Here's what my friendships look like

For the longest time, I was very confused about where I stood in my community at Andover.  I know a lot of people, and a lot of people know me.  I talk to a lot of different people and I greet a lot of different people on campus.  However, for some reason, every time I walked into Commons for dinner, or sat down to do homework, I always ended up by myself.  Recently, through some rumination and thought process, I figured out why.

When I walked into Commons for dinner to Upper Right, I always looked at those big friend groups that had enough people to fill up half of one of the long tables in commons.  I, on the other hand, usually sat by myself on one of the side tables.  When I walked through campus, I often saw large groups of girls or large groups of boys walking in a cluster.  I kept asking myself, who’s in my group?  Who do I travel with?  I wasn’t sure where I fit in in my grade.  

When I gave it some good thought, I realized that my friends and I don’t do everything together, yet we still remain friends.  I don’t have a giant group of people I hang out with all the time.  I usually hang out with one or two of my friends (which is not enough to fill up even a side table in Commons).  The thing about my friendships is that we are each independent, yet we understand this mutual relationship we have with one another.  I eat lunch with two of my friends.  The interesting thing about these two friends is that none of us have mutual classes together, none of us live in the same dorm, and none of us participate in the same extracurriculars: we met through simply sitting and talking with each other over time during lunch periods.  

I confide in these types of friends.  I have friends I met through clubs and sports, but we also don’t travel in a gang.  We each have our own individual style and agenda, but the mutual thing between us is that we made our friendships through sitting at meals or doing mutual activities.  Of course, when I walk into Commons, I try to find a group of friends to sit with.  However, I realize now that when I walk into Commons for dinner and end up sitting at a table by myself or with one other person, it’s okay.  I don’t have to be in a large group of kids and crowd around a giant table at Commons.  I also understand now that although I don’t travel in a large group with any particular combination of people, I still have friends.  

Elizabeth Foley said, “The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart”.  I think this illustrates my friendships.

The thing about fatigue

Here’s the thing about fatigue: often one doesn’t feel it until they get a moment where they have nothing to do.  

I most certainly felt that this weekend.  On Saturday, my day started at 6:45 AM.  I woke up this early to get some homework done before 2 hours of tennis practice.  After, I spent an hour doing English homework, talked with my parents, showered, went to dinner, walked downtown, played piano, returned back to my dorm to finish music homework, then went to bed at 11:05 PM.  

You’d think Sunday would be better.  I’m sitting here and it’s currently 3:20 PM.  My day started at 6:20, when I woke up to get ahead on math homework.  Then I went out for a run at 7:35, and returned at 8:30, in which I got ready to attend the greenlight4girls event on campus, which I’m writing a News article about.  Then I ate brunch with my friend at 11, did some more math homework, interviewed some people at the end of the greenlight4girls event, and returned back to my dorm.  It was 2:30.  I started doing laundry and vacuuming my room.  

While I was waiting for my laundry to be finished, I suddenly felt like I could take a break.  As soon as that break began, I felt an instant fatigue.  I was both physically exhausted and mentally exhausted, which I had not felt minutes ago as I was scrambling to do my laundry and clean my room.  As soon as I let myself relax, I felt the fatigue.  

I guess one of the things about stress and work is that it keeps me from feeling tired, even when I really am.  Even on the weekends, I just get into this habit of waking up before 7 AM.  My body simply doesn't let its guard down.  This afternoon, I let myself take a 20 minute nap and when I woke up, I was much more refreshed.  In the future, I plan on practicing this more often.  When I have the chance, I’m going to stop working, and ask myself how I’m feeling.  If the instant response is “tired”, I know I need to stop and take a break.  Even a 10 minute nap will go a long way.  When I wake up, I will (hopefully) feel more refreshed and be able to complete my work faster.  But yes, here’s the thing about fatigue: stress and work can hide it. 

Campus is different every term

I just began my third term at Andover.  It seems that every time I return back to campus from break, it’s different.  

What struck me most this term was how much longer the days are.  Before I left for spring break, it used to get dark at 5:30.  Upon returning, the days don’t get dark until almost 7 PM.  

When I left for break, there was no snow on the ground.  However, when I returned, there was a snow on the ground even though it was the first day of spring.  While snow makes me a little bit gloomy sometimes, the longer days are making helping me get past the snow.  

People have new haircuts/styles!  That’s the beauty of going to boarding school: there is virtually no time (or convenient location) to get a haircut.  Over a two week break, people find the time to get their hair cut.  Sometimes people will change their hairstyle dramatically, and others choose to get just a cut.  Regardless, people come back a little different.

I have a different energy at the beginning of each term.  I come back with a different energy every term.  In the winter term, I was excited about my new art class and I came back with eagerness.  This term, I came back with a hardcore motivational energy.   I don’t know what’s motivating me.  In my head, I may have constructed some sort of idea/mental reward. I can’t identify what’s motivating me, but something is keeping me up doing my work to close perfection.  

Every term is very different from the last.  I have four new teachers (yes, 4/6 teachers are new this term), and I have met some new people through these new classes.  I guess that’s what makes Andover such an interesting journey: it’s always changing. 

