Sabrina Shao's 3rd Blog Post
Who am I? That depends on where I am and who I am with. Back home, my friends call me the weirdest names like Sabibi and Sabbath (pronounced Sa-bath). They know me as an expert procrastinator who somehow managed to bullshit her way through high school and actually end up pretty decent. Here at Northeastern, my friends call me Sabby or Sabrina and they think of me as a goofy person who has successfully figured out how to cram 12 hours of television, 12 hours of homework and 12 hours of sleep into one day (and yes, I am aware that added together, that is more than the regular 24 hour day but that is the point). The truth is that I am a mix of all these perspectives of me and more. The “and more” part is where things get more complicated. Some aspects of the “and more” part, I do know, but other parts, a complete mystery to me that I am still trying to figure it out.
Approximately one year ago, I didn’t know who I was when I applied to Northeastern which is why I applied under a health science major. I thought that declaring such a broad major would allow me to take all the basic classes and figure out what I liked. Since then, I have discovered more things about myself which is why I am adding to my major. I still have yet to fully figure out who I am but I think that coming to college has really helped. It probably has something to do with being stranded in a foreign country with a bunch of people who don’t speak your language, a bunch of people who do speak your language but look like they are already best friends and a bunch of drunk people who think its funny to scare the Americans riding an electric scooter. That whole experience really did help me learn some new things about myself.
College is a place where you can discover yourself outside of your comfort zone. This is not the only reason that I have come to college. Obviously, I’m here because I want a degree and be successful but I also want to know more about myself. Besides the fact that I can binge watch tv all day and procrastinate well and that I kind of like science (not so much now after taking 2 semesters of only science courses), I don’t know all that much about myself. I don’t know what to do with myself in the future but coming to college is starting to change that a little. I am starting to figure it out a little more, even though this is a very slow process. Being back home, it was really hard to learn about myself when I was constantly surrounded by the same people everyday doing the same routine. Even though my senior year was a little change of pace because I decided to go back to the same high school as a boarding student instead of a day student, I was still with the same people that I’ve been with since freshman year or 7th grade. It was still a little change and I did learn some new things about myself but overall, it was still kind of the same. But going to Greece and coming to Northeastern, I was thrown into a new environment with a bunch of people that I have never met before and this really opened my eyes. I had to go into survival mode and actually start talking to random strangers without any support from my friends and that was always tough. So to answer the question of who am I and what am I doing here, my response is that I don’t really know who I am but I think that by being here, I am about to find out.
Approximately one year ago, I didn’t know who I was when I applied to Northeastern which is why I applied under a health science major. I thought that declaring such a broad major would allow me to take all the basic classes and figure out what I liked. Since then, I have discovered more things about myself which is why I am adding to my major. I still have yet to fully figure out who I am but I think that coming to college has really helped. It probably has something to do with being stranded in a foreign country with a bunch of people who don’t speak your language, a bunch of people who do speak your language but look like they are already best friends and a bunch of drunk people who think its funny to scare the Americans riding an electric scooter. That whole experience really did help me learn some new things about myself.
College is a place where you can discover yourself outside of your comfort zone. This is not the only reason that I have come to college. Obviously, I’m here because I want a degree and be successful but I also want to know more about myself. Besides the fact that I can binge watch tv all day and procrastinate well and that I kind of like science (not so much now after taking 2 semesters of only science courses), I don’t know all that much about myself. I don’t know what to do with myself in the future but coming to college is starting to change that a little. I am starting to figure it out a little more, even though this is a very slow process. Being back home, it was really hard to learn about myself when I was constantly surrounded by the same people everyday doing the same routine. Even though my senior year was a little change of pace because I decided to go back to the same high school as a boarding student instead of a day student, I was still with the same people that I’ve been with since freshman year or 7th grade. It was still a little change and I did learn some new things about myself but overall, it was still kind of the same. But going to Greece and coming to Northeastern, I was thrown into a new environment with a bunch of people that I have never met before and this really opened my eyes. I had to go into survival mode and actually start talking to random strangers without any support from my friends and that was always tough. So to answer the question of who am I and what am I doing here, my response is that I don’t really know who I am but I think that by being here, I am about to find out.
I really like how you stress the idea of not knowing who you are (I talk a little bit about that too). I just think so many people want to think they know who they are and what makes them them but I actually wonder how many people actually know. Especially at this point I feel like it is easy to talk about your background and how you got here, but in such a period of redefining yourself in a new environment the odds of someone knowing who they truly are is doubtful (although not impossible). I am not saying that in a bad way because in the long run, life is about discovering what you like and choose to do. So I feel like who you are can only be a continual definition and never a solid because everyone is always changing in life.
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