Bungee jumping is a real thrill...but it’s also really scary! I think university and bungee jumping have a lot in common...I'll attempt to explain this to you:
Before going to university you feel anxious and scared, but also very excited. You can't wait for the day to come where you pack your bags and gain the freedom you‘ve wanted since you started high school. But with this excitement also comes anxiety. What degree will you do? Will you be able to handle the work load? How much will it all cost? Will you be okay away from home? Will you keep in touch with your friends? These are all totally normal feelings. University is a big step. This excitement and nervousness is like the days before you plan to go bungee jumping. You ask yourself if you will be able to go through with it and if you will be okay afterwards. After a bit of self convincing, or a push from someone else, you take the leap...like making the decision to go to university.
At first you feel amazing. You feel the freedom and excitement bubbling out of you. You find it hard to believe that you are finally here. After waiting 5 years to finish school so you can go to university, the day has arrived! You get thrown into a world unknown to you. You can’t wait to meet new people and experience new things...life is about to start. This is like the trip from the bungee jumping platform to just before the bungee cord is pulled taut. It is a feeling of weightlessness that you have never experienced before.
Before you reach the bottom of your jump for the first time you start to stress slightly: will the cord hold you? Is it going to be okay? This is like the first few weeks/months of university. You suddenly get the work piled on, you have to choose your subjects, you miss home, and every part of your life has changed. But soon these feelings will subside. You realise that the cord isn’t going to break. Everything will work out ok and so you start to enjoy the ride. This is where real university life starts.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Plan, jump, push, freefall. Thrill.
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6 comments:
Very good analogy. And the whole 'jump or be pushed' part is very true. You either decide on your career and hope it's what you want, or your high school-self/ parent(s) persuades you to do the degree they think is best for you.
I really enjoyed reading your blog as it is gives insight into what to expect and what not to expect when you get to varsity. It is similar to my post in that it is encouraging and prepares the reader well in advance that varsity is not easy, and even though it is exciting to leave home,"university is a big step" and i agree that along with excitement also comes "anxiety". your post is very realistic and all those feelings you are about to experience before you leave are all normal and part of the "ride". i liked how you compared university to bunjee jumping,they really do have a lot in common,and i agree that it is only once you've jumped and overcome that fear that you begin to enjoy the ride.
Dear Pink Monkey
The analogy used to describe the daunting experience of university is truly one that speaks to me. It is similar to the advice that I imparted to my younger self.
You address the emotional rollercoaster that the first few weeks of varsity are and assure your younger self that "these are normal feelings that will subside". I love the way you put forward the idea of pushing yourself past these doubts and taking a risk and just jumping!
You really painted a motivating and encouraging picture. :-)
Keep on doing what you are doing!
Much love
Jovy-Wovy xxx
In terms of commonalities, the letter was common to mine in a sense that we both started our letter off with the issue of the anxiousness, excitement and the scary part that comes with starting University life; so we were both interested in that. And I also like the fact that there is a link between the first and the second paragraph, she did not just jump from one topic to another and leave a gape. I also liked the part were she brought in the issue of doubt by asking wether the receiver of the letter is going to handle to workload and the idea of doing everything without the familiar help. But I felt like there wasn’t a clear line of what the letter was really about because she talks about the feelings before coming to University and on the other paragraph she talks about workload.
Going bananas
Confused feelings of anxiety and excitement are common when starting university life. While I described this feeling as a volcano erupting inside of me, Pink Monkey, felt similarly, posting on her blog ‘Bungee my life’, that feelings emerging before taking the plunge into university is much like the days before going “bungee jumping”. I spoke of the eagerness in which first year’s like to tackle new experiences, Pink Monkey related this to the trip from the “bungee jumping platform to just before the bungee cord is pulled taut”. This weightlessness, I interpreted in my own letter as the lack of thoughts of consequences. Pink Monkey says the moment “before you reach the bottom of your jump for the first time you start to stress slightly”. This was the next morning for me, after we’ve made some regrettable decision, our minds overflowing with the bad odour of guilt, just before the bungee cord yanks us back into the real world, where we have to face the consequences.
‘SisVic’
A Mom’s perspective…
The description of your feelings about going to university, the excitement and anxiety are very much akin to the feeling your Mom was probably experiencing at the same time. She probably put on a brave face, listening to your endless babble about how you can’t wait to go and how exciting it was going to be. Although excited about her child going off into to the big world to learn and experience exciting new things (an opportunity she never had as a school leaver), there is also the lurking anxiety about how her precious child will cope (without Mom), will she fit in and make friends, will she like the food at res, what if she gets sick, who is going to look after her and most importantly of all, will she be safe out there, all alone in the big bad world.
Eventually the day dawns when both Mom and child have to jump off that bungee ledge, into the unknown. Stomachs are churning, hearts are beating at a fast pace, one..two…three…….go!
Hey, what do you know, you are both still alive, no injuries, in fact your child is screaming…with exhilaration!! Not so bad after all.
As the weeks to by, that bungee rope is still attached, on the up when your child comes home and on the down waiting for that bus to arrive to take her back to varsity life.
Your child is also experiencing the ups and downs of the bungee rope, when reality kicks in and she struggles on her own to cope with the demands of varsity life. The excitement has worn off and going home now becomes the light at the end of her tunnel. Mom also has a light at the end of her tunnel, it is the light of knowledge in that she has managed to let go so that her beautiful child can get the very best out of life.
The year is nearly over and Mom begins to haul that bungee rope in. Soon her child will be safely back home and Mom can breath normally again.
Maybe it wasn’t a bungee rope at all, but merely………apron strings.
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