So I made a tiny update half a month ago, and then disappeared again. Well, it’s probably going to happen more this coming weeks. It’s currently 2 am, because that’s when I have actual time to myself anymore. Let start with some book things –
I’ve posted two scheduled posts, not even worth mentioning. What is more interesting is how I found “On Dublin Street” by Samantha Young from a twitter aesthetic photo, and started reading it immediately. It’s a not-at-all-well-written smut, but it was something to get me starting reading again between huge textbooks. In the beginning of August I also read and really liked the heavier and much more thought-provoking pieces of work that is Karamo’s memoir and Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan.
I’ve joined a book club on campus!
Or I’m going to, next week. I’m so excited about how cozy it’s going to be, and I’m definitely bringing blankets, sitting there sipping tea discussing books in real life for the first time in forever.
I’ve started university, first year bachelor in physics
My main worry was going into university with heavy courseload right off the bat, without time to get to know people. Well – yes and no? The first week was without many lectures or school, just a lot of info, but a completely full social program, meaning I was barely home from 8 am to like 2 am the next day. And then came a week with both MORE lectures than usual AND social happenings all the time (but luckily less partying, or at least I toned it down a lot). I’ve gotten to know the smartest, most inclusive, most nerdy (I really love how nerdy we all are) people. I really missed from high school the fact that, while I did have friends that cared about their subjects, I wanted someone to discuss things with that were genuinely interested in how and why behind science and not just focused on doing well to get into med-school or memorizing things.
I also live in a huge building with my own bathroom, but sharing kitchen with 14 other people. And while it does sound terrifying, it has gone okay (it’s still too dirty, we’re working on it), and it’s lovely to come home to people when you’re so far away from family. We have one international student among us, a master student from India, and he talked about how he hoped we would become a big family-like group. And I really hope so. I really connected with one girl and her friend the first day here, and she noted all of us living here were acting like “very introverted siblings who have care and warmth for each other when we meet in the kitchen, but all scatter to their own rooms straight afterwards to do their own things”.
I’m sorry to say I have had no time to catch up on people’s blogs! I miss writing reviews the most personally, and really hope things will calm down a bit sooner rather than later. It’s such a weird feeling being in this situation because every routine in my life has to be made from scratch, and until now I’ve had no regular schedule to work with. And also my room has been a mess of trying to find things packed in boxes. And I’ve been up to 2 am too often, and actually twice until 7 am, discussing books and the most nerdy shit at parties. While I’m not quite similiar to all the people I study with, I really find myself at ease among them.
Also, believe it or not (my parents surely don’t), I’ve already spent a lot of hours with my head in textbooks and chewing on pens trying to solve the same math problems for the past hour and getting ten different answers that all aren’t quite correct. (Fuck you, matrices). While I’m a physics undergraduate, I’ve got two math, one physics and one IT subject this year. It’s already been joked about how I, still using my fingers to count most of the time, managed to get into uni. Oh, how I wish I could calculate large numbers immediately as some I’ve met here. I’ve been warned by master students that this one physics course is THE TOUGHEST course they’ve taken (considering the level of knowledge they had at the time) and that the only good advice they can give is to just stick with it and never give up. So I’m planning on taking it one step at a time, trying to get to that finish line of first exams in December in one piece. But also, besides the book club, the math/physics students also have a lot of other things going on, of which I’m definitely joining producing 400 L of what’s called “wine” (with the quotes, yes I’m suspicious as well, something about making it from a concentrate).
In general, I’m so up in the skies, and so damn tired, that I really don’t know what to expect going forward. It’s been a lot this past month and while I’ve adapted to situations out of need this quickly before, I’ve voluntarily put myself out there and never before grown as much as a person as a result. Who knows, might be temporary.
Back to the books!
Added to my TBR recently:
- The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon (contemporary fiction. I saw something by the author on twitter – can’t remember what – that made me very interested in this book)
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed (nonfic memoir)
- Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (sci-fi, space opera)
- Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee (short sci-fi/fantasy stories)
- Bloom by Kevin Panetta & Savanna Ganucheau (lgbt YA graphic novels)
- Sea Witch by Sarah Henning (YA fantasy, mermaids)
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (nonfic, feminism, race, politics)
- Educated by Tara Westover (memoir)
- Both these books were brought up and recommended by someone I got to know, so even if they’re quite out of what I would normally read, I’m hoping to pick them up and hopefully find some really interesting points in them
aquapages 