The joy in hitting a round yellow thing over the net

This break I was able to play tennis twice.  At the club I go to, there are many kids who are at all different skill levels.  There are some advanced players and there are some novice players.  Perhaps my favorite type of player to watch is a young player who is just beginning to learn the sport.  These youngsters have one aim when they come onto the court with their coach: to hit the ball over the net.  They don’t care how they do it, how long or short the ball goes, the height of the ball, whether it’s in or out, or using any technique whatsoever.  The goal of these young players is to get the ball over the net.  It’s not until later, if they choose to focus in more on the sport that they learn the techniques and qualities of a “good” shot versus a “bad” shot.  The game evolves into something complex.  When I observe these young players, I see myself when I was eight years old holding the racquet, happy just to be able to hit a round yellow thing over the net.  It’s not so simple anymore.  Depth, spin, and position matter, as do height, footwork, and power.  It’s interesting to me to see how the game evolves.  No matter who is playing or what age they begin, the game always develops in a similar pattern and it starts with joy from hitting a round yellow thing over the net.  

Winter Term Personality Test

As promised, after Fall term, I said I would take the 16 Personalities test after each term to see how my character was changing.  At the end of Fall term, I was the “Executive”, or ESTJ.  I retook the test, and I’m still an Executive.  However, one thing has changed.  It is the identity piece to the letters.  The identity piece does not affect what personality I am, however, it shows how confident one is in their decisions.  

One is either Turbulent (T) or Assertive (A) for the identity piece.  According to the 16 Personalities test, “this trait underpins all others, showing how confident we are in our abilities and decisions.”  Last term, I was turbulent by 70% and this term I’m assertive by 54%.  I was a bit confused by this at first, so I looked up what this meant.  The turbulent person is one who is prone to stress.  They are very reflective and always strive to do more.  The assertive person is more confident in their actions and less prone to stress.  The assertive believes what’s done is done and cannot be changed.  

While I scored 54% on assertive, I agree that this term I have been striving to manage my stress better.  Throughout the term I’ve been briefly flipping through Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.  While the results of my test say I’m assertive, I do not think I’m assertive to the degree that I do not strive to improve.  I also do not live with the belief that what is done is done and no further improvements can be made.  So I guess scoring almost in the middle between turbulent and assertive is an accurate measure.  

MY JOURNEY:

ESTJ-T → ESTJ-A

Winter Term

Fall Term

Portugal 2018

This past week, I have been vacationing in Lisbon, Portugal.  It is the first time I’ve been to Europe, and it was an excellent way to start my exploration of the continent.  We spent one week in Lisbon, residing in the historical district and exploring other neighborhoods around the capital. It would be very difficult to restate my entire journey (we visited many places!).  However, there were a couple key places that we visited which I will share.

Portugal has lots of palaces and historical buildings.  Having a long and powerful history, it seems almost natural that Portugal would have many palaces built for the royal family.  My family was able to visit four palaces during our stay.  The first two palaces we visited are called Pena Palace and the National Palace.  All the palaces are located in Sintra, which is about 40 minutes from Lisbon by train.  The National Palace was the first palace my family and I visited.  The National Palace has two very large chimneys that lead down to the kitchen.  From the outside, these two chimneys give the palace an unique appearance.  The biggest of the four palaces with perhaps the most brilliant colored exterior was the Pena Palace.  Pena is characterized by the yellow walls on the exterior.  When I was walking on the Moorish Castle, from a distance, Pena Palace looked like it was covered in gold.  The National Palace was all white except for red roofing (typical Portuguese style!).   The Monserrate Palace was very intricately designed.  Its colors were very different from the colors of the other three palaces.  It was orangey and pinkish.  The shape of the main dome also reminded me of the Taj Mahal.  We were able to enter all the palaces as well, and the walls of Monserrate was lavishly decorated with granite.  The Quinta da Regaleira was by far my favorite palace.  Not only was the summer palace itself beautifully and grandly constructed, but it was embedded beneath a garden that’s big enough to be considered a park on a mountain.  My family and I explored the park and there overall it gave off a very mystical and fairytale like vibe.  It was essentially one big mountain with many grottos, castles, walls, and underground tunnels.  What was neat about the garden was that there were many paths.  These paths wove through the mountains and somehow, they were all interconnected.  It was enjoyable to walk up and down through the paths and somehow end up in the same place. 

Pena Palace

Pena Palace

When we weren’t walking through historical buildings or castles, my family spent time in the historical district of Lisbon.  From movies and from books, I knew that European streets and architecture was different from the US.  I knew that Europe had narrow streets and crowded ancient buildings.  While this is true, Lisbon itself is very unique as well.  Portugal uses a lot of tile in the construction of their buildings and roads.  Thus, the roads are colorful, and the color of houses range from yellows to reds to blues to light purples, depending on the color of the tile used.  The sidewalks are also tile.  There are two colored tiles, and they are often arranged into particular patterns.  However, Lisbon also uses red tiles for their roofs.  From a high viewpoint, the city looks terracotta red.  

