The Good, The Bad, and The Expensive

I did it! I completed my first full day of classes and I didn't die. Although, after doing yoga again tonight, I think I will feel like dying by tomorrow morning. All in all it was a fairly good first day of school, though nothing too exciting happened. There were a couple things that made quite upset, but I'll get to that later.

 

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 7:00 am, which was quite a feat in and of itself, and I was plenty early for my first class of the day: Italian 101 at 8:30 am. I was surprised at how tiny the classroom was, but I was even more surprised when my teacher entered the classroom. She started speaking Italian at us immediately, which didn't really shock me, I know that some teachers do that as sort of a shock tactic, but then she asked us if this was the Italian 300 level class, at which point we all shook our heads and the looks of confusion on our faces changed to looks of bewilderment. She looked surprised and rushed out of the classroom only to come back two minutes later after realizing that it was the right class, she just had the level wrong. She did end up teaching most of the class in Italian, but it was in a very approachable way and I liked how rather than just telling us the definition of different phrases, such as mi ciamo, she acted them out. She closed by giving a basic overview of how classes would work, what our tests would be like, and how the homework was set up. I'm really excited to start learning Italian, even if it does mean going to the earliest class time available every day.

After Italian, I headed over to Odegaard Undergraduate Library because I had another hour before I needed to be at my next class. The outside of the building honestly looks pretty drab and unimpressive, so I was expecting the inside to be the same. Instead I walked into a space that was so high-tec and hip that I felt like I'd just walked into Apple headquarters or something. I say Apple because there were rows and rows of desktop Apple computers, it was sort of ridiculous. I came back here for a while after my second class of the day. I looked over the site that all of my Italian assignments would be done through and read some Brandon Sanderson.

      

My second class of the day was Earth and Space Science 102: Space and Space Travel. I was actually quite excited for this class, but I left just feeling rather angry. I mean there were certainly some good things. I'm excited to learn about space and all I need to do to earn a writing credit is write a short research paper and a Sci-fi story, which is easy and actually sounds super fun. The part I'm upset about is that my teacher neglected to tell us that we would need a textbook and a clicker for this class. Teachers are supposed to put that sort of thing on the UW website, there is actually an official spot for that on the main page, but nope, she gave us no prior notice. That means that instead of buying a used clicker while I could still finding someone selling one, I will likely be forced to buy one from the bookstore for $50!!! That's more expensive than the textbook that I need to buy and, like the clicker, I can't buy it used. My teacher collaborated with someone else to write her own book and it's so new that we have to buy it directly from the publisher for about $45. That actually sounds pretty reasonably priced, except that there's a pretty major catch... it's a preliminary edition. This means that they expect there to be quite a few typos in it and my teacher is even offering extra credit for every five mistakes we find. So, not only do we have to buy special textbooks, but we also have to pay to edit a book for our teacher. It is, in my opinion, completely ridiculous.

After becoming both upset about, and excited for this class, I decided to head over to By George Cafe in Odegaard to get some lunch. I bought a super gorgeous, fantastically delicious, Vegetarian Caprese Ciabatta and was very very happy with it. I also checked out the Student Activities fair and found out that if I paid $35 to join the yoga club that I could get lots of free classes every week. They also have a few important meetings and they do one major philanthropy project. It's a way better deal than taking a yoga class at the IMA because it's $35 for the whole year whereas the IMA, with class costs and general costs, adds up to about $110 per quarter.

My last class of the day was my Chemistry 142 lecture with over 500 people. I don't care about playing fair when it comes to academics, so I shamelessly got to the front of the crowd that was waiting to get into the lecture hall and got a prime seat in the third row. I don't think I've seen enough of my teacher yet to form an opinion of her, but from what she has described about the class so far, I am pretty excited to take it. I really loved taking chemistry in high school so I'm hoping the fact that I enjoy the subject will help me to study and do well in a class that has a reputation for being particularly nasty and difficult. 

