WELL, I guess this is the beginning; the beginning of a new journey, a new life, a new me–hopefully.
Moving to college is a big, big step out of your comfort zone, I guess people mention it to you regularly, however, your mind opts to remain skeptical about it and simply decides to neglect it altogether until the times comes. Yes, yes indeed, it is time to open that door. It is an utterly different experience from anything you’ve ever experienced before, I mean two weeks have past already, and I am still learning new aspects about the campus, academics, and basically everything else in general. I am still adjusting to my surroundings, what college has to offer, and what it is all about.
Of course, I did happen to know beforehand, prior to even arriving on campus, what college is all about, nevertheless, you don’t really imagine your workload combined together with clubs, work study, social life among a concoction of other activities that must be checked off your list. Along, as well, perhaps with doing your laundry for instance–you’ll run out of clean underwear sooner or later. And how about eating? It is very, very important that you eat properly, even if there’s this illusion that the clock’s hands have begun to abnormally speed up faster than you think and, all of a sudden, you’re exiting out of the library, you realize it is 9 o’clock and you say to yourself, “Oh! I’ve completely forgotten to eat something.” Those are new experiences in my life, they might sound a bit trivial, but it is the way I have started to analyze my new life here. I’ve come to realize, throughout these two weeks in college, that having a balanced, nutritious diet and a good night’s sleep would allow you to be Superman during the entire day, trust me on this one.
So, I believe that I ought to introduce myself before I ramble throughout this entire blog entry about life and myself without getting to the actual point. Actually, there is no exact or specific point today, which may explain why I am going all over the place here. I’ll start by saying that name is Santiago Montoya and that I am a first-year and first-generation student at Brandeis University, which is located in Waltham, Massachusetts. I have returned to school after an unexpected gap year that allowed me to ponder upon my future, what is it that I want to accomplish, and what are some of the interests that I desire to deepen even further beyond the surfaces here at Brandeis.
I said it was an “unexpected” gap year because it really was. During my senior year in high school I applied to college like any other normal senior would, nevertheless, I was rejected everywhere–the twenty colleges that I applied to all denied me acceptance. And it wasn’t because I had terrible grades or nothing to bring to the table, neither did I applied solely to prestigious institutions. What I was questing for was a place that would allow me to grow as a person and expand my knowledge about the world. The truth is that I was undocumented, and I lived through the hardships and frustration that many young undocumented people face daily, such as not being able to get a job or a car license, and let’s not talk about a higher education because it has become rather a privilege in this nation. Undocumented students might not have been born in this nation (U.S.) notwithstanding this is what they’ve known for most of their lives and we’re just longing to develop our careers and lives in a nation that was founded by immigrants since the very beginning.
Moreover, taking a year off was not the worst thing that could have ever happened to me because it served me to align new goals and perspectives about life itself. Besides, I kept myself busy: I had an internship, I did volunteer work, re-applied to college, wrote a weekly blog and several short stories, read everything I could, and I was able to obtain my green card and fly back to Colombia, where I am originally from, and reconnect with my roots. In fact, I reconnected so well with my roots that I decided to take a course in Latin American literature during my first semester here at Brandeis. So far my classes have been interesting, fun and rewarding. Also, I have joined the newspaper, a literary magazine that publishes art, short stories and poetry, and the hunting to become a member of new clubs continues and it will be prolonged for at least two more weeks, thus I am looking forward to see what else I can join and handle, and I look forward to share more of this amazing four-year journey with all of you out there.
Thanks for your readership, and I apologize for getting a little too out of topic, I promise you to steer well the boat on another direction the next time.
-Santiago Montoya