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so.. i've been at CAL for like 2 weeks now, and i've barely blogged about it! lol...
here goes my 2 week wrap-up:
move-in day: it was so hectic, but really cool to move all my stuff to berkeley. makes ya feel all independent and adult-like to have your own frig and microwave and a closet away from home... it's TIGHT! yeah... since then Na Ri (my roomie) and I have made some major readjustments to the furniture set-up. when we moved in we had the drawers and the bookshelfs in the middle of the room (kinda like an island you'd see in your kitchen) but we moved them yesterday so now we have floor room! yay! just need an area rug and it's all good. oh, and a tv. we need a tv. phil's got a 27" tv in his suite! man! i'm gonna visit there often i think! idk.. for 4 guys, it's pretty clean. and ya.. he's got so much dls paraphanalia (sp?) there. it's cute! lol... anyways.. back to out new floor space. this means vacuuming more regularly, which = more work. oh well.. that comes with adulthood. WORK. *tired sigh*
welcome week: welcome week was fun! i met sooooo many people, but i don't think I remember all their names... sorry. but i remember their faces for the most part. yeah.. there are soooo many people at cal. it's weird not knowing EVERYONE. but it's kinda cool to walk around among all these intellectuals that are all motivated and stuff (hopefully not motivated to see my own downfall...). it's cool to just walk around campus, down sproul plaza, past all the people with flyers and tables and sign-up sheets, past the comedians and musicians and singers... it's tight. it's like a tiny city within a city. mr. hodges said that i walk like i'm on an urgent mission... is that a good thing or a bad thing? anyway... students walk so quickly here.. tryin to get from class to class or to a club or a meeting or to the DC or the dorms or wherever... and then there are the people taking naps or reading on memorial glade or in the shady bench spots... (takes me back to my lazy days of summer. sigh. but that's a whole other subject.) occassionally i'll see a frisbee in the air or a dog running around unleashed. it's cool. very cool.
all the activities were fun too.. trips to target. hiking up to the Big C (fyi: stretch your leg muscles first!!!!). game nights (CRANIUM!). walking back and forth and back and forth from the student store and ned's. (book buying wasn't all that bad, either. yay!) hall meetings. roomie programs. movie nights (office space... hahahahahaha... "someone's gotta case of the Monday's" oooo and Michael Bolton! good times!). ice cream socials w/ the Bowlesmen! (and the really really really [maybe minus that last 'really'] cute Irish rugby player majoring in english or philosophy or econ that all the girls flock too... haha, his friends stick real close to him to get in with the girls too... they're like his bodyguards! funny stuff. boys. go figure.) calapalooza (like a MEGA club carnival!) caltopia (free stuff! every college kids dream!) there are sooooooo many ways to get involved, and i wanna do soooooo much. but i don't think i have the time. oh well.... so it goes. there's always next sem. and the sem after that and the sem after that and so on and so forth... till June 2007! and i'm outta here!
oh yeah.. the College of Engineering orientation... get this: so the dean of the college welcomes us and says all the those great and wonderful things about our class.. how we're the strongest group yet.. how they know we'll succeed.. how they'll help us get where we wanna get.. and all that happy stuff. they tell us that even though we might've already declared ourselves in a certain major that we should diversify our experience here.. take classes that don't necessarily apply to our major if it's something we wanna try... hey, at least they're encouraging breadth! but yeah.. they we broke up into our academic advising session which was cool. i met up with anthony and brian and erik from CalSo.. we were all choppin' it up.. talkin and catchin up.. good times! but the thing is that our adviser says that we SHOULD NOT take classes that don't apply to our grad requirements cuz they want up out of here in 8 semesters!!!! hahahahahaha.. now that we're here, they can't wait to get rid of us!!!!!!!!! what a warm welcome to CAL! lol.. but we understand. it's aight. you've gotta share this academic wealth with the next batch of students... it's cool. after that there were tours... jordan and I went on it. the tour was in 3 parts... they got progressively better, i'd say. it's awesome to see these engineering principles applied to actual day-to-day things... i'm excited! thinking of lookin into a research project.. helpin out a professor or grad student... but again, that's work! lots of it! we'll see...
classes: so i'm only taking 13 units this sem. 3 three 4-unit courses (chem 1a, math 1a, eng C107/relig st C119) and one seminar (CE 92 or intro to civil engineering)... the first week was kinda rough.. getting used to walkin around to classes not confined to one rectangular building. figuring out what to do with the 1/2 hour or 1 hour or 1 1/2 hour chunks of time between classes. but all in all.. academics is going fine. i'm pretty much all caught up with where i need to be. THERE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH READING!!!!!!! i can't believe it! and i've got midterms coming up in 2 weeks... fun fun. can't wait for those! *grin* NOT! my professors are pretty nice, i think. i should drop in during their office hours one of these days... but that requires a hell of a lot more walking on my part.. but i will. i have to! wow... you've gotta be sooo self-motivated! no one tells you what to do or where to go or when to go... it's all up to you. maybe that's why i'm so tired. maybe i'm just lazy... *snap outta it!*
passed the first 3 chem quizzes with flying colors!!! yay! the whole online test taking is pretty freaky... it makes me so nervous! idk why? but i'm doing alright so far. phew.
