Bringing it to a Close

Today I finished my last day of classes. The only thing that awaits me is finals, which starts on Wednesday.
It's a lazy Friday for me right now, so why not write a new post?


At this moment, I am watching 500 Days of Summer (in Spanish). Why, you may ask? No reason at all.


Anyway, this is not what I wanted to write about. I have been doing some reflecting on my freshman year in college. I can honestly say that I have learned so much about myself as a semi-independent student living thousands of miles away from my parents. Being away from home really made me analyze my belief systems. Why do I hold on to certain beliefs? Do I actually believe them or do I believe it under obligation from my parents? These types of questions really were influential in reshaping my worldview, and I know for a fact that I would not be experiencing all this if I were still at home.


I actually feel comfortable with who I am as a person because I really had to pick and choose the certain values and belief systems that only I agree with. With that being said, I'm glad I'm in college. I would not trade this experience for the world.


This college experience was a good learning experience in the areas of friendship. At the beginning of the year, I felt desperate to find friends, fearing that I might end up being perceived as a loner. Unfortunately, I lowered my standards in the quality friends I made, so I shouldn't have been surprised that these so-called friendships were phony. Yes, these poor quality friendships I made ended up horribly, but it was another life lesson that I will never forget.


As for living situations go, all I can say is that it's tough. Having a roommate for three quarters of the school year and abruptly leaving half way through the second semester, was probably the most frustrating event throughout my school year. I know I am not a perfect person, but I really did try to work things out as a civil roommate. Frustration, anger, and betrayal were growing inside of me even to this day, and it is still so difficult to let go of bitterness and animosity towards someone who lacks maturity in certain situations.


On that happy note, freshman year was not what I expected. Even though my situation was not close to being 'ideal,' I am grateful that all of the little mishaps occurred; without them, how will that make me a better person? Sometimes in life, trials come along to make you a stronger person. These life events give you the experience needed to succeed in life. This most certainly has been a growing year for me, and I will gladly accept life as it comes my way, whether good or bad.

WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST MONTH?!?

Oh hi! Yes, I am fully aware that I haven't had a new blog post in the past month, but do realize:

MY STUPID TOSHIBA LAPTOP IS AT TECH SUPPORT!!!!

The only access I have to the cyberworld is through the public computers at the library, and honestly I don't  want to write a blog with people hovering over me, waiting for me to get off the computer.

Ok, I'm done with the excuses. There are certain things I learned/experienced in the past month.

1) I do not know how to take tests
2) I socialize too much
3) It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to go on a diet in college
4) I WENT TO THE PHIL WICKHAM CONCERT AT COMMON GROUNDS!

There you go. That's the outline for my little ramble. So first, I do not know how to take tests. I realized that yes, I know the material, but I think too hard. With all the multiple choice questions I always think to myself:

"why did the instructor choose THAT as an option? it's probably because they're trying to do reverse psychology or something crazy like that. stop trying to mess me up with 'all of the above' 'none of the above' 'a, b, c, except d'"

For that reason, I haven't been doing well academically (in my Asian standards of course) so far, and also partly because of my crazy social life. To keep things clear: I DO NOT PARTY. I think it is stupid to go kill brain cells and to lose your inhibitions to do crazy things. My social life consists of going to the library to "study" with my friends, and that usually leads to hilarious conversations that keep me up to 3 in the morning. No worries. I realized my problem, and I'm making it my goal to go to bed by midnight and to work on my homework by myself.

Part 3: dieting in college. For the first month of college, my friend and I tried to be vegetarian. There are limited options, such as a veggie burger that I had to wait for 20 minutes. I stopped being a vegetarian, and attempted to go on a low-carb and no fried food diet. I literally lasted for 1 day because there are just too many temptations around with all the fries, grilled cheese, pizza, burgers and tasty Mexian food.

Last but not least, I went to a Phil Wickham concert last night! It was at Common Grounds, an awesome coffeeshop with an amazing indie vibe to it. Phil Wickham is like an angel sent from heaven. His voice was perfect, and I was so blessed by how it was more like a worship time rather than a crazy rock concert. It was so amazing hearing all the people in the crowd singing to God and raising their hands in worship. Yes, I took pics, and yes, I will post it in the next blog, as well as a video of him singing his song Cannons.

Ok, that's it. It's currently 10:25 in the morning. I went to bed at like 4:30 in the morning and woke up at 9ish....so I might go back to bed? haha

First Official Week of College!

Yes, it is true. I finished my first week of college and survived!

Things I learned in this past week:
1) Read the Syllabus: it shows everything I need to do for the semester, so I can efficiently plan out my study schedule.
2) Attend Class: this seems like a no brainer, but at Baylor, attendance is required 75% of the class days in order to pass the class. Plus, I can't afford to fall behind!
3) DO THE READING!! I never read so much in a week!

Even though I learned so much in the past week, I feel that high school did not adequately prepare me. I felt like most of my high school teachers babied us, and personally held us by the hand so that we would not fail in high school. College professors are like, "If you want to succeed, YOU have to seek out help. We're not going to be your mommy and make life easy for you."

Similarly, professors do not delay their lesson plan if it was not covered in the class or if some student was falling behind. I like the whole idea of keeping up with the schedule, so I guess that works out for me. :)

Anyway, most of my classes are 100+ people, and my English class is only like 20 people, which is nice.
 If you want to know, I'm taking Religion, Intro to Psychology, English, Management Information Technology (aka Intro to Computers), and Intro to Art. So far, life's good, and I can't wait til all the activities this weekend!!!!! :D