The first lessons at Princeton aren't academics

Classes started. I'm taking 5 classes: Math, Spanish, Macro Econ, Computer Science, and Time Travel Writing Seminar. They are great - lots of work, but also lots of new things to learn. Done academics update, and this post from the title is obviously not about academics. Lectures with eminent professors are great, yet there are bigger lessons I've learned here at Princeton.

1.
I came to Princeton unemployed. By economics definition, being "unemployed" requires three conditions: (1) be able to work, (2) doesn't have a job and (3) actively looking for jobs. I was not working before, but I was not looking for jobs either, so I have never been unemployed in my life and this is the first time. I have two big reasons to work, and I was so determined to get a job before I came to Princeton. Yet when I came, no job was available.

Then I understood, being unemployed is by itself an emotional thing, like any other feeling: sadness, happiness, anger or jealousy. It's the mixture of eagerness, disappointment, worry,... altogether, so complicated that unless you are unemployed you won't ever understand. I went around asking for jobs, called different people, sent email to many departments asking for open positions. My consistence pays off: this week I've got hired for two jobs: circulation desk assistant at Princeton Humanities Resource Center and Office Assistant at Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS).


Having a job doesn't only mean getting money; it also means learning how to spend that money. Never had I thought so carefully before deciding to buy something from a store, considering whether I truly need it or not. Not that I were a lavish consumer; I just became even more thoughtful for the very penny I earned. Before, buying an 11-dollar object would just mean spending 11 dollars out of my parents' or financial aid's money. Now, it means spending an hour of work. Everything is no longer monetary figure, for it is converted into time and effort now.

That's my first lesson.


2.
I promised not to talk about academics, but here I will bring up the subject again. I'm taking five subjects, and in combination with two jobs and 1 community service in the fall semester of freshman year, it appears to be way too much. No, it IS in fact way too much.  My parents have expressed concern, and even I myself am concerned. But currently I just have to sleep a bit later than midnight, try to arrange my time in the most efficient manner, and wake up a bit earlier than 9a.m. (college students tend to wake up very late, some people won't have class until 11am or 1pm). I just have to extremely focus when I study, cut off the time I waste on facebook or stop the habit of procrastinating. I just have to sacrifice a little bit here and there of the unnecessary pleasure, and things go under control. I still have time to do things I like: I can still take guitar lessons, hang out with my friends, watch movies with them on weekends, or just hang a bit on the dining table to have a conversation about whatever on the news. Life was hard, or at least I thought it was, and when I push myself a bit to be more efficient, life doesn't seem unmanageable anymore.

Pushing myself a bit, that's the second lesson I've learned.


3.
Princeton is full of talents, obviously; but there are many opportunities as well. I wanted to join a singing group at Princeton, either the University Choir (Glee Club), Chapel Choir or any of the ~10 a cappella  and theater groups (Especially Triangle had been my dream since Princeton Preview Weekend). It was, certainly, very competitive, but I was confident that there would be a place for me somewhere in that pool of opportunities. But, yeah, life is unpredictable, a chance event, a dice rolling game that any face of the dice, no matter how cruel, can turn out.

Truth is, last week was the week that I got the most rejection letters ever in my life; it alone is double than the total number of rejection letters I previously received in my whole life combined. Sunday I received two, Monday I received three, Tuesday two, Wednesday two, etc. The number of rejection letters I received in a day last week can be described as a linear function of the number of auditions I underwent: f(N) = N. This, I could never imagine, even though I had prepared myself for this worst situation.

I felt bad. I thought I was good enough. I didn't know why I didn't get in. Or, can it be that they hate me as a person? Can it be that they have already favored someone else? That was how I felt on Sunday and Monday.  I was really an ignorant idiot trying to explain whatever happened to him so suddenly. It was not until two days after when I overheard someone's practice, and someone else's audition that I felt so happy. Literally SO HAPPY. They were so good, and their voices were god-like. That was such a soft, easy-going yet confident sound. No wonder I was outweighed. At that point, I no longer felt bad, for I had totally understood why I deservedly was pushed out of the game. In fact, I felt so good that here there are so many talented people who would (1) make Princeton even better and better, make it deserve being the place I chose and (2) motivate and challenge me to better. Not that I like competition, but I chose this competitive environment because I wanted to be better anyways. So, this is perfect.

At Princeton, I learned to accept and move on.