Published on 2024-03-16 21:06 by Sam Wu

Vivian Lu

I’m an only child. So no siblings, just my mom and I. It was a really hard relationship with my mom at times. Even if she’s not physically there, it just kind of feels suffocating in the house. So there were times when just had to get out of there. Being outside and hanging with friends was a way to fill up time. My friends and I would go to the BPL to do homework. We would go there to cram all of our homework in before the due date. But it was fun because all of us were going through it and suffering together. Our spot was in the basement with the colored rooms.

Our school was majority low-income first-gen. And then there were the white people, some of them were just really rich. Well, I’d say middle class because if they had the money they wouldn’t go here.

I think BU is just kind of insane. I am low-income, so honestly, I can’t imagine the amount of money some people have. I can’t envision it. So for people to be spending the way that they’re spending and telling me how much they have, it’s insane. It’s always surprising to me. I’m always in shock when I come across very wealthy people because even our mindsets are very different. For me, I don’t ask my parents for money. I work and that’s how I get my money. I don’t blow it all. I tell myself I have less than what I have so that in case of emergencies. For others, it’s like, yeah, Blew all my money today. I’m going to ask my parents for more money, and I’m like, what? It never occurred to me that that was an option. It’s crazy how other people do it so easily. I think I also have guilt whenever it comes to my parents giving me money. Even for a birthday.

There’s just a lot you have to learn. The biggest part is learning how to say no. If they’re like, we should catch up and grab food, saying like, actually can we just eat at the dining hall, so that like I’m not spending my own money. If like they’re like, hey we’re going out, sometimes I would be like, OK, you guys have fun. I’ll catch y’all next time or something like that. I am very careful with spending my money. I don’t really, I don’t really live paycheck to paycheck type of way.

I would love to go spend quality time with people, but I also feel that won’t be the only time I’ll ever get to see them. If so I would go. But a lot of my hangouts consist of doing work together. It’s very inexpensive. A lot of my friends are not rich. It’s very understandable for me to be like, can we do something cheap, or, I don’t have the funds right now to be eating out. They’re very understanding.

Written by Sam Wu