 3-month short summer. I experienced that first-hand that CS50 does take a lot of time and that taking four problem-set classes on top of an architecture history seminar does indeed mean four problem sets and a bunch reading every single week. After about three different jobs, I decided that working in the Fine Arts Library is the best way to pay for all the little and not-so-little expenses. Sophomore Year, you showed me that not going home and seeing my beautiful little sisters over winter break does really suck. You also taught me that making a promise to my roommates that I will not have a boyfriend until junior year was rather unrealistic.
Life got real. Well, the Harvard Bubble got a tiny bit thinner: life became a tiny bit more real. Resumes. Internships. Interviews. I learned that business casual unfortunately does mean having to give up on crazy pants with awesome patterns matched with colorful rings from Istanbul. My e-mail writing skills increased from over-thinking every single thing, afraid of how the recipient will think of me, to creating well-crafted professional e-mails in a minute, and clicking ‘send’ confidently–even if it was to someone amazing and powerful. (To be honest, I really should have learned that freshman year). Architecture and I are finally in a committed relationship: I know that this is what I want to and have to do with my future.
I learned so much. However, the single most important lesson you have taught me, dear Sophomore Year, is that my expectations for an amazing college experience should only be defined by me. Last year, I spent too much time worrying about what others think. For example, if I did not want to go out a weekend, I thought my roommates and friends would think I’m not fun to be around. I spent too much time thinking about the stereotypical, over-the-line, crazy college experience that American movies portray. While writing this down sounds perhaps a little pathetic, I know that many of us feel similar. Although if asked, I would’ve always known this, but this year, I finally really came to understand that people are fun, smart, and exciting in different ways. What is important is what makes each of us happy, and it’s completely okay if these are different from what we expected from movies. That doesn’t make any of us lame or weird. Four years at Harvard really cannot be a stereotypical college experience for any of us, after all.
I guess you were an extremely beautiful, helpful, but hard and tiring year, Sophomore Year. Thanks for everything!
Anna