Tag: Farewell

Farewell: A Final Reflection of My First Year of College

Farewell: A Final Reflection of My First Year of College

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When I was looking for schools, I thought about my future, what kind of person I would become, how I could possibly fit in with everyone, and if the prestige and academic standards were too high for me. Nonetheless, I went with my guts and chose to attend Loyola. Still to this day, I have no regrets about that decision.

From the very beginning, every new student was required to go to an 2-day and 1-overnight stay at Loyola. Even then, I was incredibly nervous. I knew nobody and my social skills weren’t so good. Plus, I have never been in a dorm before nor have I slept elsewhere besides my own room. Anyways, on the first day of orientation, I was put into a small group of 10 other students and to this day, I still know 5 of them very well. We are close friends! That evening, night, and next day flew by so quickly because I had people to talk to which made everything else much more bearable for me.

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When school started, I had to adjust to extended school hours (some classes ended at 3:46PM and others at 5:30pm for me). With that, I had to learn how to use my free time wisely. Never in my life did I have so much independence. I used my free time for getting school work completed, visiting teachers during their office hours, going to mass, eating outside in the quad, and more.

Commuting! Especially for commuters, things can and will get rough and challenging. Weather conditions can get in the way (mostly in the winter) and because you live at home, there are home obligations in addition to the academic obligations.  If you would like to know more about this, I have two blog posts on my commuting experiences on my page.

From January onward, I hit a personal barrier. A family situation had come up and it affected my academic performance and physical and emotional state. Despite that, I sought out help through my academic advisor, psychologist from the Wellness Center, Dean of Students, and Financial Aid Director. I am happy to say that things are slowly getting better for me and hopefully by the start of fall semester, I will be completely up on my feet and ready to start anew.

Throughout the school year, I was a part of the American Medical Student Association, Vietnamese American Student Association, and Off-Campus Commuter Life group. It helped get me active within the Loyola community and along the way, I made more friends! I plan to continue joining all these groups next school year in addition to A.C.E., a group that pertains to students of low-income, first-generation, and more.

As I conclude this final blog post of this school year, I want to thank all of you readers for wanting to read my blog posts and go through my Loyola journey. Also, hopefully you had the opportunity to learn more about me, my hobbies and interests, and more. It was a privilege to blog and represent Loyola and I hope I have the wonderful opportunity to resume Rambler’s Pie: A Fresh Slice of Loyola starting next semester.

All the best,

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Chris

(being eaten by a dinosaur at Loyola’s Scholars Night at the Field Museum)

Winter Break Farewell

Winter Break Farewell

From previous school years (in high school and grade school), my winter breaks only lasted about two weeks. This is the first time that I have been able to have a winter break that is a month long. The best part about this break is that, unlike some high schools and all grade schools, I start new semesters with brand new classes which mean that I do not get follow-up assignments to complete during break. With all that being said, it may seem that my time off of school was full of leisure— quite the contrary.

Most weekdays, I looked after my younger brother while my mother went to work. I would read a lot of books with him and occasionally, bake a ton of delectable cookies, and watch movies for the majority of the day. On the weekends, I would help her around the house by cooking and cleaning and sometimes I would go with her to go Christmas shopping for presents to give to others. This week, I am taking and picking up my brother from school via the train and I must say, I feel like a parent and I enjoy it- sending my little brother off to school, talking to his teacher, conversing with parents, and arranging play dates. Unfortunately I was not able to read many books on my list and had to deny some hang-out sessions with old friends because of my busy schedule.

Anyways, I am happy that winter break is almost concluding and I look forward to coming back to Loyola on a daily basis to see my good friends, learn many new topics, and go through the hectic but interesting life of commuting.

With that said (in advance), I bid winter break a good farewell!