In the past year, I moved for the first time out of the nest I call Oxnard and created a home for myself in San Luis Obispo. Here I’ve experienced my first (sometimes bitter) taste of adulthood in countless ways: I got into my first car crash, felt constant impostor syndrome as the only Filipina student in the majority of my classes at a predominantly white institution, received my first internship offer(s!), fell in and out of love, reaffirmed my affinity for the career path on which I chose to embark, wrestled with the beliefs and traditions my family instilled in me as a child and the “tough pills to swallow” I was learning in college, and many more. Despite all the adversities that college initially brought into my life, I’ve somehow managed to feel — for the first time in years — true happiness with myself and the people around me, namely my best friends from PCE, my colleagues in Mustang News, and the professional connections I’ve gained through CSPA and my journalism courses.
The day after my car crash, my ex at the time told me that college had changed me for the worse. And although I wholeheartedly believed what he told me in a period of despondence, I’m incredibly proud to say that in retrospect, I’ve realized that college has turned me into the best version — the happiest version — of myself thus far.
18 was a year of discomfort, anguish, stress, and incessant hardships. Here’s to 19, a year of more love, laughter, friendship, introspection, and growth!