The food in Portugal was also delicious.  Lisbon is packed with bakeries.  Having never seen so many pastery shops in my life, I was eager to try as many different cafes and bakery shops as I could.  And yes, I’m not exaggerating when I say there are patisserie shops on every street in Lisbon.  The main streets, or large streets often had a patisserie shop every five to seven stores.  The most popular, must-try food in portugal is called a Pastel de Nata.  In plain English, a Pastel de Nata is a flaky, crispy, crust filled with the perfect ratio of custard filling.  Adding sugar and cinnamon is common.  Pastel de Nata are sold at every bakery.  I’m not kidding.  At all.  On the day I arrived in Lisbon and was walking through the streets, I was looking through the windows of the patisserie shops and was confused when I saw burnt looking little tarts that somewhat resembled fruit tarts.  However, the second day, when I went on a walking tour with the hotel, our tour guide told us the prominence of the Pastel de Nata in a typical Portuguese diet.  In fact, he took us to the cafe that supposedly has Lisbon’s best Nata’s.  This is also the cafe where a famous author (whose name I’m blanking on), sat for hours every day but ordered the same thing every day: a cup of coffee and one Nata.  Local people sit in cafes and enjoy a similar combination in the afternoons.  

Europe in general is more environmentally conscious than the US on average.  I was able to experience this hands-on during my trip.  It was astounding to me how obvious the effort to preserve the planet was.  Perhaps it was not as obvious to another person who was from another European country, but to me, from the US, it was quite clear beginning with the size of cars.  Every Ubur my family took was not only small in comparison to cars in the US, but the cars are also narrower!  In addition, station wagons and hatchbacks were typical…SUVs were a rarity.  Food portions in Portugal are also much smaller.  My family rarely wasted food, since we were able to finish the portions given.  I believe I used one paper cup my entire stay.  Cafes serve coffee in porcelain cups and I rarely saw a paper cup in the trash barrels.  

It rained 5 out of 7 days.  Luckily the last two days of our trip were sunny.  The rain was only periodic, so I was still able to enjoy the city with my family.  This trip was quite insightful on the environmental side.  I became more aware of the various ways another country helps preserve the Earth.  I was also forced to communicate with people who didn’t speak English perfectly, or even at all, while also picking up a little bit of Portuguese through menus and store names.  It was a wonderful trip.

IMAGES

Street at Night, Lisbon

Quinta da Regaleira

Quinta da Regaleira

View of the city

Monserrate Palace

Lisbon view, red rooftops 

Tile buildings

Holy Cross + Golden Gate Bridge replicas in Portugal

ART311: Lessons Learned and my projects

Winter term of 2018 has officially ended.  I am happily on break.  My hardest course this term was most definitely the product-design course I took.  Art311 was a major time commitment, but there are a couple things I learned from taking just this one course.  There were the concrete programs that I learned, such as Adobe Illustrator and Rhinoceros.  However, something I admire most about this class was my teacher’s effort to run the class as “real-world” as possible, meaning he tried to imitate a workspace environment, similar to that of his architecture firm.  The following is perhaps a memorandum.

1. Making things takes times.  I know in some classes, I can get away with forgetting to do a reading one night, or forgetting to do a problem on a math assignment and still manage to succeed.  Something Mr. Lawson really emphasized in this class is that designing and making things takes time.  While in certain high school classes it is possible to get away with dropping certain assignments and work, in Mr. Lawson’s product-design course, it was virtually impossible to get away with spending minimal time.  To create a product, a lot of time outside of class had to be spent.  There was simply no getting around this.  This forced all of my classmates and me to truly dedicate ourselves to the process.
   
2. There will be lots of drafts/redos and that’s okay.  All four project I made had to be redesigned at least three times, whether that be physically printing things, or redesigning products on Rhino.  I remember for my first project I was designing a pencil holder.  Since I was just being introduced to Rhino, I was still unfamiliar with the various tools.  Thus, I ended up redesigning my pencil holder at least four times, before finally laser cutting the pieces out for assemblage.  This happened with my tea tray as well as my final lantern (pics below).
3. The power of self problem solving.  My teacher believes in self-problem-solving.  In the real world, my teacher mentions how there will not be someone who will guide us through every step like teachers in grade school do.  In fact, this may be one of the biggest flaws in the educational system: when a teacher tells their students exactly what to do and offers the student no freedom in trying out their own ideas with trial and error.  Mr. Lawson says that in the real world, we must rely upon ourselves to figure out problems, not follow a strict guideline of one person.  Thus, in Art311, Mr. Lawson challenged us as students to find our own flaws in design and to find ways to work around them by ourselves with minimal guidance from an experienced person.  
   

This term, I spent approximately 1 hour per night on my various art projects, whether that be designing on Rhino, 3D printing, laser cutting, or assembling my pieces.  It was a very time consuming class, but reflecting back today, I wouldn’t take back one minute of it.  

PROJECTS

First draft of lantern

Final draft of lantern (altered the shades)

Final draft of pencil holder

First draft of tea tray
 

Revised draft of tea tray