First Day

Yesterday was the first day of May Everyday. (I skipped May 1 because...well, just because I thought up the idea around midnight on the first.) It went well, I have to say. I wrote two pages of some story I haven't planned, plus a few poems--one which I'll probably post in the next day. It's about cars! But not really.

I've been feeling a lot more stress recently. It's mostly the amount of work I have to do for school, but it's also the daunting task of transferring to a university next year. Even though I'm confident in my abilities, I can't help but feel overwhelmed in the face of my future. It's like I'm six and I've been riding a bike with training wheels for the past year, and now that I've got a good handle on riding, I'm expected to learn how to ride a motorcycle by next year. Well, it's not really like that; at least, I hope it's not like that. But it sure does feel that way. This feels like one of those times when taking a deep breath and sitting peacefully for a few minutes would do me some good.

I'm back.

Lately, I've been wrestling in my mind where I want to transfer to next year. I'm very lucky because I have plenty of choices, all of which are respectable schools. Living in southern California sure has it's advantageous--even though there's terrible traffic most of the time.

On one hand, there's UC Riverside, a small institution located in Riverside, surrounded by nothing, filled with little social life. On the other hand, there's UCLA, a HUGE school in Westwood, ten minutes from the beach, crowded with people, surrounded by LA society and LA traffic, with more prestige in their parking lots than a lot of schools have in their entire staff.

I'll be getting a quality education at both, that's for certain. They're roughly the same amount to attend too. (I'll most likely be living on campus.)

However, while UCLA is more distinguished, UCR has the specific major I'm most interested in--Creative Writing. And while UCLA does offer a Bachelors in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, I don't know how much I'd rather spend writing as opposed to studying English/literature.

While the area around UCLA is crowded with people and traffic, it does have more interesting things to do. Oh course, I could always drive from UCR into LA, about an hour to hour and a half drive. Or I could just live there. I'm not much of a social butterfly, though, so what's the point of going there simply for the vibrant city life? But, I don't want to be bored out my mind either. I've heard Riverside is a bit of a bore. I don't need much, though; give me a movie and ice cream once in a while and I'll be content to spend my days inside.

I don't want go to UCLA only to impress people, especially my extended family who has produced two UCLA graduates--my two oldest cousins. At the same time, I might receive a more broad and even a more respected education at UCLA as opposed to UCR.

At this point, I still have months before I have to apply. I've got too much to worry about to spend time destroying my peace arguing with myself over which top-tier education I should have. I'll choose the option that makes me happiest. That's the thing about me: I don't worry about myself too much; I'm happy to be content.