Life in University (Jasmine's Version)

Ever since I was young, I have always loved learning languages, especially English. If you had asked my mom, she would say that I have always done well in my studies, but there is just something about English, and even though I struggled in the beginning, it never stopped me from trying to be better. As the years progressed, I became more and more proficient. My friends may even go as far as calling me a "walking dictionary" as they constantly ask me when they have a question in English class.

My interest in languages naturally made me choose to study English Literature at Bina Nusantara University. My initial reasoning was that I liked English and could see myself learning about it for the next four years. Basically, I went into this major being somewhat blind, and I felt I could never give people the "right" answer whenever they asked me, "Why did you choose to study English Literature?" or "What will you be after you graduate?" 

During my time in university, I learned beyond the basic grammar structures –unlike what the general public (and high school Jasmine) thinks– I learned about linguistics, various cultures, and literary analysis. I must say, I enjoyed everything I learned, but there was one topic that never fails to pique my interest.

Linguistics. Yes, the scientific study of a language and its structure. Some of my friends struggled with it and I have felt some bumps during the course, but it was fun for me. It also brought up a thought in my brain, "How do I show others that being able to speak various languages is fun and easy?" This question then led to my decision to take the English as a Foreign Language Learning streaming, which prepared me to be an EFL teacher.

By joining this streaming, I got to know that being a teacher isn't as easy as I thought. We had to make lesson plans after lesson plans after lesson plans. I mean, it was not a complicated task, but it was definitely difficult to come up with new activities that were both engaging and meaningful. I also learned that there is a lot to consider when creating an assessment and managing the classroom to ensure students get their best results.

I am a person who has always loved children. In my eyes, they are perfect little angels. Even though there might be times when they are naughty, I can't be angry with them because they are adorable. During my junior high school years, my break time matched up with the preschoolers' and kindergarteners' time to go home. So, I spent quite a big chunk of my break time playing with them. 

When I first got told by my lecturer that we were going to teach third to fifth graders from a nearby area of our campus, I was excited because I thought it would be a fun and fulfilling experience. Never would I have ever thought that teaching young learners was that physically and emotionally taxing. Each session was for about one and a half hours, but I always found myself feeling drained afterward.

It was my first time teaching too, so of course I made some mistakes here and there. However, it did not stop me from reflecting and finding solutions for the next teaching sessions. My lecturer also complimented me saying that she sees my growth and she believes I will become a great teacher in the future.

During the four years of my university life, I spent almost half of it being active in organizations or events organized by and for my university. This decision was greatly influenced by my brother, who is four years older than me. I still remember the day he brought various brochures for the after-school activities available. I remember picking out some brochures and saying, "Oh, later when I am a university student, I want to join this and this. I think I also want to join the student association." 

Fast-forward to a few years later, I joined the English Department's Student Association (HIMSI) in the public relations division. I was also lucky enough to become the core committee in three events, being the project manager or head of event for one of them. These experiences allowed me to grow as a person and build my critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills, which I see as important skill sets to have as a teacher. 

I was also lucky enough to have gotten the chance to lead the organization during the 2023/2024 period. I don't think I would have had the confidence to run as a candidate if my brother had never been a president too or if my predecessors had never persuaded me to do so. I learned a lot and I met a lot of people with various personalities, I would never trade this experience for anything else.

There were many moments when I felt absolutely stressed out and just wanted to run away, but I knew better than to give up along the way. The people around me, be it my friends or co-workers in the organization, helped motivate me to keep pushing through and seeing it to the end. They reassured me when I was feeling lost and took over when I was burned out.

I also decided to try out for both the Freshmen Leader (FL) and Freshmen Partner (FP) roles for the First Year Program at my university. Both these roles have the job description of facilitating the freshmen in their first year, but they differ in the working duration. For FL, it is during the first week of their orientation, whereas the FPs are there for the whole year. I am glad to have been one of the first people to welcome the new batch of English Literature students and it is with great pleasure that I say this experience is one of the highlights of my university life.