1cm+: A Girl's Quest to Understand College

Last year I bought a book in Korea called 1cm+. It was a really cutely animated self help book aimed at finding the extra 1cm in our lives in order to bring happiness and hope. The things it suggested weren't complicated such as go climb a mountain or spend three years wandering a new city. They were simple suggestions like put your smartphone down more, differences in male and female thinking, how to find a good love haha. It's a very Murakami-esque idea to find the beauty in the small things instead of expecting huge miracles to always fill your happiness meter. 

That's kind of how I view college. College isn't a time to develop completely new skills. I'm not looking to learn something earth-shattering by attending Smith but rather that extra 1cm+ in my life in order to appreciate what is around me and develop more ability to be empathetic, rational, and patient. The little tweaks in attitude and mindset help set a path of prosperity, happiness, and fulfillment. 

Already I feel a lens on life just by being more aware of food stability, feminism, and the problems with government involvement in certain industries. 

This journey is sort of like a fill in the number coloring book. So much of it has already been colored by 17 years of being alive. I'm attending a liberal arts college in order to see the blank spots and fill them up with a new perspective, idea, and story. 

Look out for future 1cm+ tags to see little snippets of what I'm learning in college in order to have that extra the ability to see two sides of an argument and make bad situations into good memories.

Read on for the quintessential horror: the college roommate. 

I'll be really horrified if my roommate were ever to find my blog haha. In the beginning as you may or may not know, I wanted to be best friends with my roommate. Although everyone everywhere reminded me not to think like that, I still went with it. The people I interacted with on the Smith Facebook group seemed so much like me: snobbish, intellectual sense of literature, obscure music, interest in cats and cacti (we even have a post where everyone talks about their named plants), debate clubs, art museums, etc. To have the whole college experience, I put random roommate. I know that's scary and I probably wouldn't do that if I had this chance again. 

On August 1, I found out my roommate and housing situation. I got the area I wanted to live in and after talking to some rising sophomores, I feel happy about the house I am placed in! It doesn't have a dining hall though which is a little bit of a bummer. I live next to the kitchen though so food should not be a problem (plus I can go visit the other dining halls!). 

I'm still feeling iffy about the roommate. We're not going to be best friends and I have accepted that. We can call her R. She's a girl from Florida who is very, very outdoorsy. R is into cheerleading and crew (rowing). She enjoys watching football and her favorite books include the Mortal Instruments (what is this), Divergent series (okay I watched the movies and understand what it is), Hunger Games (I have read but eugh). I basically have nothing in common with her! 

She also doesn't put that much effort into knowing anything about me... or what we may have in common. 

I was talking on one of my friends N who will be a rising sophomore. She told me that college is about new experiences (the 1cm+ guys!!) and how I should be more open minded. So that's what I'll try. I hope you guys carry on with me and this huge adventure that I am about to embark on.

Stay tuned for the next 1cm+. If you have anyy personal questions, I will be more than happy to answer them! Leave a comment or email me at yawn2006@gmail.com. Is that really dangerous leaving my email here... well if you are reading to the end of this thing, I don't think so.