Dear Reader,
It sure has been quiet sometime since I’ve typed that phrase onto my keyboard. As the saying goes “time flies when you’re having fun” and I couldn’t agree more.
For those of you who may have forgotten, I’m Mikael M. Melo, an RTA: Media Production student who has just completed his very first year at Ryerson University. When I first moved to Ryerson I took part in the “Road to Ryerson” experience and I must admit that the boy from the very first blog is not the same as the boy I am today.
It’s funny how much you can change (mentally) in such a short amount of time. I don’t think I can sum up each and every amazing thing that has happened in my first year of Ryerson, but I’ll certainly try my best to catch you up to speed.
First Semester:
First semester was a rollercoaster ride, not only was it an extremely quick transition into the university lifestyle, but it was a great way for me to mix and mingle with the people of Ryerson. I got to go to do more than I could have ever imagined possible in first semester, such as blog for Road to Ryerson, go to holiday themed parties, concerts and musicals, attended a TEDx, get to act and model in a few student projects, work behind the scenes on film shoots, bond and film a Christmas video with my floor, etc. Although it was stressful in the beginning, first semester was absolutely incredible.
Second Semester:
Although my work load almost doubled this term, I think the overall experience of second semester beats out first by a landslide. As a student, you’re already emerged into the Torontonian and Ryerson culture, you kind of know your way around campus, and you are somewhat familiar with the people on campus. I also feel I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone second semester and aimed to do things I never thought possible. For example, I was interview on CP24 for #BellLetsTalk, I traveled to Honduras with a group of RTA students on a humanitarian experience to film a documentary (to see our documentary check out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClhLUqqWIqNZwJV_lMY4FAw), I attended the Canadian Screen Awards and other conferences, I waxed my legs for charity, met my favourite artists, skated for the first time, continued to make friends within the Ryerson community, etc! Second Semester just blew first out of the water and I’m very blessed and lucky for everything that has happened this year.
University (so far) has been such a life changing experience, I know that sounds so clique but believe me when I say that you learn so much about yourself through meeting other people. I’ve been extremely lucky to have gained such amazing friends over the past eight months, friends who are loving, adventurous, crazy (in the best way possible) accepting, compassionate, and downright hilarious. If anything I will most certainly miss the people I’ve met over the summer, we all come from such diverse places, but together we are something simply magically and I’m very happy to have the friends that I have in my life.
In celebration of the end of first year in residence, my floormates and I decided to “The Roommate Tag” check it out:
I feel as though in high school, you say you know who you are and that you’ve “found yourself”. But University is where you truly build on the concept of who you think you are and become the person you’re meant to be.
I’m not going to sugarcoat the truth when I say you’re going to mess up, not everyone is going to like you, you’re going to make plenty of mistakes that you’re going to regret, and there will be moments when you feel as though you can’t go on anymore. Believe me I’ve been there, but that’s all a part of the learning experience. Sure people may find you weird, you might not find that special someone when you swipe right, you might not exercise as much as you’d like too and hey maybe you aren’t getting those stellar marks you were hoping for, but that’s life. Live in the moment and try to cherish every second of University because you are here to learn and grow, plain and simple as that.
As I mentioned before, there is nothing I’d want to change about first year, I’ve enjoyed all the bad and certainly all the good. I am most definitely not the same boy I was when I first got here and I am very okay and very proud of that. Change is not a bad thing – remember that 🙂
I am extremely excited for what Second Year has in store for me, it’s already looking pretty good from the looks of it (I’ll be a Residence Advisor next year and a part of a bunch of clubs, which is an incredible honor)!
Thank you for reading along and coming with me on my first year journey!
Feel free to stay connected with me via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube): @mikaelmmelo, I love making new friends so even if you see me on campus feel free to stop me and say hello!
I wish all the best to the next batch of #RoadToRyerson first years as you’re in for one heck of a ride!
Until Next Time,
Mikael M. Melo
