Back to school
Fall 1999
I don't think I've felt as innocent in my post-secondary life as when I went to Fanshawe College. My first semester there was particularly a garden of eden to which I'll never return. It's not that it was any better than now. It was just a time when I was more innocent, before my major episodes and hospitalizations. I was fresh out of high school and everything was new. The summer had been perfect, and now school was beginning, I felt I was given a chance to really make a go with my academic career. At that point, I wasn't specifically thinking about university. I was just hoping a door would open. I hadn't been a good student in high school (my average was 67%), and I felt now was the time to get serious.
Most of my friends were going to University. Only my friend, Neil, and I went to Fanshawe at this point. I wasn't as close to Neil then as I am now, but when I ran into him early on in the school year, I was overjoyed to see a familiar face. We used to hang out at lunch and between classes, and we'd talk about comic books, heavy metal, Star Wars, drinking, babes, and wrestling (which was in its prime at that point, in my opinion).
It was at Fanshawe that I reignited my love of learning, and I learned several skills from my brief time there. I learned how to write an essay, how to write short stories, how to read a text book, but most importantly I learned to enjoy campus life.
One of the things I loved about Fanshawe was its on-campus radio. Fanshawe had two stations: one that broadcasted dance music throughout London, and the second was a miscellaneous station that played in some of the halls around campus. It gave me a taste for heavier music. I was already heading in that direction, but it certainly helped. I remember my first day there, they kept playing Limp Bizkit's cover of "Faith" and their own "Nookie". Another song etched into my memory of my first day was Fear Factory's cover of "Cars". I used to just sit on the couches in the "B" Building and listen to the radio play all these songs that instantly became favourites, including Korn's "Freak on a leash" and Godsmack's "Whatever".
Fanshawe gave me the confidence to really consider going to university. It wasn't until my second year that I really came to this realization, and made my decision to go to King's College (an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario), but the seeds of that decision were sowed early on in my time at Fanshawe when I got 90% on a test, and an A on my sociology paper - my first university level essay.
Obviously I consider my first semester there a very happy time. Unfortunately, my first year was cut short by my illness - my first bout of the adult version of my psychotic depression. However, nothing can take the good times I did have away from me.
I don't think I've felt as innocent in my post-secondary life as when I went to Fanshawe College. My first semester there was particularly a garden of eden to which I'll never return. It's not that it was any better than now. It was just a time when I was more innocent, before my major episodes and hospitalizations. I was fresh out of high school and everything was new. The summer had been perfect, and now school was beginning, I felt I was given a chance to really make a go with my academic career. At that point, I wasn't specifically thinking about university. I was just hoping a door would open. I hadn't been a good student in high school (my average was 67%), and I felt now was the time to get serious.
Most of my friends were going to University. Only my friend, Neil, and I went to Fanshawe at this point. I wasn't as close to Neil then as I am now, but when I ran into him early on in the school year, I was overjoyed to see a familiar face. We used to hang out at lunch and between classes, and we'd talk about comic books, heavy metal, Star Wars, drinking, babes, and wrestling (which was in its prime at that point, in my opinion).
It was at Fanshawe that I reignited my love of learning, and I learned several skills from my brief time there. I learned how to write an essay, how to write short stories, how to read a text book, but most importantly I learned to enjoy campus life.
One of the things I loved about Fanshawe was its on-campus radio. Fanshawe had two stations: one that broadcasted dance music throughout London, and the second was a miscellaneous station that played in some of the halls around campus. It gave me a taste for heavier music. I was already heading in that direction, but it certainly helped. I remember my first day there, they kept playing Limp Bizkit's cover of "Faith" and their own "Nookie". Another song etched into my memory of my first day was Fear Factory's cover of "Cars". I used to just sit on the couches in the "B" Building and listen to the radio play all these songs that instantly became favourites, including Korn's "Freak on a leash" and Godsmack's "Whatever".
Fanshawe gave me the confidence to really consider going to university. It wasn't until my second year that I really came to this realization, and made my decision to go to King's College (an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario), but the seeds of that decision were sowed early on in my time at Fanshawe when I got 90% on a test, and an A on my sociology paper - my first university level essay.
Obviously I consider my first semester there a very happy time. Unfortunately, my first year was cut short by my illness - my first bout of the adult version of my psychotic depression. However, nothing can take the good times I did have away from me.
posted by The Doctor at 5:37 PM
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