College Expectations

“I feel like everyone who goes to The University of Texas is blessed and lucky to be there because they're getting a chance to be as good as they can be.” –Alan Bean

Reading back over my original expectations of the University, I found that all of my expectations have either been met or have begun to be met. To begin, the freedom is unbelievable. When I first got here, I would have random feelings of nervousness. I was unsure as to what was prompting these odd feelings but soon realized exactly what it was: I was so enthralled with the freedom and college life and still so unaccustomed to it that I felt it was unreal, that some one was going to come steal me away, pull the rug out from under me and bring me back home to my parents and curfew and rules. A couple weeks passed and it finally set in that I was, in fact, going to stay at the University and my nervousness subsided. I have since had many challenging lessons dealing with freedom, from TIME MANAGEMENT, to right versus wrong, to safety issues. One week in particular, I got a total of about 12 hours of sleep, which made for a difficult time in staying awake during classes. I have had to decide whether certain situations, such as walking home by myself late at night, are safe. Overall, I have done quite a good job of managing my time and making decisions. I am sure I will make more mistakes and have more weeks with only 12 hours of sleep, but my ability to use my freedom in a positive way will continue to better as time passes.

Friend-wise, students here at the University never cease to amaze me. It seems there is always an odd character lurking around the corner, waiting to introduce himself and become a new friend. My “college best friend” entered my life early in the year with her constant giggling and “Hi! I’m Kristin! Smiling’ my favorite!” kind of attitude. From her intelligence and interest in travel and sports to her willingness to burst into song and dance as we walk down the drag from a late night visit to Kerby Lane to our long discussion on topics varying from religious beliefs to our current crushes, she has been a bright light in my college experience thus far. During my sister’s (she seems to appear in my entries quite often) first semester at UT, she became best friends with Melissa, a friendship that has blossomed and grown stronger over the years. I have a feeling that Kristin will be my Melissa, a friend on all fronts that will last for years to come.

The opportunities at UT seem to be endless in their magnitude and their contents. Already, the opportunity to study at Oxford has presented itself, which is “for some…the perfet place for contemplation, for others a protective environment within which to indulge their fancies” (636). Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to go on this fabulous excursion due to the $10,000 it would cost for 6 weeks, however I know that I will have many more chances to do things like this.

As I read Freddie Steinmark’s tragic story of his battle with cancer, I found me eyes swelling with tears and a feeling of chills overcoming my body. Maybe this is because I can so closely relate with terrible toll cancer takes on one’s body, from my aunt, to my grandma and grandpa to a scare with my mother. Or perhaps it is purely the amazement I feel that one man can make such an impact on not only his teammates and the future team, but the University as a whole. Over three decades later, “80,000 empty seats [are] filled by the Orange-blooded faithful who have come from every where from Jester West to the West Coast to catch a glimpse of the…Longhorn football team” (172). Like many, coming to the University of Texas I wanted “scholarship, new experiences, and freedom from [my] past self” (177). UT has so much to offer, from its tradition of excellence to its outstanding athletics to the diversity that defines it.

Currently, my expectations remain similar to my previous expectations. I plan to grow as a person, gain knowledge, meet friends, and experience Austin. Sometimes, I find myself thinking that Austin is “not a real city at all but a fiction, a vision and an illusion” of something so great and so different that it could merely not exist in real life. This point is reinforced as I sit here writing my paper in Starbucks, watching individuals from all walks of life pass in and our of the small coffee shop, each with their own story, their own truth. I am continually surprised by the events that seem to jump into my life and take me on adventures I could have never imagined. It seems there is always "a spot a bit brighter" (652), somewhere just around the corner that has more to offer, a greater opportunity awaiting me. I hope everyday that these adventures continue and take me to the wildest of places.

My Wonderland

College. For some, college is a time of freedom where all that matters is how many parties you can fit into one night, one weekend. For some, college is a time to realize that college isn’t for them. And for some, college is time for discovering their destiny, what life holds for them. For me, I feel like it is a combination of all these that defines college. Of course, my definition does not merely piece together these various definitions, but rather the concepts behind them. It is a time for going out, making friends, exploring the city of Austin. It is a time I will certainly fail at some things and learn my strengths and weaknesses. And of course, it is a time for me to lay the foundation for my future, my family, my career.

We come to college having known certain things our whole lives, whether assumed or told. As I entered onto the University of Texas campus, I “[began] to think that very few things indeed were really impossible” (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 16).
My weeks here at the University have opened my eyes to the wide range of possibilities, each door waiting to reveal a new possibility, a chance to take “the rapid journey through to air” (Through the Looking-Glass 14) to the unknown and undiscovered territory of college life.

