Week #23 (09/30/2013 - 10/06/2013)

On Monday I went to Chemistry and this guy with british accent asks if he can sit next to me, he starts talking to me and I BARELY understand, he name is Sam. We ended up doing the group assignment together with Armando and another guy named Adam. After Calculus me and Courtney had planned going to the "Engineers Without Borders" meeting, since we have to go to two meetings for our Foundations of Engineering Lab class. We had some dinner before going to the meeting and we had a great time, when we got to the building where the meeting was going to take place nobody was there.. we waited like 10 minutes and nobody was there. We gave up and went back home, I said that we stayed for nothing and Courtney said that it wasn't nothing, because she got to have dinner with a friend, how cute? So when I got back I skyped with Rod and the funniest thing happened, his Dad walked into Momo's room in nothing but his underpants XD I just covered my eyes and laughed haha.

I like Tuesdays because I have two really easy classes, and I did absolutely nothing in them. In Foundations of Engineering though I did got a little nervous, because I've been kind of avoiding Ahmad, I know it's the wrong thing to do since he has done nothing wrong but I feel awkward with him. So I was really nervous because we have that class together, I think he came late though because he didn't sit next to me. I did heard his voice a couple of rows behind me and from then I didn't turn me head anymore. I also texted me and I was kind of cold with him, and at the end I stayed a little bit longer so I didn't bumped into him. After that class I went to the CSL Orientation (Certified Student Leadership Program). So for this program I need a coach to kind of mentor me, and I'm very introvert when it comes to new people so I asked Justin Fitzgerald, hi is the coordinator of the Civic Engagement program and he said he was honored :) After that I met with David to start the poster for our Chemistry Lab presentation, Victoria and Ricardo were not there. Ricardo it makes sense because he has to work but why didn't Victoria show up? Well, I worked with David. Strangely he was kind of pleasant today, it may be because he forgot to take his ADHD pill and was all hyper and stuff. I ended up doing most of the work but that's okay, I kind of wanted to be in charge. He also told me the clases for Spring 2014 were just scheduled so at 10:30 I began doing my new schedule, it ended up pretty well, I have no classes on Thursdays and just one class on Tuesdays. I'm just taking four classes next semester (Calculus II, Physics I, Physics Lab I and Economics for Engineers), which is good because next on the summer I'll be taking a couple more in Florence (maybe).

I now love french toast, I don't know if I have never had french toast but I just love having them for breakfast. Every morning if there are no bananas or apples I eat a french toast. Anyway, today was a boring day, the only exciting part was that I donated blood! I saw the bus and went straight into it, they pinched my finger and measured I don't know what. It hurt a little and I felt kind of clumsy and tired afterwards but I was wearing my bandage with pride. They gave me two t-shirts and a $10 gift card from IKEA. I really want to do it again but not in the near future because it really drained me. At night I met with David and Victoria to do the poster, it didn't come out as I wanted but what kind I do? They are not Alex or Ambar or Zhanzhy... I also had to go to a American Studies screening about a very boring movie. These movies of the 50s, today I saw "The Manchrian Candidate". The thing about these movies are that they are related to their background history because at that time the study of the mind was very popular.

On Thursday I delivered my Chemistry lab speech, I was really REALLY nervous and that gave me stomach ache, and it really hurt because I had eggs and milk for breakfast. The milk really had that factor that made me sick, still, I said my speech all right and I didn't forget a thing. After lab I went to the bookstore because they had a flash sale today on all hoodies and sweatpants so I bought myself a sweatshirt and I bought Jose David a hoodie because he had asked for one. I lunched some pasta with meatballs and that worsen my stomach ache to the extend it still hurt when I was sitting down. Despite the pain I had to get on the bus and go to the Metropolitan Ministry to do my first volunteering session. The first half of the ride I felt really really bad, the second half was a little bit better though. When I got there and got assigned my tasks the pain went away. I met really nice people, Juan and Daniel, both from Venezuela. I chop onions and peppers, fixed over a hundred sandwiches, and cleaned the fridge. Yeah, those storage freezers that you an get trap into if you close the door haha. Juan offered me some dinner from the buffet and I enjoyed some nuggets and fries, I also had a juice with a very particular (in the good way) flavor, it was strawberry-kiwi-banana :) The ride back was really tiring, I felt asleep a couple of times. Back here I watched x-factor and chilled for a while, after that I hung out with Peyton, Chelsi and Kaitlyn.

On Friday I had some breakfast, and they have not had french toasts for two days now :( they had bacon though, but it was kind of thick and greasy and yucky! Armando wants me to go to this dancing thing at the MSC tonight haha, if only he knew I'm so not a dancer. On Chemistry I forgot my clicker and I loose a couple of points :( I've been waiting for this weekend for a long time, a weekend where I don't have to wake up early or do anything other than a couple of school related work. After American Studies I went to Armando's because I was having trouble with my chemistry homework and we finished it, I had a good time :) I ended the night watching Grey's Anatomy, X Factor, and finishing up "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling and I give it 4.7 stars.

