#rhys.exe

I typically don't upload full body selfies at all but I hot my first crop top in today so yay? I loathe my body so I personally think these all look gross as hell but y'know.

Hi!

First off, congrats on getting into & choosing Smith! Second off, I’ll have to say that Smith doesn’t exactly have a business major? There are ways to get involved with business and entrepreneurship and UMass, one of the colleges in the 5 College Consortium, is pretty well-known for business! I think we might also offer a Certificate in the field, but don’t quote me on that.

In more general terms, there’s no need to put pressure on yourself in deciding on a major, especially before you’ve started college! But also, yes, I can give as much insight into the CS major as I can! Personally, I am a Computer Science major and an English major, and I’ve found that CS paired with a Humanities/non-STEM major works pretty well in terms of workload and diversity in assignments. However, if you choose to go the way of interweaving two STEM majors, there’s also some really cool aspects of that: some of the classes overlap, and there’s a lot of interesting higher-level classes you can take that combine, like, Biology and CS or something like that!

In terms of things to know before starting the major, I’d probably advise you to plan to take a lot of your junior & senior year classes at UMass especially if you want to take several courses on one topic (robotics, AI, etc) - no worries though, that means access to better dining!

For anything else, feel free to submit another question anytime! Or reply to this post. Always down to talk heh :D

Hi y’all!

I just wrote out basically the entirety of this post, and then refreshed the page by instinct and lost everything. Lesson learned: save your posts as drafts consistently. Here we go again!

I’ve noticed a few more of you around here since my last post, and whether you’re current/prospective/not Smithies, I’d love to hear from y’all! My ask box is always open, same with my PMs. Like many of us, I’ll take almost any form of human interaction during these dystopian times.

Anyway, classes! Today is the Monday of my second week of classes, and I realized I hadn’t made a post about my first week of classes! Important context before I get there, though, is that so far throughout this pandemic, I haven’t really been able to just sit down and focus on my classes; there was always something else more urgent, whether it be Trump trying to deport all international students (a scare that happened twice over the summer!), me coming out to my parents, or dealing with some pretty terrible personal stuff towards the end of 2020.

I’m not saying this as an ‘oh my life is SO hard’ but as a way to show the reasons for which I was feeling like I was slipping on my academics. And so, I knew that going into my fourth Smith semester (that feels unreal to type, woah), I wanted/needed to change something, for my own mental stability.

Helloooooo!!

I think this one’s been sitting here awhile so, sorry whoever sent this! Didn’t get the notification for some reason? Anyways, getting to answering the actual question: my experience so far has been mostly positive! Getting situated was easy, but that’s more so for personal reasons if that makes sense? I really wanted to get out of my country & that conservative environment so anywhere not-there was good for me.

Getting into the swings of things... is a journey. I wouldn’t say it’s either hard or easy - it definitely takes time, and there’s ups and downs along the way. One day it’ll feel like you’ve immediately belonged and others, that no one likes you and you’re alone in the world. Most likely outcome is that neither of these will happen, but that you’ll find your people that make you feel like home.

One thing I’m still not over though? The food. Food in the US just tastes different - bad different, almost like you’re tasting said food in 144p. I’ve had a couple of international friends confirm this for me, but even Snickers bars and fast food tastes... less.

But yeah, again, it’s been mostly fun! Quarantine’s made it less fun, and I can’t wait for time to become real again, but it’s been way better than it would’ve been if I weren’t here!

hi. i’m writing this on a greyhound on my way to northampton, giddy with excitement and somehow not incredibly tired despite it being 5:35am and my only getting one hour of sleep last night.

the clouds and colours in the sky are breathtaking - my iphone camera cannot even attempt to take a picture of it, but i tried anyway. i have my favorite band playing in my earbuds, and i just bid goodbye to one of the most beautiful cities i’ve ever been in, new york. yeah.

as such, i decided writing up a post would be a good and productive use of my time, seeing as i have a whole five hours of it.

i’m headed to ISP, the international student preorientation, and i don’t think i could be more excited than i am right now. looking back on the stress of the SATs and the application process and all of the other exams that went into my admission, i can wholeheartedly say all of it was worth it, if only for this one moment of peace.

it’s kind of beautiful, how i’ll be there before most of the school. i’ll get to know some of the house before others, and i’ll already be well acquainted to the campus by the time my classmates get there.

oh! i made friends. i met up with some fellow fresher smithies while in new york, and it was a blast! the adventurous type, filled with sudden rain striking and roaming the city streets in search of ikea and bubble tea.

on the matter of the very short-term future, i should be going dorm shopping for the essentials this afternoon, and i am so genuinely excited about getting to choose what my room will look like for the next four years, it’s insane.

on the matter of the rather long-term, i can say i am not anxious one bit. i am ready to head into this new experience, make new friends, keep the good in the past and learn from the bad.

rhys, out xx

this one’s pretty interesting, especially since i’ve been dreaming of taking college classes ever since freshman year of high school. i’ve just gone through the fourth day of classes and i’ve gone through quite some thoughts.

. initial opinions .

i have to admit, i was freaked out. especially as an international student, everything was new: the concept of a syllabus, the difficulty, the weird mixture of freedom and workload, it was a lot to adjust to. some of my teachers seemed to have unrealistically high expectations, and i just genuinely felt like i was behind even in my intro classes, even when we hadn’t even gone through any course material.

. second take .

it feels like i’m in that weird place of not yet getting 100% used to being in college, but still doing my best to keep up with assignments, quizzes, and assignments.

it’s definitely a challenge to balance out work, friends, and school, but i’ve been able to manage it thus far. i see progress in some of my classes, and in others i feel like i will never be able to keep up, but everyone around me says that’s normal, so i’m just trying to do my best and feel at peace with that.

i’ve been told it’s an inherent smithie trait to attempt to do everything all at once, but that it’s really important to also take care of yourself. i’m still working on that second part. at least i’m seeing progress with it!

excited for what’s to come,