Ideas, Double Majors, and Snow: Winter Quarter 2021

The sun is shining outside and spring is finally here...the dark days of winter are over! It's disappointing to miss the blooming cherry blossoms in the Quad this year while the pandemic rages on, but I'm so grateful for the time I'm getting to spend with my family while living at home. In some ways, it has been nice to spend my first year of college at home, taking online classes, because it has given me the chance to get used to college-level academics without having to worry about adjusting to the rest of the college experience just yet.

During an office hour conversation, I was surprised when one of my professors asked me what ideas I was interested in. Ideas? I had never been asked that before and it took me a moment to think about it. It finally came out in a rush--I'm interested in storytelling and language and words, I said. It wasn't the most coherent answer, but it was definitely the beginning of one.

This quarter I wrestled both with ideas that resonated with me and ideas that challenged me. One was the idea that literature provides a window into cultural understanding--that books and stories about the human condition are a way to communicate lived experiences to others and bridge divides of nationality, language, and background. I started hearing and exploring this idea in several different places, from a student-organized Digital Humanities Day event where I heard several professionals with humanities degrees talk about their careers and perspectives to course readings to conversations with my advisers about majoring in English or potentially Comparative Literature. I have been trying to convince myself that an English degree IS actually worthwhile and will teach me something useful for the real world--and now I'm actually starting to see why. After maneuvering my schedule in MyPlan, I think I'm ready to plan for a double major in English and Linguistics, and minor in Korean (if not triple major--it depends on how much I may be able to get credit for while studying abroad, Lord willing!).

On the flip side, I also found myself challenged by all the things in mainstream culture and news right now--social justice and the issue of racism; climate change; the 2020 presidential election. Trying to figure out what I believe as a Christian and whose side I might be on has been an ongoing struggle, and it has been so good to have these deeper conversations with my parents and other trusted friends in my life who have helped me work through these big questions from a biblical perspective.

A few notes on the rest of the quarter--a beautiful load of snow and many wonderful conversations with professors and TAs, nervously reaching out to some close elementary friends via social media and finding that they still remember me with kind thoughts, and laughing my stress away with my younger siblings in the precious few minutes we have brushing our teeth together at night. Also getting an average of 4-6 hours of sleep a night, eating breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner at my desk while scrambling to get more work done, and squeezing in a walk through my neighborhood a few times a week. But I held on! And I'm ready for spring!