Week #27: Happy Halloween! (10/28/2013 - 11/03/2013)

On Monday I had my first job interview ever, in the Office of Housing of USF. I was interviewed at 2 while they were also looking at my portfolio and they asked me some common questions, how did I get into photography? Did I had any experience? Was I comfortable talking to other people? I think I did really well but I'm not that positive because I'm certain there are a lot of more talented people than I am on campus. I wore my new blue dress from Forever 21 and a long sleeve USF sweater along with beige flats. I hate flats! My feet are so weird, no shoe fits well. Well, they fit but I get blisters and stuff. After calculus I bought me some Pollo Tropical, I love their pork Tropichop and went back to my dorm and watched KUWTK. I seriously need to stop buying Whoppers, whenever I have them I can't stop eating them and whenever I don't have some I can't stop craving them!

While I was studying on Tuesday for calculus I had the
best frapuccino I've had from Starbucks:
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Frap :)

On Tuesday I kind of skyped with Alex, my connection was super low so we had to postponed our convo for another day, I missed foundation of engineering because I am allowed to miss one and this one was the last before Mechanical so this was my last chance and what a coincidence that it's the day before me calculus test. I've been in the library since 4 pm and it's now 9 pm, I'm having a light headache and I can't really keep going. I feel like I'm going to fail so bad :( I still don't understand some basic stuff which is really bad and I don't have the will power nor the energy to keep going. I want to make my mom proud and this isn't helping :(

On Wednesday I woke up stressed about the calculus test, and I still am. It's 12:30 and the test is at 4, so it's a long way to go. Also Alex texted me about something I wrote weeks ago about her relationship, her ex-other half wanted me to take out what I wrote, but this blog is my safe haven and I write what I feel like writing. I have learned throughout the years that you shouldn't be what others want you to or expect you to be, however I will stop writing about her life, one because it's not mine although she is part of mine, and two because well.. I don't want to upset her or anything. Before my calculus test I met up with Victoria and Ricardo to discuss what we were going to do for tomorrow's lab and we finished early so Victoria and I went to Mr. Fleeman's office hours to review before the test. At first the test felt kind of easy but has I turned the pages it turned harder and harder. I hope I didn't messed up but I have a very bad feeling about this test.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Although I didn't dress up, collected candy or go to any parties, I just don't believe in Halloween.
Thursday I had chemistry lab and we did fine once we figured out exactly what to do, apparently David hasn't dropped the class according to Justin, but he did tell us he had drop it, so what it's going on? Anyway, after lab I had some Panda Express for lunch and then went to Metropolitan Ministries to do some volunteering work. Sara gave me a ride along with a friend of hers and Sara and I worked at Outreach Outfitters and Outreach Market, I really prefer Outreach Market so next time I'm gonna try getting that place. So I have a hold for an advisor appointment that I did went to, and the hold states the contrary so I have emailed and called my advisor and NOTHING! I just emailed the Dean of Undergraduates because my registration date is this Monday and I need that hold taken! I'm stressing so much over that! The Croc's package also came in today, another package to store until mom comes, I also got the Disney tickets in the mail! I'm so excited! I haven't gone to Disney in ages.

On Friday I had a pretty normal day, I got two 3s on my past week's weekly assignment for AMS, a B on the draft and well... This day was simply plain. I feel fatter :( Maybe it was yesterday's Panda Express, I feel so bad I'll have a cleansing weekend :) Kaitlyn went back home for the weekend which is nice to have some days the room to yourself. I spent the rest of my day watching Grey's Anatomy and trying to do my math homework but it's simply very hard! I'm kind of waiting for that beast mode moment to hit me and sincerely I'm getting worried it's too late. Oh my mom also told me that there's going to be a Forever 21 in Panama and it's opening this November 9th! It's kind of exciting because I could have pretty clothes whenever I wanted but it takes the magic out of shopping in the US.

Week #24 (10/07/2013 - 10/13/2013)

On Monday I went to lunch with Armando and two of his friends, Marc and Zach. We had Pollo Tropical :) After that I went to AMS and did my first test. The test gave us 12 terms/quotes about the material and we had to write a short paragraph about each, I think I did well, let's hope for the better. Calculus was endless, two hours of that is enough to kill yourself. I understood nothing about what we saw today. For dinner I had beef broth, a chicken sandwich and a salad. I now have lasted 9 days without drinking soda! Of course I drank last Tuesday to donate blood but that was necessary and I only drank less than half the can. After dinner I went to the library and finished my chemistry lab report within an hour. And I spent the rest of the evening watching Grey's Anatomy, I'm now by season 3.

