How Things Change

Every moment that passes changes something. We often don’t feel these changes, which leads us to believe that nothing really has changed. Only when you sit down and think about it after a lot of time has passed do you realize how many things have changed. I have always tried to keep track of these small changes in the past. It is easier to do so in a situation when not many things change, but this situation also eventually changes.

So what has really changed? A lot of things.

CLIMATE

Boy, it gets cold here! This was perhaps the most noticeable change coming back to campus from home. The unpleasant cold climate was the first thing I encountered when I came here. I was covered in a minimum of 4 layers of clothing for the entire January.

FOOD

The food here is better than expected. Maybe because I had set the expectations too low after my first year in Hall 13. The taste of water is also very different here. A matter of a few days, and then you get the hang of it.

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES

The world here is real and not mere pixels on a laptop screen. The emotional experiences are stronger. I had read somewhere that people are perceptive to the change in emotional stimuli and not the actual stimuli themselves. I could feel it here. I have never been as happy, frustrated, anxious, angry, offended and jealous in the last two years as I have been in the last couple of months. There were instances when at one moment, I was super stressed about a project deadline or assignment, and just a few hours later, I was having the time of my life getting drunk and partying with my friends. Things change so quickly here!

ACADEMICS

The academics here are totally different. I get much less time to study here with so many things going around. My performance has been pretty much the same (maybe a bit worse). The difference here is that it is way easier to forget a messed up exam. I can just go to the canteen and chill out as if nothing ever happened. It’s way easier to collaborate here on campus (wink wink)

PHYSICAL FITNESS

Due to the changed diet, unavailability of gyms and lack of motivation, I have lost most of the muscle gains I had back home. Now I have a larger tummy and smaller muscles (call it the cost of a happier life?). I have been trying to cover it up since last week, trying to work out daily.

DEBATING

I do not debate as much as I used to back home. Obviously, debating is not the most “fun” thing to do on campus. I did participate in one tournament, though. Performance-wise it was pretty poor, but experience-wise it was the most fun debating tournament I have ever done. With things going back to normal, maybe I can do an offline tournament soon!

EXTRA-CURRICULARS

Back home, I always tried to keep myself busy doing many things at once.x I tried to plan every hour of the day to get things done on time. I no longer do that. It means that I just don’t know what I am supposed to be doing a lot of time. Consequently, I am much more relaxed, but I have slacked off a lot. At home, I used to worry about forgetting to have fun when I was on campus. Now that I am on campus, I am worried if I will ever be able to work with the same intensity I used to when I was at home. My involvement and contribution to both AUV and AI4SG projects have been lesser since I have come back.

PARTYING

Friday nights have become special occasions and the end of exams: celebratory festival.

Although a lot of things have changed it is not all that different from what it was a couple of years back. Maybe it was meant to be this way. Do I like how my life has changed? Yes. Will this stay the same? Definitely not. Will I notice such changes next time? I don’t know.