After class I went back to my dorm to get ready to go to a free yoga class at the IMA. I had gone the previous night, but the only thing that was sore was my back and even that was only a bit sore, so I figured that I would be fine. Unfortunately, the teacher's style wasn't one that I enjoyed nearly as much as the class I took last night. The other issue was that by the time I finished, literally everything other than my neck, calves and forearms were starting to feel sore. We did so much Warrior II that my thighs were on fire and I thought I was going to collapse. Okay, that might be a slight dramatization.

Although, I was stupid for going to two yoga classes in a row, and I'm still mad about my ESS class, I really did enjoy my first day of classes and I'm really excited for the coming quarter. I have all of my classes again tomorrow but I have smaller sections for both Chemistry and Space and Space Travel, so I will probably have a better chance to meet people in those classes. So far everything is looking pretty promising.

~Arrivederla 

The Dawg Daze are over, the Dawg Daze are done (well sort of)

It feels like I've already been here for so long and yet it's been less than a week. So much has happened and yet classes haven't even begun. Because classes don't start until tomorrow, the University of Washington hosts something called Dawg Daze. Basically from the 20th through the 28th there are tons of activities ranging from concerts, to tours, to free yoga classes. Although, they still go on a few days after school has started all of the major stuff(other than the student activities fair) is over. So here's what's happened in this past Dawg Daze week.

Friday morning I didn't go to any events because I went out to breakfast with my dad. He was leaving that day so I wanted to make sure I took the chance to see him for a last time. First, we went shopping and I got a laundry basket because I was stupid enough to leave mine at home. I also got measuring spoons which have so far proven useful for tea, cream of wheat, and hot cocoa.We went to a cute little place about ten minutes away from the University and had a really tasty breakfast. They had

delicious homemade jam, the potatoes were fantastic, and the inside of my omelet was full of great flavors. I wasn't a fan of how thick the omelet was, but honestly, the rest of the food was so good I didn't really mind.

After my dad dropped me off back at my dorm and we said goodbye for real, I went and took a tour of the campus that focused on all of different fine arts buildings. I learned that we have two museums on campus and both are free to students. My tour guides didn't actually seem to know all that much about the arts programs, which I thought was rather odd. It was nice to see more of the campus though so that I could start to find my way around. Later that night we had our first floor meeting. Our RA just talked about the different things we had to sign up for, such as a cluster meeting to get our balconies unlocked and one-on-one meetings with her. We were also all supposed to go to a movie night in the quad with all of the freshmen and free rootbeer floats. Unfortunately it started to rain, as it is wont to do here in Seattle, and the movie night was cancelled. We did end up having a building movie night, which I later found out was suggested by my RA. Afterwards there was a Carnival in Red Square. The marching band played, there were carnival games, I got free food, and I danced in the rain until midnight. 

Saturday I was starting to feel rather ill and I figured out that Brittany had managed to give me her cold before I left. So, I slept in for a bit, but I wasn't about to let being sick to get in the way of the things I wanted to do. At one o'clock I went on a bus tour of downtown. It wasn't super helpful because I've already been downtown quite a few times, but it was really nice to see how the buses work. I also checked out the District Market on the west side of campus and was pleased to see that it had a much better selection than the markets I've seen on North Campus. 

After I got back I didn't really want to go out again and neither did Emma (she'd been at the football game) because it was hot and sunny outside and we were pretty tired. I really wasn't feeling well so I took an hour nap and then at seven o'clock, Emma and I went to a comedy show at Meany Hall. Some of the first performer's material was kind of boring and some of the second's was kind of offensive, but overall I was pretty satisfied and I certainly laughed a lot. After the comedy show, we headed over the the Husky Student Union Building for the HUB crawl. I had heard from my tour guide earlier that there would be free pizza, so Emma and I immediately sought it out. It was a good thing that we did so, because right after we got our pizza the lines got so long that I literally could not see the end of them. We watched a hot dog eating contest, but were seriously disappointed. The winner only had about six hot dogs and none of them seemed very serious about it. They didn't even separate the dogs from the buns and eat them separately, dipping the buns in water, which I know is a basic hot dog eating contest strategy. We went to a dance party in the HUB and stayed until midnight, though by that time I was slightly delirious, both from fatigue and because my throat was hurting so badly.