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 :)

Week #20 (09/09/2013 - 09/15/2013)

So on Monday I was super tired, I didn't even wake up to Kaitlyn's alarm at 7 AM. I went to Chemistry and Armando sat next to me again, I like that people look for me to sit next to me; I like Armando :) After Chemistry I bought some Pollo Tropical and ate in my room while watching my daily vlogs (usual mondays). Then I went to American Studies and at 4 I went to Calculus, thank God I remembered Calculus is at 4 not 3:30 because I have gone twice at 3 thinking it is at 3:30. Later in the night I hear a lot of chatting and when I look all of my suite mates (except Abby) are gathered in the other common room, so I go there and do some social life. I really like them all, they are so funny and cool to hang out with. Kaitlyn was really hyper though, I think it was the coffee she drank. Anyways, she went downstairs to open the door to Chris and we decided to tease her and we all hided in my room. When they turned off the lights and saw my wall full of stars they went like "wowww" hahaha. It was a nice ending to my Monday.

On Tuesday the guy from the Study Abroad finally replies to me and says I have to meet up with the advisor of my major, so I made an appointment with John for Thursday. Before class I went to the bookstore to buy a weekly planner because I feel I'm forgetting so much stuff, but when I got there I realized I left my wallet! This is the second time these past two weeks! So I went to Fresh Food Co. and grab some food to go. I feel bad because they didn't have any healthy stuff, so I had a lot of carbs for lunch. At class, remember I told you I felt like I was forgetting stuff? Well I had a quiz on Foundations for Engineering Lab, luckily it was in group and you actually did not need to have read the chapters. After that class I went and bought my weekly planner and also a USF t-shirt, because I feel I don't have enough. I went to my other class at 3:30 and saw Ahmad, I feel so bad because I have not texted him in a very long time and he told me that he felt sad, either way we worked that out. After class I went to Champion's Choice for dinner (I love that place) and I had mashed potatoes, a meat I don't know from what animal came and a tofu salad. After that I had a group meeting with the guys from my Foundations for Engineering class, Nick and Chad, and we accomplished to do something. Chad and I are lucky that Nick is a Junior because he knows a lot of stuff we still don't. On my way back I decided to stop by the Pod Market to see if they sold any Whoppers but they don't. Last weekend I went to Target and bought everything I needed except my Whoppers, and now I crave them everyday! Vicki message me through Facebook today and she invited me for Thanksgiving at her house, so I guess I'm going to Miami on November :) Before going to bed I had a nice chat with Kaitly about piercings, thanksgiving, and other stuff, this is the Kaitlyn I like; not so hyper and weird but not that much.

On Wednesday I went to my usual classes, however, at noon I went to Lunchtime with Leadership for my Certified Leadership hours and today's topic was about "Leadership after a crisis" since today is 9/11 and it really inspired me you know? Also before the lunchtime there was a Volunteering Fair at the MSC and I got really interested in one called Metropolitan Ministries, I liked that one because it has tons of area in which I can help, including photography! After all my classes I went to dine at Champion's Choice and while I was eating alone Olivia came up to me and asked if she could join. I felt happy because I haven't talked that much with Olivia. We had a great time :) After that I came back and changed into my work out clothes. Today has actually been a very stressful day because I have to read 7 chapters of "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe by tomorrow. So while I was working out I was also reading. I really can notice when I'm interested in what I'm reading because 400 pages' books that I like take me about three days, while this one I read only 10 pages in 25 minutes while jogging. I didn't get a chance to skype with Momo because of that book. Anyway, today was a really busy and productive day.

Thursday was a very stressful day, besides the fact that I have to wake up for my 8 AM class, the class is Chemistry lab! I hate it. I got really stressed out because we have to do a billion things just for that class. Anyway, after the living hell lab we had I went to my advisor so he could approve my course for the Study Abroad next year, he did but I also need the approval of the course's department. So I biked all the way to the other side of campus, it was seriously a long bike ride (about a mile and a half). So I get into the building and get send to the other side of it. I got lost and asked for help and a boy named Evan (looked like a student) helped me go where I was supposed to. I had to go to room 2632 and when I got there it was a sign next to a coffee table.. I was like 'are you kidding me?'. So a guy found me and took me to the secretary, the lady said that the guy I was looking for was not there so I left my number and email. When I got out of the building it was freaking pouring outside, and of course I left my umbrella, AGAIN. I stopped by the mail room to pick up my new Asic running shoes :) When I got to me room I was soaking wet and changed my clothes, then I realized it had stopped raining so I change clothes and went out to the trail to try out my new running shoes. At first they felt good but as the time passed I could feel the impact in my heel.

On Friday I went to my Chemistry class, and practically what we are doing right now is the same I did in my three years of Chemistry in high school, so no pressure. For lunch I had discovered Thursday that Champion's Choice has those sticks that chinese restaurants serve! Those you can buy packaged in Panda Express, I call them "palitos". So now whenever I wanna eat I go to Champion's to eat some "palitos" :P hahaha. I still have tons of homework but I really don't feel in the mood to do them, I did some of it but I still need to write a couple of lab reports, study and do homework. The USF library at the beginning of the semester announce that they would not have the 24/5 schedule they've always had but we protested and from this Sunday it will be 24 hours! So maybe I can hibernate at the library this weekend and finish all I have to finish.

I also installed my cup holder
for my bike :)