Week #50: Driving in USA and going to Panama! (04.07.14 - 04.12.14)

On Monday I did my usual... Econ class, then physics and then calculus. I received a packet with the shirt I'm gonna use for the Disney 10-Miler! It's a t-shirt made out of bamboo technology Something like that, and it says Mad Hatter on the front (from Alice in Wonderland) and it has the hat in the back with RUN written under it. It looks pretty neat, and it "glows" in the dark, we'll see haha. I also got my Enterprise Car Share card, which means I can now drive! :D I still don't know when will be my first ride but I'm thinking of Monday after I come back from Panama to do some grocery shopping. 

On Tuesday I got the chance to sleep until noon because I had no physics lab but I ended up waking at 9:15 am... What bothers me is that I went to bed at around 2:30 am because I was finishing the fourth Harry Potter book and I really wanted the extra sleep, but oh well. This whole morning I've been looking into degree works and internships I could take next year, and I'm getting really depressed because my GPA is going to drop a lot thanks to calculus II and economics :( What if nobody hires me? I don't even see hiring material in me... Well I was finally able to register for Fall classes and I'm so happy because I got the schedule I wanted!!! Minutes before registering I search the calculus III class to see how many seats were left and it said 0, but when I registered I got a seat! I think they opened a couple of seats for the students registering today, either way, this has made me so happy! I also drove for the first time in the states! I was so nervous but the minute I backed out from the parking lot it felt like just any other day driving :) I went to Target to buy a trifold for my leadership presentation because the bookstore didn't have any and the trifold ended up looking good :) I was about to skip running this evening because when I finished my trifold it was already 7:30 pm and the sunset was at around 7:50 but I made up my mind last minute because if I skipped this one I would regret it. And so I went and ran 7.5k :)

On Wednesday I woke up an hour earlier to study for the economics quiz our teacher told us about the day before... I did half of the homework at the dining hall in preparation for the quiz and I think I did good on the quiz. I also got my grade from physics back :( I got a 75... And I had 78 on the two previous exams... If I slip I will end up with a C on that class. I did the physics homework due Monday with Courtney at the library after physics and I skipped calculus yet again. We finished the homework and parted ways, and I came to do my laundry. I also printed out my flight ticket! I'm so excited I'm going back to Panama for the weekend! :)

Finally Thursday! I woke up at 3:45 and my shuttle got here early so I rushed to Holly Dr. and he wasn't there... He was kind of lost and I found him in the parking lot next to the MSC in front of the College of Arts. I got to the airport super early, and got to my gate around an hour or two prior boarding time. I had Popeye's for breakfast at 5 am because I was starving and catch up on some reading (Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix). I got lucky that the seat in the middle of my flight was empty, for a second I thought I had the whole row to myself but after the doors closed a gringo sat on the aisle seat. I think that wasn't his assigned seat thought, because he sat when we were preparing to take off and he knew the guy across the aisle. Damn him, I could have had the whole row to myself. When I landed my mom and grandparents came to pick me up and we went to Sheraton to eat sancocho where we met with my aunt too :) After that I went to me grandma's house to chill until Patty and her friends had dance practice for the choreography. We went to the local where the party is gonna be held and it looked cool. The decorations where halfway through and it looked really nice. It pained me that they used the pictures Patty took with another photographer and I think mine were far more better but oh well. Then my dad came and we three went to dinner at 'Leños y Carbon' which was yummy :) When I came back home I Skyped with Rod until my mom interrupted our call short. I also finished the whole box of the Soccer World Cup album stickers and then went to bed after a very VERY tiring day.

On Friday I woke up after noon and had my usual for lunch! Mac and cheese with chicken strips! I love it. I went to my grandma's house to take Patty and her friends to the venue, and while we were waiting to go there I finished my second box of stickers for my Soccer World Cup sticker album. I only have 100 stickers to go. I saw Carlos, the choreographer, I missed him so much! I also helped with the decorations, specially in the candy house Tia Rosa was making. 

On Saturday I woke up at 7:15 am because me and my friends were going to El Parque Omar to run some, of course only Tommy, Andrew and I ran while the others walked. We had breakfast at the Golden Unicorn, some yummy dim sum; but it was kind of awkward... Nobody was talking and it was cut short because Lionel had to leave... Yeah, that wasn't my idea of a fun day with the gang. After dropping Tommy at his house, Rod and I went to get some ice cream and they finally had the strawberry-vanilla combination! It's been years since I have had that. When I came back home and showered my dad took me to see my grandma. We had a good time, we read the chinese newspaper and talk for a while and then I came home. Today's Patty's Quinceanos! So see you next week :)

I also did my make up for the first time, following some Youtube video tutorials, Alex told me it was better off with the light colored lip stick but I actually like the red one. I don't know which one to use for the party, I guess we'll see. 

ENGINEERING MAJOR DEPRESSION CHEAT SHEET

We all engineers feel overwhelmed, stressed, good for nothing, and worthless when at college. We are overwhelmed with work, stressed about how hard it is, and how you are not done yet when you haven't procrastinated. Frustrated with the world because your GPA is dropping like crazy since you started doing all-science semesters. 

Here's a cheat sheet for whenever you feel overwhelmed, stressed or frustrated. 