The next day my throat felt completely better... but I felt super congested and ended up completely losing my voice. I stayed in bed until around eleven hoping that my body would work on fighting the illness off, but it didn't seem to work. Around two o'clock I went the the Husky Kickoff, which was the only required event of Dawg Daze and it was awful. It might not have been so bad if I could actually had possessed the ability to talk like a normal person instead of a wounded goose. We did a bunch of ice breaker/meet new people type activities and the formed a giant W on the football field for a photo. It took over two hours, it was boring, and I was in a pretty bad mood by the time we got back to the dorm.

Monday was much better in comparison. I started off the morning by going to a lecture on Internships and Student Employment at 10:00. It was very informative and definitely made me more interested in looking for internships and volunteer opportunities, but I was still feeling pretty sick so a lot of the information didn't stick. Luckily I picked up plenty of fliers so I could look up the information later. 

Later I went to the Fall Fling on the lawn of the HUB and hung out with Emma and Kayla. There were three different groups that performed and surprisingly, I enjoyed listening to all of them. After the second artist had finished, Emma, Kayla, and I went into the HUB and got some food. We went back out for the last few songs of the last artist and then Emma and I went back to our dorm to get ready for the Late Night Shopping at Fred Meyer event.

We got in line for the buses around eight, but even though we were about in the middle of the line we didn't leave until ten. Because we had to wait in line so long we actually made a couple friends, and even pitched an idea for an App called Raisin Maid. 

The store was an absolute mess. The bananas had been completely cleaned out, there were pillows in with the potato chips and we had to wait forty minutes in line to check out. Although it was super hectic, I did actually really enjoy myself, and  I was really happy with what I purchased. I got two cans of soup, white cheddar rice cakes, hot cocoa mix, dark chocolate hershey's kisses, honey crisp apples(which were majorly on sale), tissues, and paper towels(because for some stupid reason they don't provide any for the bathrooms). We got back to the University around one in the morning and passed out soon after. 

       

 

Today was a much more relaxed schedule. I was still busy all day, but I had plenty of time to get from one event to another and none of them were particularly stressful. Emma and I accidentally slept in until 10:30 am and were woken by a knock at the door from our cluster mates. We stumbled out into the common area, not quite awake, for our cluster agreement meeting. It didn't take very long and now that we've had it, we are allowed access to our balcony. 

After that Emma and I took forever to get ready before leaving for the Chocolate Fair at the Burke Museum. We waited in a short line before being admitted and sadly, although there was chocolate there, only one of six stations was actually about chocolate. Mostly, it was just a way to learn more about the museum and the programs that it offered.

Next, Emma and I walked over to the Ave so that I could buy my labcoat and goggles for Chemistry. We also stopped by a poster shop because our walls were looking sadly barren. We bought four posters, but it was a buy three get one free deal so all four were only about $30 and they are enormous posters. When we were checking out the lady that was ringing us up decided that for no apparent reason, she wanted to be an awesome person and give us two free smaller posters! So now I have a Dalek blueprint poster and a map of Westeros over my bed, Emma has a Jaws poster and a Hogwarts Express poster over her bed, we have a TARDIS poster on our door, and we have a Dalek "To Victory" poster on the closet above our fridge. Emma also bought a blueprint of the 10th Doctor's sonic screwdriver from the bookstore that is going to go over the window.

 

 

 

We hurried back from the poster shop to our dorm so that we could attend a free yoga class at the IMA(Intramural Activities Building). The class was really fun and I appreciated how the teacher kept it at a basic level for the people who had little to no experience, but didn't make it so basic that it was boring for people who had more experience with yoga. 

I also had my one-on-one meeting with the RA and now that I've talked to her more, she seems much cooler. She gave off a sort of indifferent air at the floor meeting a couple nights ago so it was nice to get to know her a bit better. 

