College

It's a subject that we fear, yet sends tingling feelings of excitement when we think about it. During our "rebellious" stage, college is the greatest step towards independence. But personally, all the little steps we've taken are overwhelming. It seems like once we stepped into the realm of school, beginning with preschool, our primary focus had been on academics.

At least for me, that is how my school years have been. Trips to the bookstore were always for practice books in the core subjects, and always a grade or two above the current level. To my parents, short stories were a waste of time- non-fiction books, especially those in the sciences, were far greater than the fantasy books I wished to read. This probably later hindered my creative abilities in writing. My writing tends to be straightforward and I tend to rack my brains hopelessly for sentences that come off as somewhat creative.

Starting from third grade, my parents placed me in prep classes that I would go to on Saturdays after Chinese school. I started dreading the one day that others found to be the most relaxing day of the week. Interestingly, but probably not surprisingly, the classes were mostly full of Asian kids...I wonder why -.-. I'll admit that the classes were helpful, but it just added to the work being put into school. I still believe academics should be the first priority, but I always wonder how my life would be different without all those classes.

All of this just places an even greater amount of stress on the college process. To think that all the work I've done in and outside of school to come down to a couple applications is downright scary. Really scary. Let's just hope I survive :)