Goodbye Boston: Reflections of My Past 7 Years – Part 2
Greek Life
In the second half of my freshman year, I joined a frat. I remember asking existing members why they joined, and the answer is always the same: they wanted a sense of camaraderie with like-minded individuals. I always thought that was bullshit. The real and only reason anyone joins a frat is to go to the parties. That’s the reason I joined. I was sick of trying to find parties only to get turned away, so I decided to be the group that hosts them. I wanted to be invited. So I rushed.
The process of joining a frat is called “rushing”. That’s when the existing members, referred to as “brothers”, would get to know you and then decide on offering an invitation to join. It was like interviewing for a job. The first time I rushed a frat, I decided to go for the douchiest one, because if I wanted to do the whole Greek Life thing then I wanted it to be the stereotypical experience. Well, I said some dumb things during my interview, including telling the frat that they had a rapey vibe, so obviously I was rejected. I should also mention that I didn’t realizer how formal the interview was going to be, so I showed up in sweatshirt and sweatpants, while the interviews wore full suits.
I was pretty mad when I didn’t get a “bid”, frat term for invitation, to join that frat. But think back, I would not have fit in at all. All of those guys were white boys from privileged backgrounds who were the jocks during high school. I was the skinny Asian outcast. It was just not a good match. Even though I got along with the guys initially, I don’t think I could’ve been close friends with any of them without drastically changing my own personality. I was okay with that at the time, because I didn’t like myself. I wanted to be the cool, athletic, popular guy, and I thought I could achieve that by joining a group full of them. They saw who I was and turned me down. I don’t blame them, but at the time it sucked.
Luckily, I found a frat that was more chill and rushed it with my good friend Casey. We got along with most of the brothers without having to fake our confidence or personality. Eventually, we got bids and decided to join.
Overall, Greek Life definitely made college more fun and more expensive. It was essentially paying to join a club, so I can meet other like-minded people and be invited to parties. That’s ultimately what Greek Life is at BU. I don’t regret joining.
Engineering
This was the year where I really started to question my major choice, Biomedical Engineering. I chose this major, because I got into the Engineering school and wanted to do PreMed, but I quit that track after the first semester. I realized very quickly that I did not want to be a doctor. It was only the money and prestige that were enticing. Luckily, my parents didn’t complain about the PreMed but they wanted me to stay in Engineering, so I did. I didn’t particularly care about this major; I only stayed because I figured such a difficult major would net me a good career. Bad move.
I struggled hard throughout my undergrad. I sacrificed a lot of free time to do meaningless homework assignments and study for worthless exams. I was following what “society” told us to do in college. I was aiming to get good grades, so I can eventually get a good job. I didn’t question any other options at the time. My goal was to get a high GPA in a tough major. Unfortunately, engineering and sciences were not my strong suits, so despite how much time I devoted to studying, my grades were not very good. I mean it was above a 3.0, but there were times when I legit failed exams and assignments. I even almost failed entire courses. It was stressful and made college a lot worse.
Thankfully, I met some great people during my time in engineering. Some of them became my closest friends at the time through mutual suffering. It was easy to bond when we all hated our classes.
Photography
This was also the year when I got more seriously into photography. I got my first “real” camera, a Canon T4i, so I took it to school and would use it fairly often. I wish I used it more and filmed more videos, but it is what it is. I used to use my phone, but now I got a DSLR I felt like a professional. I didn’t have any training though, so I did not understand any of the technical process of using a camera. And to think, I was in engineering…
I would take pictures of my friends, which was fun, because it gave me practice and content. But no one really took pictures of me, so most of the photos were of other people. I also didn’t have any other friends who were into photography, so I was the only one who was really into this hobby. If only I was in Communications, I could’ve met so many more creative people.
Being in the middle of the city, I had a lot of material for photos. That was one of the best parts about Boston; it’s a very scenic place. All the different neighborhoods have distinct feels to them, so the pictures look very unique.
Fall in the Back Bay, one of the most beautiful scenes in the city
Down by the BU bridge, one of my first shots I was proud of
This was at an EDM concert at House of Blues. I forgot the DJ…
STUVI
One of the best parts of my second year was living in the nicest building on campus. Due to my frat connections, I was able to be pulled into the upperclassman exclusive housing, STUVI or otherwise known as Student Village. It was a luxury apartment building essentially for students. It would also spoil me for all immediate future housing, but it was worth living there for sure. My older frat bros graciously allowed me to live in a 8-person suite. I shared a double-room with Casey. There were 4 singles, 2 doubles, and 2 bathrooms. As you can imagine, 8 guys living in a closed quarter is a lot of fun but also really dirty.
This was our living room
Which we turned into an art gallery for a party, of course
This was my roommate Casey’s side
This was my side. Ignore the pile of clothing on my chair
Overall, the second year was great. I joined a frat. I made a lot of friends. I got invited to endless parties. I moved into a luxury apartment due to my connections. Of course, there were plenty of not-so-great things along the way, but who wants to read about those? I’m not including any of that here.
Anyways, stay tuned for Part 3.