I suppose that there isn't much else to say for now. I'm really excited for classes to finally start, but I'm definitely nervous as well. I've heard some not-so-nice things about Chem 142, but I do really enjoy chemistry so as long as the teacher is good at teaching(which unfortunately is often not the case) I think I will do fairly well. I'm also excited for my Italian and my Space and Space Travel classes which start at 8:30 and 10:30 respectively. Wish me luck! 

Welcome, To Both of Us

I have just been welcomed to the University of Washington, in Seattle Washington, and I would like to extend that welcome to you. Welcome to my blog, and through it, to UW.

I moved in yesterday around 10:15 am. My dad and I got a bit lost trying to find where we were supposed to go to drop off my things, but fortunately we got some instructions that were only mildly confusing. Once I finally got up to my room with all of my things though, I was disappointed. My room was not like I thought it would be and it was ridiculously small.

               

                     


Fortunately after I unpacked everything, it seemed much bigger. I'm not sure how that works, it's sort of counterintuitive, but I ended up having more space than I needed and everything ended up working out pretty well. I admit, I would have appreciated more than three drawers for all my clothes, but all in all my complaints were fairly minimal. The more things I unpacked, the more it felt real, like I was really here. After such a long wait, one that seemed to stretch forever during my summer of working, I was finally moving into college. But anyway,  I'm really pleased with the way my side of the room looks.

           

After about an hour and a half of unpacking and organizing, I was starving. So, I wandered around campus looking at markets and restaurants for a while before I got some soup. I also picked up some dried soup (the kind you add hot water to) for when I'm to lazy to go out and get food. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened fairly often. 

By the time I got back, my roommate had almost finished moving in all of her things. We'd talked before through texting, but never in person, so I was slightly nervous to meet her. I purposely left when I knew she'd be arriving so that I wouldn't feel like I was in her way the first time we officially met each other. So far though, we've gotten along really well. I'm glad that I knew somewhat before-hand because I think it made the whole "sleeping with a stranger" thing a lot less uncomfortable. 

After Emma (my roommate) and I chatted for a while and got our room looking relatively organized, I went out to dinner with my dad. He was going to go home after he dropped me off, but his car had been making really odd whistling sounds on the drive over to Seattle and they were getting increasingly more annoying and worrisome. So, he took his car to a local Subaru place and they determined that the ball bearings for his wheels had frozen, which was apparently odd because they had just been replaced. So, while he waited for them to replace the ball bearings and for the insurance to figure out just who was going to pay for it (which was apparently a rather complicated and frustrating ordeal) he hung out in a nearby pub for about four hours. He told me that while he was there he made friends with the owners and the kitchen staff. The owner's girlfriend gave him lots of tips about how to run a pub and so my father has decided that once he wins the lottery (or perhaps even if he doesn't), he is going to open his own pub. 

Once they finally got done with his car and the insurance company was satisfied, my dad came by to take me to dinner. We first went to get some groceries. I mostly got breakfast foods and also soap because for some stupid reason there was no soap or paper towels in our shared bathroom, just toilet paper. Then we went to an Afghan place called Kabul and the food was amazing. I had never had Afghan food before so I was unfamiliar with the flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised. We had a soup with beans, noodles, and lots of dill, as well as a mushroom dish with a yogurt dressing and bread for appetizers. Then we shared a dish with baked cauliflower, baby carrots, potato, and a side of rice with carrots and raisins. Again I was unfamiliar with the flavor profile, so I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but I suppose I'll just say that it was rich and delicious without being heavy.                                   

                                      

My dad dropped me off in front of my dorm around 8:30 and I hung out with Emma and read a while before going to bed sometime around 11:30. 

It was a very long day, but as far as first days go, I would certainly say that it was a success. None of the major activities started until the next day, and it was nice to be able to ease in to the college life rather than being thrown into the social aspects at the same time as the whole moving in deal. What I have seen so far of this campus has been amazing and I cannot wait to explore it further.