Random thoughts... a lot of them

Posted by Sini

I can't believe I made it through this semester. I only have one lousy music dictation test left. On Friday at 3.30 pm me and fall semester 2008 will be officially over!

The past four months have been, well, an experience. This has been the best, the funniest, and the most wonderful time of my life, but also the hardest, the busiest, and the most challenging. I have laughed, cried, studied, partied, loved, hated, and everything possible in between. But most importantly I have learned a ton.

Here are a few things I’ve learned during my first semester (just a fair warning, most of these don’t have anything to do with academic stuff and they are in random order):

Nothing in this country is free.
In Finland I was able to enjoy the social health care and the schooling funded by government. Tuition doesn't exist, books are a lot cheaper, medicines and hospital care are basically free, etc. It was a shock when I found out how much my books cost, or that School of Music didn't provide a pianist free of charge. I almost got a heart attack when I went to buy insulin for my diabetes care. It was 100 times more (literally) than what I pay in Finland. Brutal.

Hi and how are you go together.
In school they taught me that you greet people by saying hi, hello, or something equivalent. Soon after I got here I learned that the beautiful, little, and always-so-sincere question “How are you?” is an inseparable part of the greeting. This is something you don't say in Finnish. So at first I was really confused why the same people kept asking me how I am, every time they saw me, many times a day. And often they didn’t even hear or care to hear my answer, which anyway would've been just good. However, I learned to love this habit. It's so nice and friendly, even though the people wouldn't really care how you are doing. And finally, I have also started using this polite, American, “Hi, how are you?” phrase instead of the simple but cold greeting they taught me in school.

Everybody and everything at BYU isn't perfect.
I have to admit it was naive and stupid to think this would be some sort of a perfect place. I guess I never really thought so; it was more of a dream, maybe. And I'm not saying I don't like it here. I really love it. But the happy valley has its own problems, and you can't just blindly trust everyone. It's been amazing to be around so many Church members. That's what I love the most. For the first time in my life I can really be myself and be with people who share my beliefs and values. I don't need to explain who and what I am in every single occasion. But when pretty much everybody is a member of the Church it also has some side effects.

In Finland you're either very active or don't go to church at all. We don't have the people in the middle--the people who kind of believe and sometimes go to sacrament meetings and kind of keep the commandments, at least the easy ones. In Finland you’re either in or out.

So, I thought in Utah almost everybody would be strong and one of those people that are really in. It was eye-opening, and a little disappointing to realize how many just hang out in the middle. I thought living here would be very easy, Church wise. And in some ways it is. What makes it hard, though, are all those people in the middle. I learned that, sad as it is, being a Church member doesn't always guarantee anything. You can't just blindly trust everyone to be good.

Sleep and college don’t belong together.
I don't understand how I'm able to function with about five hours of sleep every night, but somehow I am. I guess my body has just got used to the constant lack of sleep, and nowadays six hours is luxurious. It's kind of sad and scary. But when you have so much to do, especially so many fun things, you can very well sacrifice a few hours of sleep . . . I don’t want to miss out on all of the fun, crazy, or sometimes even serious stuff that’s going around. And I also have studying to do, believe it or not. And anyways, who needs sleep….?

There's a difference between what you ought to do and what you really have to do.
Probably the most important thing for your academic success, as well as life in general, is to figure out what you really need to do in order to do well in your classes. The fact is that there's not enough time to do everything your professors would have you do. I tried it in the beginning of this semester, and it did not work out. You just need to find out what's absolutely crucial and essential, and then leave everything else out. Much less work and you can still get As (speaking from personal experience), plus that there's a lot more time to party . . .

You can make guys do almost anything if you feed them well.
I have applied this truth very well this semester. Just one example: I made my FHE boys dance a Finnish folk song in our ward's variety show by threatening to dump the delicious cake I made. It worked out so well. They didn't even complain.

The things you don’t plan beforehand turn out to be the best.
My life is very random, most of the time. Call me crazy, weirdo, or wacko if you want. You are pretty close to the truth. What I'm trying to say is that I just like to do stuff from the spur of the moment, just go with the flow. We, my roommates, friends, and I, have had dance parties in and outside, at night and in the middle of the day, late night IHOP runs, baking parties, belly painting, temple trips, last minute Creamery shopping, food fights, wrestling matches, sleepovers, etc. I love the randomness of my life. It's so unpredictable; you never know what's going to happen the next moment.

Love it.
Everything is a lot nicer when you love it. I love school, I love living in America, I love my roommates, I love my friends, I love the gospel, I love my family, I live my violin (I named it Johnny boy, so it's a lot more loveable now), I love having fun, I love studying in the library, I love cooking, I love eating, I love staying up late, I love the next day when I'm so tired I fall asleep in the class, I love cleaning checks (bath tub is my favorite), I love all those awkward dates, I love hanging out with my friends, I love when they hug me, I love when they get mad at me, I love when we cry and laugh together . . . I just love my college experience so far. It's been crazy, exhausting, and stressing but at the same time it's been just simply awesome. College is perfect just the way it is. Even the unpleasant things turn out to be enjoyable when you just decide to love them. I wouldn't change a single moment during this semester. I simply LOVE IT.