We grow up with accepted truths, “a red-hot piker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that, if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds” (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 17). I believe that college is a time reject some of these truth. Now, don’t go cutting your finger with a knife to see if it will truly bleed, but challenge yourself intellectually, spiritually, physically, emotionally. Take a course you have never dreamed of. Investigate your belief in a high power and re-secure your faith. Opt to keep off the infamous “freshman 15.” Become friends with an unlikely character. Try to find meaning behind the impossible representation of a box pictured here.

I have found that my encounters with individuals thus far has many parallels with Alice’s encounters in Wonderland, each of her encounters “a parody of the freshman’s encounters with other freshman at UT” (678). Unlike Hannah, I did not “find my new college experience devoid of life.” Rather, “I came to UT knowing that some of my high school friends would be accompanying me to this large University. However, I chose to stray from the majority of these friends. Having been with them since middle school, I was anxious to make new friends, find the unlikely companion that so many speak of meeting in college. Just as Alice found “an enormous puppy looking down at her with large round eyes, feebly trying to touch her” (Alice in Wonderland 44), I have found others reaching out to me in hopes of forming a friendship, unsure of where it will lead. In the past month and a half, I have become great friends with someone very similar to me and still very different. This fairly unlikely companion has shown me that, once again, anything is possible; and that is what college life is about.


After Alice’s first odd meetings with those in Wonderland, “Alice had got so much out into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way” (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 19). I now know that my next four years will be full of the unexpected, and I must be prepared to take on each of these unexpected occurrences. I have yet to come across a Cheshire Cat who fails to remove the smile from his face, or a hookah-smoking Caterpillar, however, I wouldn’t put it past Austin and the University of Texas to create either of the two. As Joe Nichols says in his song "The Impossible," "sometimes the things you think would never happen, happen just like that...i've learned to never underestimate the impossible." As we know, here, anything is possible.

Liberal Education

“It is not so very important for a person to learn facts. For that he does not really need a college. He can learn them from books. The value of an education is a liberal arts college is not learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.”—Albert Einstein

Education and knowledge can take on a broad range of definitions. The standard definition of knowledge is “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject” (Oxford American Dictionary). Going by this definition, it seems fairly simple to acquire and obtain knowledge; after all, we go in and out of each day having a variety of experiences and taking a little bit from each of them. At a University, students take on the task of gaining extensive knowledge and mastering a chosen topic, ranging from history to foreign language to chemistry. The opportunity is set forth through classes focused on a particular subject area and the small variance in class options. However, in the College of Liberal Arts, one is given an extension of this opportunity. One is given the chance to gain knowledge not on one, but on a variety of topics, connected or independent of one another.

Many think, “Why study so many topics when in the end, you must choose one area to pursue a career in?” This is an extremely valid argument, one I struggled with myself when considering what to major in. As a science major, which would have been my second choice, similar to John’s, the majority of my classes would have consisted of memorizing information and being able to quickly spout off the process of DNA replication or identifying compounds and formulating their Lewis Dot Structures. As much as this applies to my future in medical school, the idea of four years of pure science followed by another four year of pure science was not as appealing and Plan II where exploration of topics was encouraged.


Newman states that, “Each of us needs to find our own truth; if and when we do, we will become free, liberated, one of the most important meanings of the phrase ‘liberal arts’” (320). John challenges each of us to “Constantly reconsider [our] paths” and to search for our true passion. So far this year, I have begun to discover my passions in a deeper sense; I have wondered whether my true calling is medicine, whether I will fail out of college, whether I will get a degree and still be unsure of what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. But as Giametti says, “as [we] now look forward to what lies just ahead, and to all it can mean, there of course will arise in each of [us] normal anxiety” (321). Despite my near certainty of going into medicine, I find comfort in knowing that I am keeping my options open and allowing my knowledge to expand beyond the scientific world. “A liberal education provides a broad base from which to grow,” (Wiley) and “does not merely provide us education in one area, but in many so that we can seek different areas of curiosity and discover interests in fields that we didn’t even know existed” (Julie Paik); Plan II is the epitome of a broad education that prepares us for whatever the future may hold. It is a funnel filled with knowledge and different experiences that results in our future, in the specific area we choose to dedicate ourselves to.

