Hi, my fellow Anteaters! My name is Mia Dimalanta and I’m currently dorming at UCI! I plan to double major in Biomedical Engineering and a language! An interesting fact about me is one of the nicknames I had in school was “Starfish” because my finger grew back after it was cut off by a seesaw. I know, crazy right?
The first two weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions especially because I am dorming. The moment I realized I was in my room with boxes surrounding me did I realize that I was completely alone…and very homesick. Since quarantine started, I was never alone; my family was always with me and because of that, I became more and more of a family person. I didn’t know if I was ready to be on my own and in a year where everything is virtual, it makes it harder to make friends. It took a while, but I overcame these feelings eventually by realizing that my suitemates felt the same. If anyone else feels this way, I understand how you feel and I know it’s hard, but remember that you are not really alone; someone else is feeling the exact same thing.
Doing classes virtually is definitely not how I imagined my first year of college turning out, but it’s important to look on the bright side in times like these! Taking classes remotely allows more flexibility in our schedules and permits us to be more independent in our decisions. I know there are times when you become unmotivated to work and that’s okay! It’s totally fine and justified. A tip that I learned is the 20/20/20 rule: Every twenty minutes or so, take twenty seconds to stare at something at least twenty feet away. It also helps me to alleviate some of my stress when I mediate or when I journal so please give it a try if you ever feel discouraged!
On a funny note, one of my suitemates got locked out of her room twice already and it’s only the second week! Both times I walked her to the mailroom and back because it was late at night and I didn’t want her to walk alone, but we were just laughing the entire time. Isn’t that the funniest thing?
Thanks for reading my post and I hope you have a great day!