Tag Archives: school

Adult Responsibilities, USC

Five Lessons from My First Semester at USC

By Sarah Ta

My first semester at USC was a complete roller coaster. There were a lot of ups and downs, but through that crazy adventure, I learned a lot of life lessons. I’m sure I will learn more as I continue to study here at USC, but as of right now, here are the five most important lessons I learned during the first four months of my college career.

Go to USC events.

In high school, it was uncool to go to events planned by the school, but it’s different in college. For one, you’re actually paying to attend college, while public high school has free tuition. USC has different programs such as Visions and Voices, Cardinal and Gold, and Late Night ‘SC that offer free events. Visions and Voices focuses on enriching the student experience with art and performances from renowned artists. Cardinal and Gold offer trips (that are paid for!) to explore LA and get to know more about the culture. Late Night ‘SC usually offer events on Friday nights as an alternative to going out to parties. So next time you see a flyer for a USC event, don’t hesitate to invite a few friends to RSVP with you. There’s really no reason for you not to go, so take that time to relax and hang out with some friends!

Photo by Stephanie Asher on Flickr

Make a strict homework schedule and stick to it.

There will be times where you will not want to do homework, and if you’re anything like me, that time will probably come around the second week of school. If you already have a good schedule, great! Stick to that and make sure to not give in to the temptations of watching baby animal videos on YouTube. If you haven’t already, make a schedule ASAP! I made the mistake of thinking I didn’t need a schedule, but if you’re not great at motivating yourself to do work (like me), then it might be a good idea to set aside certain hours to just focus on doing homework.

Photo from NeedPix

Don’t skip meals, but don’t overeat either.

Every talk you’ve ever heard about the Freshman 15 is real. This is especially true at USC because of the unlimited meal plan all freshmen are required to have. Not only do we have unlimited swipes, all the dining halls are served buffet style, which makes it easy to overeat. With so many choices, my friends and I would usually end up eating several plates of food, only to regret it later. I also skipped a lot of meals in order to finish up assignments (which is not something I recommend), so my eating schedule was all over the place. Long story short, skipping meals and then overeating later is extremely unhealthy, so try to make time for three balanced meals throughout the day. Your body will thank you.

Photo from Pexels

Whatever you do, don’t wait till the last minute.

The first semester of college is an exciting time of your life, and it’s easy to place priority on other things besides schoolwork. I mean, no one actually wants to do homework on a Friday night. However, if you have paper due Sunday night, don’t think that it’ll be a good idea to do it Sunday after a weekend of hanging out with friends. You will be exhausted and while you might be able to turn it in on time, it will probably be something that you are not proud of. Doing things last minute can quickly become a habit, and when you end up having multiple assignments due on the same night, trying to finish all of them will be a nightmare. So, save yourself the pain and start on your assignments earlier.

Photo from Pexels

Get into a habit of making your bed.

This last piece of advice might be the strangest and the simplest one, but it’s a good habit to get into. Making your bed only takes about two minutes in the morning, but it plays such a huge role in how your room looks and feels. The bed is the largest piece of furniture in the room, so making your bed can immediately “clean up” a large part of your room. Even if the rest of your room is a little messy, the mess will seem less overwhelming thanks to your bed. There’s also just something really comforting about crawling into a neatly made bed at the end of the day. Do your future-self a favor and make your bed in the morning.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Transitioning into college can be a complicated process, but take your time and go with the flow. I wish you the best of luck with your college career, and may your roller coaster have more ups than downs.

Photo from Pixabay

Featured image from USC Libraries Website

Sarah is an undergraduate student from the San Gabriel Valley studying GeoDesign. In her free time, she enjoys reading, exploring L.A., trying new foods, and of course, meeting new people. She can speak conversational Cantonese, and is currently learning Mandarin. Even though her Chinese is limited, that doesn’t stop her from striking up a conversation with other international students.

New Experience, Outlook, USC

Fight ON!

By Jennifer Sung

The moment I stepped foot onto our campus, three things stood out in bright Cardinal and Gold colors: anticipation, ambition, and anxiety. From day one, freshmen students are dropped into a rabbit hole filled with many other competitive and goal-driven individuals who’ve come to college prepared and ready to foremost play hard and of course, study hard. However, amongst the crowd, I felt different about college. As a first generation Korean American, born and raised in Los Angeles, going to a prestige university was a privilege: a dream come true.

However, with no schooling experience in my familial background, I struggled a bit on knowing what I wanted from my college experience. My cultural background roots deeply within South Korean and Argentinian culture, for my parents were both born in South Korea but then immigrated to Argentina at elementary school age. As a lower-class family , my parents managed to support and care for me and my younger sister, pushing us to strive for more, even though we had so little. They always reminded us to FIGHT ON! Unlike the stereotypical Asian American household, where the motto is “To be a doctor or not to be a lawyer”, my parents were different. By giving us the freedom and the right amount of push a child needs to strive for her goals, my parents helped shape us into what we truly wanted to be.