Through our World Literature course, we are challenged to evaluate not only ourselves but our role models, those we look up to. “Almost all knowledge of the inner nature and feelings of others must come through the imagination,” (Sympathetic Imagination) thus our interactions on Second Life are key in opening up our imagination and allowing the knowledge of those feelings to flow. I highly doubt we would be able to use technology in this way as a Biology or Engineering major. Liberal Arts allows us to go beyond the normal and experience the extraordinary while paving the way for our future.

The Endless Possibilities

As I have stated in previous discussion board entries, originally, the University of Texas was not my first choice. In fact, it was more a back up. I knew it was a first rate university. The school spirit, the rigorous courses, and the amazing athletics (left) were all very appealing. These were all qualities that I searched for in a University. I even attended a UT football game, experiencing the rush you get from standing in a crowd full of excited fans singing "The Eyes of Texas" with their horns held high. However, being in top 10%, I was guaranteed a spot and unlike the many people who would kill to be at UT, I wanted more to go far away. But as fate had it, the funds to send me to a school costing $42,000 a year just weren’t there. Luckily, I was accepted into Plan II Honors and the appeal of UT was maximized. To be honest, I was not too keen on the idea of the honors programs. I had the mindset that Plan II was for Liberal Arts majors and would want nothing to do with me; after all, I was a Biology major. When I found out I had been accepted, I felt a sense of pride, excitement for the opportunity to be in such a prestigious category of people. And as for the Liberal Arts perspective I would gain, the “habit of mind formed which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom,” (309) I was ready for the experience…and the challenge.

Now that I am here, what will I gain? What am I searching for? Yearning for? The answer is yet to be discovered. However, within the past month, I have begun to find bits and pieces leading me to the answer.


I have found that motivation surrounds me, from the large lecture halls bursting with eager students to the fields of grass shaded by bellowing Oak trees to the stacks and stacks of books filling the many libraries on campus. Even the darkly lit, barren study lounge in Jester (picture on right) is still a motivating environment for me. The tower library is far more "study-friendly" however I find that basically anywhere I go (other than my dorm room) is excellent for studying. I try to imagine myself at a campus like UT San Antonio, where there is no unity of structure to be found and where a lack of campus feeling exists. Strolling through the six-pack, waking up ten minutes after my class began and entering into a state of panic, intensely copying lecture notes in a class of 500 students…all of these experiences have given me the feeling of being a true college student on an arduous path pursuing my dreams.


Despite the continuous reminder of the fact that there is more work to be done, I find campus to have a sense of serenity, peacefulness that allows one to step back and take in the majesty of the place. It fascinates me that so many great minds are concentrated here with the goal of cultivating the minds of those who pass through it.

I have found that the term “cultivating” has been commonly used throughout our discussion of the University. To cultivate is to try to acquire or develop. I find it interesting that the definition includes “try,” however, it falls perfectly inline with the way in which a University functions. By attending a University, there is no guarantee that one will emerge an enlightened individual ready to take on the real world. “Cultivation of the mind is surely worth seeking for its own sake” (310) and students must take on the challenge of immersing themselves in the knowledge the University possess. We also find the term painted on the ceiling of the library on the second floor of the tower. After discussing the idea that “cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy,” (301) we have a greater understanding of the importance of experience and intelligence that comes with age and various parts of life. Wiley also states that “True education is not scripted; it is the development and cultivation of a genius already within each and every one of us.” This is precisely why we attend a University; to use the available tools (teachers, courses, internships, etc…) to develop that genius to reach its full potential. Some will succeed tremendously in this task while others will fail miserably. The choice is left to the individual. We are the determiners of our future.

Flawn sums up all of the opinions of cultivation and the University in one statement: “…the central mission of any and all universities is the cultivation of the intellect” (307). Let us begin to cultivate.



In all honesty, I am nearly certain that no matter where I had chosen to attend school, I would have found it to be a pleasurable experience. However I am forever grateful that I chose the University of Texas. This final picture is John Cuenca with me on the drag as he attempts to get money for his "college fund." I saw him when he first got out there, so he hadn't received anything. Due to the multitude of bums that inhabit the drag, a new bum probably doesn't catch too many people's attention. I love the fact that I can walk down the drag and see a mime, a bum smoking a joint, a kid in my world literature class dressed up as a bum begging for money (John, that’s you!), and a world renown professor all in the same block. I love the sea of burnt orange that floods the stadium during home football games. I love risking my life on the way to my classes everyday, dodging both the buses and the bicyclist with the hopes of not being run over. I love the Tower, shooting into the sky, reminding all who look in its direction that “What starts here, changes the world.”

Only in Austin...