1. For whenever you feel overwhelmed:
Remember to take a break, even if you feel like if you take a break you won't be able to finish, you won't be ale to finish if you take that break. So just don't procrastinate, but don't overwork either. Also try working with groups, they can make you laugh while doing work and it doesn't feel as tedious. 

2. For whenever you feel you won't get a job because of your grades:
Engineering majors are hard man, that's all I can tell you. Just focus on passing and obtaining that degree. 
In case you feel that even with a degree you won't get a decent job:

3. When you get tired of self teach yourself due to the lack of good professors:
Just feel good about the fact that you can learn by yourself, and might someday play that card in a job interview so they can see that you can self-learn. 

4. When you feel you are going to fail a class:
People fail classes, and that's normal. Just remember that this is a trial and error step in your life and if you screw up you'll always have next semester to take the class again. And since you had previous knowledge about the subject you'll do good. The world won't end because you fail one class and you shouldn't care what other people think about that because it's your life and your struggles. 

5. When you feel everybody around you is doing better than you:
Just focus on the fact that you are passing the class, and in the case you are not, don't be shy and ask your classmates for help. There will always be that smart Asian kid, you just focus on you. 

6. When you feel unsure about getting a job graduating from a mediocre university:
https://medium.com/career-pathing/1a47523d07b1

7. When you don't get accepted into the internship/job you wanted:
Just keep searching, and applying to everything and anything you see. Your first internship/job will unlikely be the one you really one. If you don't get accepted in any, start you own thing like an app, or a program, or volunteer in a non-profitable project. Just don't stop working. 

So whenever you feel sad, depressed, frustrated, overwhelmed, or stressed. Read through this list, and if needed research more about other people who have felt what you are feeling right now. 

You are not alone. 

FALL 2014 SCHEDULE

I finally got to register for Fall 2014! And it had me worried because last time I was in the first lot of students to register, while this time they backed me up a couple of weeks. I'm guessing it's because of my number of credit hours and my GPA that went down from 3.75 to 3.67 :( Anyway, I got the schedule I wanted! I was worrying because minutes before being able to register I saw that the Calculus III class I wanted was already full, but somehow I was able to join that class. 

I'm also worried, because if I fail Calculus II what will happen to my Calculus III class? Will it drop itself automatically? I'm worried about that but at the same time so grateful that I have my desired schedule for now. 

Here it is: 

I decided to take classes in the morning rather than the evenings, and I learned my lesson about 7:00 pm classes. However, there was one class I had to take at 5:00 pm because I had no where else to put it. I'm so ready to wake up early in the mornings and get on with my day. What really worries me though, is that fact that I have four classes on Mondays! And blimey, it had to be Monday didn't it? Nevertheless I really like my schedule. I won't have Thursdays and Fridays free anymore but at least I only have one class each day :)

MY OPINION ON RUNNING SCHEDULES

It happened to me, when you are in Pinterest and you randomly decide you want to run to lose weigh when you see one of those 'Running for Beginners' or 'From Couch Potato to 5k' posts. I started doing the 'From Couch Potato to 5k' and it was in a 5 week lapse I think, I was doing fine at the beginning bur the repetitions where getting more and more intense and if I couldn't keep up with the pre-scheduled routine I would feel depressed. The thing is, those schedules are not fitted for a human being, or well, maybe for yourself. You gotta go with what fits you, and makes you feel comfortable but at the same time challenged. 

What I did was that I just went for a run, after deciding on quitting the 'From Couch Potato to 5k' and I saw that I could run 5k at my own pace. So every now and then I push it up 0.25 km more and try to run more and walk less, or to run faster. Since then I've been increasing my distance tremendously fast. I started doing that on March 7th, and today, almost a month after I increased two whole kilometers. It may not sound as a big difference but it is for me. 

I usually go out and run three times a week because of my packed schedule, and since opting out of the trail and just running around campus it's been wonderful. I also created two new playlists to listen while running because if you do too much of the same it can get boring. I created a Disney oriented playlist when I feel motivated about my Disney run on October and another one with just different songs than my first playlist. Now, the campus just seems to small to run around. I now have to enter dead end streets to cover some of the mileage I wanna run. 

12 THINGS THAT SUCK ABOUT BEING A LATINO IN USA

I came to the US to study and almost all my friends are gringos, here's a list of things that suck about being a latino in the US. 

1. It's awkward when you say goodbye, nobody kisses you in the cheek or hugs you. 

2. You are not used to so many different types of weather. 

3. When you go to a Mexican restaurant you have to pronounce 'burrito', 'taco', and 'nachos' the gringo way or they won't understand what you're saying. 

4. Nobody laughs at your jokes because you use latino references.

exactly...

5. People look at you because you move your hands a lot when you talk. 

6. iMessage? I use WhatsApp. 

7. Sometimes people don't understand when you say homophones because of your accent/pronunciation. 

8. There's not much homey food around here, only fast food. 

9. So many turning lanes looks complicated. 

10. You are the only one that actually knows the lyrics to 'Macarena'. 

11. It's so expensive going to the movies!

12. It takes a minimum of 20 minutes to go anywhere, everything is so far apart.