So, college was the trial and error stage of my life– where I once was the puppet of the scene, I am now the puppeteer of my play. In freshmen year, the ambitious part of me wanted more friends, more attention, more academic success, and mostly more sleep. To live up to the motto to “FIGHT ON”, I strove to join many organizations and jobs to widen my options for the perfect community and lifestyle I yearned for. For example, I joined APASA PEER, CIRCLE, Asian American Tutorial Project, KCCC, AABA, Circle K International, and TAO, along with holding three jobs. By the mid point of my first semester, I had so many responsibilities, socials to attend, people to meet, and basically the “more” I was searching for. However, one evening, a depressing wave of realization swooped over me to acknowledge that I was still on base one. I sheepishly followed my peer group, joining organizations and becoming socially immersed in the people around me, without noticing my self, deteriorating and crippling in lack of self-love and respect. The anticipation of going to college heightened my need to be more ambitious and thus, pushed me to a state of discontent.

In my sophomore year, I cut out less important organizations and focused on organizations and jobs that I actually enjoy and are beneficial to my future aspirations. All my effort went into my academics, research for psychology, AATP (Asian American Tutorial Project), and CKI (Circle K International). Later that year, I was surrounded by the community that I was desperately in search for. Instead of actively and aimlessly searching for a community of friends, I strived to find what my passion lied in: education, community service, and psychology.

Featured image from Wikipedia

Continue reading Fight ON! →

Outlook, USC

But First, Take a Breath

By Yoko Fukumura

It’s finals season. Or it’s application season. Maybe it’s your first semester at college. Maybe it’s your last semester of school before you head off to the world.

No matter where you are in life, most of the time you probably have something big on your mind. And it’s not a bad thing – it means that you’re working hard and pushing yourself! But as important as it is to succeed and reach towards your goals, it is equally, if not more, important to be in tune with your mind and body.

As young adults sometimes we feel invincible. We think that we can eat cereal and instant noodles for weeks and pull all-nighters because self care can wait, but the test tomorrow will not wait. I’m also guilty of this and I can attest that this is false – I’ve done better when I prioritized eating and sleeping over studying on the last day. Even if our overworked immune system makes up for all the unhealthy choices momentarily, our physical and mental health might be taking a toll that ultimately affects your studies and future.

Doing well in school is not irrelevant, but your health will decide whether you do well, in school and after. These are a couple small things that I have found helpful along the way that don’t take up too much time.

First, you need to get to know yourself. If you don’t know your limits, it’s hard to plan ahead or know when to stop. We commend hard work, but we can’t keep working hard if we don’t know our limits. Writing a daily journal entry is one simple way to get to know yourself better, and it makes you tune in to your self at least briefly every day. If a blank paper isn’t enough structure for you, you could also get “Q&A a Day” at a bookstore or on Amazon.

Another big one for me was picking up an activity to do fairly consistently. In school, we have multiple deadlines and exams that have hard set dates and limited flexibility, but your hobbies and exercise are flexible. I try to exercise every day – nothing big, anything from ten minutes to thirty minutes on weekdays so that I don’t intimidate myself out of it. When I’m busy I can skip it without feeling guilty – it’s almost like tricking your mind and body so that when you have less time, you have surplus energy. One of the great resources of USC is the Recreational Sports program. There are many affordable fitness programs, from yoga and mindfulness to kickboxing. If you find group classes intimidating, there are 1-on-1 personal training and private session pilates/yoga as well. You can find more about the options here: https://sait.usc.edu/recsports/

Lastly, the easiest to do but also the easiest to forget, is to take deep breaths. Diaphragmatic breathing involves using the muscle between your lungs and abdominal area to breathe deeply (this youtube link explains and helps visualize the diaphragm), and one of our automatic reactions to stress is to take shallow breaths. Deep breathing has many lasting physiological effects, including inhibiting your body’s stress response. Stress affects not just your mind but your whole body, and too much of it can cause long term effects such as memory issues, high blood pressure, and migraines, among others. Breathing can be done anywhere – during class, on a bus, in your bed. It only takes a second, but you could feel better for the entire day, which affects your next day, week, and semester.

Your test tomorrow is important. But first, take a breath.

Featured image from Pixabay

Yoko is a 1st year graduate student in USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. She is originally from Boston, Massachusetts where she studied piano performance at New England Conservatory of Music. Born to Japanese immigrant parents, Yoko is very familiar with both the challenges and beauties of cultural diversity. She is also an expert collaborator and teacher from her experience teaching piano and performing in ensembles.