On Tuesday the Foundations of Engineering lab class was very interesting, we went over through tips for being an engineer and some jokes about being an engineer major in college, I really like my professor. In Foundations of Engineering I was hoping not to bump into Ahmad because things have gone really weird and awkward but my luck didn't go that long, he sat next to me and he smelled weird... He stood up to look for his resume and then he disappeared and never came back, I was so relieved. I know it's kind of mean to feel this way but I don't know, he's just a little weird. At night I skyped with Alex, and we talked and talked and talked :) We should talk more often. After Alex I skyped with Rod and had a good time talking :) I did no homework today and I feel terribly guilty.

On Wednesday I felt so tired in calculus, my eyes were itchy and I was just... I couldn't take it anymore; anyway I went after calculus to meet up with Victoria and David to discuss what we were going to do on Thursday. Victoria had it all figured out so I went to eat Champion's Choice for dinner, I installed back the lose it app and I ended the day with 89 calories under budget! I even had the chance to eat a brownie and drink an iced tea from Starbucks. I thought the iced tea was going to suck since all the iced teas I've had in the US are unsweetened, but it was really good. I finished all my school work before 9! And I ended the night watching X Factor and Grey's Anatomy.

On Thursday I was hoping to see french toast for breakfast but darn my luck, I had to do with scramble eggs. Our chemistry lab turned out pretty good, well... really REALLY good :) I still feel sad that there will always be a unit that will not work yet think they are the boss of us. I have been craving french toast all week and decided to bike to IHOP to get some, the round trip was about 8 miles! and it took me close to an hour in total. It was not really worth it, sincerely I like more the ones they serve at Fresh Foods. I ended up my day with 100 and something calories under budget, and I got there by going to the gym. If I had not gone to the gym I would have surpassed the counter by about 800 calories! All the biking and exercise I did was for my trip to IHOP haha. I watched Glee's memorial episode for Cory, I didn't like it very much but I did cry. I successfully finish all of my homework before 8:30, and I feel kind of proud. My mom told me she booked the airplane tickets for thanksgivings! I don't know is Patty is coming yet, I hope she is, she asked in the group when was my mom flying here so that could be a sign :D Mom is coming from Wednesday before thanksgivings until Tuesday after thanksgivings.

On Friday I finally had some french toasts for breakfast! I only had one serving because I'm sticking to my Lose It! app, and in total I had over 500 calories just for breakfast XD so now I have to watch out for the ret of the day. Today is gonna be a very boring day because I have to do my geography assignment, and it is really really boring, I'm thinking about dropping it and adding an in-class next year or whatever. Every term I get the urge to drop that one course, in spring it was biology (which I ended up with an A), I just hope I can improve my geography grade :S

My mom is right now at the "Feria Internacional de Artesanias Aileen" in Panama, selling my grandma's sawdust decorative bottles, and her left over sewing kits. I really hope they can sell it all :)

Mornings are very cold in here, I still can't get used to these mornings, on Thursday when I had to wake up before 7 AM for my chemistry lab the weather marked 17 celsius. And I wanted to go to Michigan XD Still, I like the coldness :) I like wearing hoodies and fall and winter like clothing.

Week #21 (09/16/2013 - 09/22/2013)

On Monday I did my usual, I went to my Chemistry class and sat next to Armando. I'm starting to like him as a friend :) I also got super great news! I was hired by Fashion Voyage (an online fashion magazine) to take photographs here in Tampa. They said they'd pay me $5 per picture. I'm so excited. I already ordered my new camera, a Nikon D7100. Later that day I went to the library to meet up with Armando to do the practice exam for Chemistry and we aced it. Then we went to the food court and had Panda Express. I had my usual, the thumbs down part was that the lady just poured about 5 pieces of beef and thousands of broccoli.

On Tuesday my camera arrived! I ordered it with a two days shipping but it arrived earlier! After foundations for engineers I went straight to the mailroom to pick up my package. This new camera is super light, and I'll be doing a review of it this weekend. I bought a 18-105 mm, and a fisheye lens. The lens is super light and small to have that zoom. In foundations of engineering class and sat next to Ahmad.. things are getting weird, I kind of feel uncomfortable around him. I guess whenever I rush a friendship it always ends up weird and awkward (he also had bad breath). At night I went to the library to finish my lab report for Chemistry and I did! I stayed until around 10 pm. Cool thing about my library: 24 hour Starbucks, now if only I drank coffee haha.

