<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2ICQgo_0vzlKcRO00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ICQgo_0vzlKcRO00" width="698" height="450" ><figcaption>Alexander Hong | File</figcaption></figure>“Am I too old to be here? Does it look weird that I’m here?”As I peered around the seemingly infinite mob of freshmen that flooded the party at a fraternity my friends and I have previously jokingly dubbed “our home,” I felt out of place. In my own home, can you imagine that?As I walked through the packed crowd, I winced — this was not something even the substance mixed with my Gatorade Zero (we were out of Redbull, okay?) could fix. I asked myself what might be nice right now, as I grew wary of when the plucky fresh meat surrounding me would need to hurl. La Burrita was always an appropriate bandage, and my bed and gabbing with my friends in a setting that I could actually hear them in — oh my god is this what being old feels like?It must be. My course load has graduated from the prerequisite and breadth stage, I do not need to again endure grueling Berkeley Club applications as my memberships re-up for another year, and going out a mere two times a week improves your sleep exponentially. Who knew? (Many people, many people probably knew this).So yes, I may not be shiny and new, but the Campanile still impresses me each time I pass, I already have friends (rumors of my mother paying them have been debunked) and I still have a little over a year to prepare to take my talents overseas (taking the 365 to polish myself into a paintable French girl for my Junior spring). Yet, there are still moments in which aging hits you like a ton of bricks, and in those trying times, you might need to pop in your headphones and embrace that this is what the wails of a washed-up bear might sound like:In My Life — The BeatlesWe arrive at college in the same manner we arrive into this world: naked and afraid — which, if you want to count the microscopic Shein tops worn the first weeks of freshman year, at least the naked part applies. Yet, no longer a frightened freshman crammed into a dorm fit for two, housing three, that feels like something to be thankful for. While change at any level is unnerving, let’s face it, you probably like yourself a lot better now than you did at your most primitive freshman self.Old Man — Neil YoungA personal favorite of mine, this song has seen me through all stages of life, once buckled into a booster seat in the back of my dad’s car, now blasting through my headphones on the 51B bus, drowning out the echoes of Ashby Avenue. An introspective masterpiece composed by a legend, you could laugh, you could cry –– the wise words of Young (which you are no longer), will carry you through.As Good as I Once Was — Toby KeithAdding a touch of honky-tonk to your rather downcast repertoire can’t hurt. Toby Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was” reflects on the glories of yesterday, but reminds us that nostalgia often paints a rosier picture than the truth. The grass is always greener on the other side (except when it comes to second-year midterms).Good Riddance — Green DayAny song that opens with a whispered “F---” positions itself in the immediate five-star territory. To be so vulgar, yet poetically symbolic, is a Green Day specialty. The 90’s punk rock band preaches how time — much like the elderly gentlemen on the Kip’s dance floor — grabs you by the wrist, and does not let go. I Can See Clearly Now — Johnny NashOne summer away from Berkeley Goggles, I can see clearly now (last year’s dance-floor-makeout-mistakes, and a new perspective). But with another year at the school crowned second in the United States, our second year has us feeling like the No. 1 version of ourselves (maybe it’s all that sleep and Gatorade Zero). There are bright sides to everything.“m I too old to be here? Does it look weird that I’m here?”As I peered around the seemingly infinite mob of freshmen that flooded the party at a fraternity my friends and I have previously jokingly dubbed “our home,” I felt out of place. In my own home, can you imagine that?As I walked through the packed crowd, I winced — this was not something even the substance mixed with my Gatorade Zero (we were out of Redbull, okay?) could fix. I asked myself what might be nice right now, as I grew wary of when the plucky fresh meat surrounding me would need to hurl. La Burrita was always an appropriate bandage, and my bed and gabbing with my friends in a setting that I could actually hear them in — oh my god is this what being old feels like?It must be. My course load has graduated from the prerequisite and breadth stage, I do not need to again endure grueling Berkeley Club applications as my memberships re-up for another year, and going out a mere two times a week improves your sleep exponentially. Who knew? (Many people, many people probably knew this).So yes, I may not be shiny and new, but the Campanile still impresses me each time I pass, I already have friends (rumors of my mother paying them have been debunked) and I still have a little over a year to prepare to take my talents overseas (taking the 365 to polish myself into a paintable French girl for my Junior spring). Yet, there are still moments in which aging hits you like a ton of bricks, and in those trying times, you might need to pop in your headphones and embrace that this is what the wails of a washed-up bear might sound like:In My Life — The BeatlesWe arrive at college in the same manner we arrive into this world: naked and afraid — which, if you want to count the microscopic Shein tops worn the first weeks of freshman year, at least the naked part applies. Yet, no longer a frightened freshman crammed into a dorm fit for two, housing three, that feels like something to be thankful for. While change at any level is unnerving, let’s face it, you probably like yourself a lot better now than you did at your most primitive freshman self.Old Man — Neil YoungA personal favorite of mine, this song has seen me through all stages of life, once buckled into a booster seat in the back of my dad’s car, now blasting through my headphones on the 51B bus, drowning out the echoes of Ashby Avenue. An introspective masterpiece composed by a legend, you could laugh, you could cry –– the wise words of Young (which you are no longer), will carry you through.As Good as I Once Was — Toby KeithAdding a touch of honky-tonk to your rather downcast repertoire can’t hurt. Toby Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was” reflects on the glories of yesterday, but reminds us that nostalgia often paints a rosier picture than the truth. The grass is always greener on the other side (except when it comes to second-year midterms).Good Riddance — Green DayAny song that opens with a whispered “F---” positions itself in the immediate five-star territory. To be so vulgar, yet poetically symbolic, is a Green Day specialty. The 90’s punk rock band preaches how time — much like the elderly gentlemen on the Kip’s dance floor — grabs you by the wrist, and does not let go. I Can See Clearly Now — Johnny NashOne summer away from Berkeley Goggles, I can see clearly now (last year’s dance-floor-makeout-mistakes, and a new perspective). But with another year at the school crowned second in the United States, our second year has us feeling like the No. 1 version of ourselves (maybe it’s all that sleep and Gatorade Zero). There are bright sides to everything.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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Tunesday: The soundtrack to your sophomore slump

“Am I too old to be here? Does it look weird that I’m here?”. As I peered around the seemingly infinite mob of freshmen that flooded the party at a fraternity my friends and I have previously jokingly dubbed “our home,” I felt out of place. In my own home, can you imagine that?

Tunesday: The soundtrack to your sophomore slump

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