Skip to main content

Moving Back into Soka

The view from my new dorm room's window. There are three tall, groomed cypress trees placed at intervals along the photo. In the background, there are tan residence halls with prominent windows. It is a bright, sunny day.

Hello!

I am writing this blog post from my very cluttered new dorm room. My plan for September is to blog at least 3 times/week, but any consistent post schedule I had planned has been foiled by the chaos of moving back into Soka. I think we'll try Wednesday/Friday/Sunday, and then regroup if that plan is unsuccessful.

This is a video of all of the boxes, clutter, and genuine chaos that made up my room yesterday afternoon. Since then, I have made some progress on cleaning/unpacking, but much of that progress has been a result of shoving most of my stuff in my shelving unit.

Despite the stress of returning to school/setting up my room again/unpacking all of my stuff, I am so glad to be back! On study abroad, I often found myself wishing that I had my old life back. When I returned, it was a little weird to be gone for the summer rather than going back to Soka and seeing all of my friends.

Going to a university where study abroad is required for all students is a bit strange. Here is a timeline of my Soka experience:

  • First year: Make a few friends. Feel a little displaced and uncomfortable.
  • Second year: Make many friends! Become more confident and secure in friendships.
  • Third year, first semester: Some of your friends have graduated, and others are on study abroad. Strengthen friendships with the people that remain. Try to restructure your social circles to fill the spaces your old friends have left.
  • Third year, second semester: Go on study abroad. Most of your friends are at Soka, without you. Spend time with people in your study abroad program, and try to keep in touch with old friends.
  • Fourth year, first 24 hours: Congratulations! You have returned to Soka! Your graduating class is all together! Also, remember those people that you bonded with last year to fill the abyss left by friends who are gone? A lot of them are on study abroad now. And, remember, you have only one year left before you have to start making friends all over again.
Anyway, it feels so good to be back to my old life. I was talking to one of my friends yesterday about how study abroad is such a transformative experience in many ways, and how strange it feels to return to the same life that I had pre-study-abroad. Like, I have gone from figuring out how to communicate in a different language and having access to the independence that public transportation provides to living in the young-person equivalent of a retirement home* and only having access to businesses within a 5-mile radius of the university.

Hopefully, my productivity and work ethic will conspire to make it possible for me to post again on Friday. Until then, I wish you all the best.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Grouchiest Blog Post

Hello! This post is literally just Grumpy Lydia complaining. If that sounds miserable, congratulations! You have my full permission to click away now. If that sounds like something you wouldn't mind reading, please enjoy and/or suffer through this list of Lydia's Miseries. I was on vacation in Italy all last week, which means that there are many lingering tasks that have not been completed. My flight was delayed on Monday, which means that I missed class, which has led to me being even more behind.  Housing selection was yesterday, and I am trying to force myself to come to terms with the fact that I'm pretty much definitely going to be living alone next year, which will contribute to my depression next year and makes me feel lonely in the present. There are just, like, a lot of lingering thoughts that I cannot find the words to write about.  It is cold and wet and sad outside, which means that a Self-Imposed Walk to Help With Lingering Sadness would probably jus
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends, I'm Trying to Keep In Touch

Hello, friends! I feel like the only thing worse than spending 85% of your life on social media is talking constantly about the fact that you are no longer spending 85% of your life on social media. However, I must explain that, since deciding to take a break from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, I have realized that those platforms allowed me to have a sense of social connection without much actual social connection. It is easy to feel connected to someone when you see the mundane details of their existence on Instagram Stories, watch them have mental breakdowns on Twitter, and read the articles they share on Facebook. Without those sources of information on my friends' lives, I began to realize that I hadn't actually been talking to that many people. Despite interacting with friends on Twitter, responding to their Instagram stories, and participating in conversations in Soka's sketch comedy club's group chat, I wasn't spending much time cultivating my friendship
Post a Comment
Read more

Reviewing My August 2019 Goals

This is an image of my desk during Fall Semester 2018. On the right side of the photo, there is a vintage Singer sewing machine which, unfortunately, does not work. To the left of the sewing machine, there is a crate books inside. On top of the crate, there is a stack of Rookie Yearbooks with a crocheted jellyfish (wearing glasses) on top of it, and a picture frame containing a print that reads "all the time". To the left of the crate, there are a few more books. In lieu of a proper bookend, I have placed a tarot deck (stored in a black makeup bag) and a book-themed Halloween decoration (featuring book spines with the words "Potions", "Hexes", and "Spells") to keep my books from toppling over. I chose this photograph because, unlike my current desk, this desk looks like it belongs to someone who creates monthly goals. Hello! At the start of this month, I made a list of goals. As September 1 draws near, I am l
Post a Comment
Read more