On Wednesday when I came out of my American Studies class it was raining so bad! And again, I left my umbrella at my room. So I got a little bit wet. I stopped by the bookstore to buy a clipboard to put the signing sheet for my photography thing and then I went to my dorm. I went out again to go to my Calculus class, we finally started with applications of derivatives and now derivatives of logarithms and more fun stuff. After that I went to the library to meet up with David and Victoria and David was being an asshole, besides the fact that he brought his girlfriend and was all distracted we was "creyendose la gran vaina" saying "I told you so"s and more asshole stuff. I kept telling him that it was impossible for us to identify more than one compound mixed together and he kept saying that he personally asked the TA, so I had to email the professor in charge to prove him wrong.

That's my new free shirt :)

On Thursday I went to my lab, and hung out with Ricardo outside. I feel better now that I know that I'm not the only one who thinks David's a douche. We did awesomely great in this lab, we narrowed our search to two options with a very strong hint on one of them. After lab I went to a Study on Leadership thing that gives you hours for my Certified Student Leaders Program. I met Sylvia, she's from Indonesia and I liked her. I hope we can do some volunteer work together. Oh yeah, before the study on leadership thing, I was out and about taking pictures for the Fashion Voyage photos, the first one I took was really bad and I got sad, but the second one and the third one came out great! I personally like the third one which said her style is "punk but simple". I sent the pictures to Paul Comstock and now I'm waiting for his reply. So, he replied my email and he says I'm good and that he loved that I got a shot of the outfit accompanied by an apple, he asked me to create a PayPal so he could pay me! At 4 PM I went to a Read to Lead session, which serves as hours for my Certified Leadership Program, and it was fun. I ran into Kyle again, one of the kids in my Study of Leadership meeting and I made a group with him and a girl named Paige, we won a free t-shirt :) At 6:30 I went to the SkyPad at the MSC for a meeting for this YouTube thing I'm doing, we have a good team and I hope this works out.

Friday I woke up to an email confirming the payment I received from Fashion Voyage :) I'm pretty happy. at 10:45 I went to my Chemistry class to do my first exam of the term, it was pretty easy, I think I got 22/25 sans the points form the bonus question. I really hope it doesn't get harder because this test was easy for me because it covered everything I had on my three years in high school, so I really don't know what to expect for the second test. I had a meeting today with my Foundations for Engineering Lab group but it got canceled and Nick volunteered to put together the lab report so now I have the afternoon free, it's being a long time since I've had a very long period of time off. My dad is finally texting me back and replying my emails, I was really worried he had forgotten about me or didn't care at all, but now I'm happy and relieved. At 2 PM I went to my American Studies class and I got another 1/3 on my discussion questions, I was so stupid... There were 4 questions on the online file and I thought there were only 3. So I talked to Viktoria (our TA) and she told me I could email her the 4th questions so I did and now I have two points! At night I finished my math homework and google mapped my route for tomorrow, I'm planning to go to the zoo :)

My Classes - UPDATE

So initially I only had 6 classes which are:

• Calculus I
• Chemistry for Engineers
• World Regional Geography
• Intro to American Studies
• Foundations of Engineers
• Foundations of Engineers Lab

I wanted to enroll in the Chemistry for Engineers Lab too, at first but at orientation when I was registering they were all full. I had this hunch and decided to log in the page tonight to check if there were any spaces available. AND THERE WERE! 5 to be exact. So I enrolled and luckily the class with the 5 available spots are on Thursdays, my free days. Sadly, my classes are at 8 AM! Another thing I don't like is that I already missed the first class so I have no idea what I have to take or what I should know. On the good side, I don't need any extra books or anything. 

Now I have 7 classes this semester! I hope I can survive. 

Week #18 (08/26/2013 - 09/01/2013) - First Week of Classes at USF

Monday was my first day of classes at USF! I woke up to the alarm of my roommate about 7 AM and I had to wake up at 9:30, it was okay. I had a banana for breakfast and walked all the way to ULH, where my Chemistry for Engineers class is at. I walked because my bike was still making that weird *clack* sound. After class, which was really what I expected, I went to buy lunch at Pollo Tropical which is just behind the building. I had it to go and ate at my room. After that I had my Intro to American Studies at the CMC Building and it was this huge auditorium, bigger than the ULH one. The sits were comfier and I had a place to rest my head on. The professor was really cool and he even showed us some videos from the 1950s. When class was over I headed back to my dorm but I picked up the mail (my Forever 21 package and my Bruno Mars t-shirt for the concert), then I got my bike and went to the Rec Center in search for the repair shop. It took the guy about 20 minutes to repair it but I was happy to wait. When I got back I picked up my bag and went to Calculus one at the CIS Building. A two hour math class in a very uncomfortable char, i. e. HELL. We got a substitute teacher because Mr. Matthew Fleeman is in a conference in Montreal, Canada. We went right ahead and started with Limits after the introduction to the syllabus. After a very exhausting day I came back to my room and started doing some reading I had to do.