i've got my first calc quiz on thursday. can't wait for that! ugh.. our GSI makes no sense! like today.. i left the class soooo confused. delta this and epsilon that! where was this coming from? i know we were talking about limits and behaviors of curves and stuff like that.. but then he threw in something soooo random. everyone around me was sooo puzzled! and then when we were going over answers.. he didn't even know the solution! what's up with that! we had to correct him like 5 or 6 times before he finally figured out what 1/2 the class already knew! woah....
on a much happier note: Wu reminds me of Gomes! like the way they talk.. it's so cute. i think Gomes was the best math teacher i had.. mr. guthrie from dls was really good, too.. but he's been pushed farther back in my memory so Gomes wins.. yeah. actually.. maybe mrs. newsom is 2nd. (side note: i saw marie newsom walk by this afternoon. she's got a cute haircut) mrs. newsom was soooo patient and considerate of us.. some kids treated her like shit *cough*nick campbell*cough*. and then there were kids like mike fink who would just get up out of his seat and talk to her at the front of the classroom about a problem! lol... highly entertaining class... oooo. and the boxers! (lol, lauren knows what i'm talkin about! go ducks!).... but yeah, back to Wu. he's really cool. he can't work techy things either.. like, on friday, he was trying to work a projector/transmitter and he couldn't do it.. so the tech person up in the booth had to do it for him, and while SHE was workin on it he was telling us how some teachers like to use power point presentations. and he says "oh, you don't have to worry about that. i'll be dead before i figure out power point".. and at that, the WHOLE auditorium busts out laughing!!! it's great!
the intro to CE seminar seems really low key. i've just gotta show up for the most part. different CE professors are supposed to come in and talk to us about what they do and answer our questions... kinda help us figure out where we want to specialize. yup. we'll see how this goes... (note to self: register for ASCE! need extra credit!)
my "English Bible as Literature" course is really interesting too.. and it's upper division! kinda scary! kinda thrilling! there are adults in there as students, too... these people could've been my high school teachers! weird! but prof. goldsmith is extremely witty and insightful and just chalk-full of knowledge on the Bible and biblical times and history and language.. it's really nice to have a teacher that can bring all of that together! i've made friends in all my classes so far. there's a group of asian kids in this one though that crack me up everyday. really friendly bunch. they all live off campus. i hope i make tight friends like that here...
friends: GO STERNIES!!! i think i know like all the girls on my floor.. yay! they're cool. we do dinner or lunch or whatever... have study sessions.. watch the VMAs (OMG! brit and madonna.. yuck!).. eat each other's food. it's great! but it's pretty quiet... everyone's good about schoolwork. helps keep me on task too. in general, stern hall is pretty quiet (except for second floor new wing! hahahahahaha.. oh girls! they party all night.. lol. good times.) i think i'll like it here.
it's nice to keep in touch with the dls guys. i have chem with phil and mike. intro to ce with jordan. haven't seen tony AT ALL.. oh well. we've kinda lost tough anyway. i see jordan on occassion at the DC with patrick (one of his roomie). we'll talk and catch up on stuff.. usually it's me asking what the hw was or how the lab went or if he's going home for the weekend... i've met phil for dinner a few times, talked after chem class, met his roomie (carlo.. he's from croatia.. and he's 6'9".. oh wow!), admired his big tv! lol... yeah. i really do hope to further our friendships.. and if the way things are going in the first few weeks are any indication of the rest of the year.. things are lookin good! but i don't see danielle or kathleen that often. i have chem with danielle, but i can't really find her half the time. phil and mike are a tad easier cuz they're tall... i'll look harder tomorrow.
peter from CalSo is in my chem class, too.. he says i make him sleepy cuz i yawn in class sometimes! geez... it's not like i can help it! so i say.. "quit paying attention to me then! and focus on the lecture!" lol... he's an interesting character. he's always got something to say about the prof. or the concepts being covered... usually something kinda sarcastic. oh well. whatchagonnado... at least i won't fall asleep.
so yeah.. that's all i can think of for now... once i get this week outta the way, i'll have more to say.
oh wait! HALL ASS... hall association. Dorie and I are running for co-presidents! too bad, last year's pres. decided to put her name in the running at the last minute!!!!!!!!! geez!!!!!!!!!! way to ruin my day! we're the only position being contested too! ugh.. i hope we win. cuz that's just embarassing! man.... our speech could've been way better. now i've gotta work my ass of campaigning! oh well... life is work.
WHY???!!!!??? why can life be easy, man? i'm cool with easy. but in a way, if it's easy, it kinda doesn't feel right. idk... idk what the heck i'm thinking about life right now.. except that some LIFE cereal sounds mighty tasty! oh yeah.. dorm food. let's say that salads are your best bet.. oh, that, and the fruit. thank goodness for ice cream, too! the campus restaurants are better... got my tuesday/thursday smoothie w/ chicken strips and fries lunch routine down! 2 swipes and $1.24... or 3 swipes but i'll but a snack item too for late night study sessions... yup. i'll survive on this stuff... Clark Kerr Campus has really good eats, too... and Crossroads is nice b/c of the variety. haven't tried DC3 or the other campus restaurants.. but hey, we're only in week 2... 28 more to go till summer!!!!! yay!
ok... must get back to my "what are my goals for a CEE education" paragraph... or something like that... |
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posted by Rita at 