On Tuesday I woke up at 9 AM to go to the gym. I really did not much, I ran about a kilometer and a half on the track and did some other stuff for a very little amount of time. After the few burned calories I went to Bull's Champions in front of the Rec Center. I had some lettuce with chicken and mashed potatoes. I also grabbed meatloaf but I didn't like it. After lunch I came back to my room and got showered. At 11:30 I went out and when I was out I realized I left about half an hour later than I should have, so I stopped by Jamba Juice and ordered Strawberry Wild, which I didn't like so much. Class was really entertaining. I took my laptop and took notes on it. My professor is from South Korea and he seems pretty cool. He likes to talk about Harry Potter, Big Bang Theory and that kinds of stuff. After that I came to my room to chill and went out again at 3 PM for my Foundations of Engineering class at the BSN. The business building was HUGE! It looked like an airport wing or something and the auditorium had about 300 to 400 students! Before the class started a guy sat next to my and I introduced myself. We ended up talking and being good friends. He invited me a Jamba Juice and helped me with some papers I had to print at the library. He seems pretty awesome and thoughtful. His name is Ahmad and he is from Jerusalem but was born in California. I really admire the person he has become, and I'm really glad I have a friend like him. I came back and ate dinner after that at my dorm, and finally finished the Chemistry chapter I had to read. Now I'm off to bed for another exciting day, NOT.

Wednesday was the concert day! However, I had classes to go. I had to read the first chapter before my Chemistry class which I did and the class was really easy because I had already read the whole material. Then I had my Intro to American Studies class, which I absolutely love. I like the professor, the topic and the classroom. The classroom is the big auditorium, and my favorite art is that I can rest my head haha. After AMS (Intro to American Studies) I had Calculus I, I decided to go walking and what was I thinking... When I came out I was on a rush because I had to go to the concert, and instead of walking I took the BullRunner because I was worn out from Math. Why did I do that? What happened was that I didn't know you had to pull a string if you wanted to get off somewhere so when the bus passed my stop I panicked. I realized what I had to do, way too late so I rode around through the off campus apartments for like 15 minutes extra. I decided to get off in MSC when we got back to campus and speed walked to my dorm. Changed clothes, got my ticket and headed out. You can read all about the concert here: Bruno Mars in Concert - Tampa 2013 and watch the video here: Youtube Video.

Thursday I had no classes so I decided to go with my mom to Busch Gardens to have some quality time before she left. As usual I got on my favorite roller coaster: Montu, Kumba, and Sheikra. I also got to ride in a new roller coaster called Cheetah Hunt. In my personal opinion it wasn't good, when the coaster rises it goes fast but by the fall it slows down. I also thought I had lost the factor of surprise and butterflies because of my last experience in Six Flags but I got to feel the butterflies this time and I was so happy. I also rode the wooden coaster. I have a soft spot for wooden coasters. They may seem not scary at all but I love them, the ensemble, the *clacks* it makes all the way, and the old/vintage style it has. After Busch Gardens I went to have some dinner with Ahmad, we had Pollo Tropical and it was fun. And finally after a long day I got to Skype with Momo. We started talking about 9 PM and I love when we talk for long periods of time.


On Friday I woke up Kaitlyn for one time. She always wakes me up because her schedule is earlier than mine but she has Fridays free so it was me who wake her up this time. Chemistry was okay, and Intro to American Studies too. We didn't have a lecture in the auditorium though. We were split up in little groups to have discussions. Our instructor is Viktoria, she is one of the Professor's grad student assistants, and she is pretty nice. The key factor to do well in AMS is participation which each day I'm feeling more comfortable with. For lunch I went to Panda Express with my mom, this would be the last time I saw her until December. Then we went to Target to buy some things I needed (Juice Boxes for when I'm thirsty) and for the first time I used my Target app and saved $1 :) At around 3 PM I handed in my FSU transcripts to transfer, which haven't been updated in my DegreeWorks and after that I went to the library to print my EGN lab homework, read some of the material of my Geography quiz next week and also print the material. I came back to the dorm and all three of my suitemates/roommates were getting ready for a sorority meeting, which is totally not my thing. They spend hours getting ready, omg haha. I had my first ramen for dinner and then I just chilled out on my first Friday night after classes started on campus.

Fun Fact about this week: I bought a Bruno Mars t-shirt at the concert and the next day I went to Busch Gardens with that t-shirt, me and my mom saw two other girls with a t-shirt from the concert too! #CRAZY