Well, look who's back on her blog for once!
Winter quarter is officially here, and in full swing; thus, I apologize for my prolonged absence. It's unfortunate that I can't blog as much as I'd like to, but to quote "Dead Poet's Society", this girl is trying to suck the marrow out of life! And by life, I guess I mean college.
Have I been successful? Eh. I'd say I'm well on my way! I'm plunging myself deep into many different things, trying random activities, and doing everything that I can...within socially acceptable constraints, I suppose.
Winter quarter is when things got a lot more serious and stressful for me. Without my trusty little red planner, I wouldn't be able to function a bit. I pencil everything in...I live by that planner, so if you take it from me, I'd actually consider killing you.
For starters, I've started my first-ever college job (hollaaaa) at the Undergraduate Admissions Office here at UCLA. How did I get this job as a first-year? It was actually pretty strange. I overheard someone talking about the office and thought to myself that I would really be interested in working there. After a while, I decided to pop into the office just to ask if they were hiring and if I could have an application.
A woman walking by the front desk heard me talking, and came over to talk to me. It just so happened that I had a few copies of my resume in my backpack (I'm usually not THIS much on my game, don't judge me)...so I gave her one and we chatted for a bit. She told me that she'd contact me after winter break and we would set up a time for an interview. Fast forward a month or two, and voila! I'm a student worker for UCLA!
Work has been great so far. I'm learning a lot, and I always see something different everyday. There's a wholeeee lot to learn, since the Undergrad Admissions Office handles just about everything, and you have to know a good deal about all of the other offices to help many of the people. However, I enjoy it and take pride in the fact that I'm gaining all this knowledge about my school. Aww, look who's taking the whole True Bruin thing to heart :P
I've also applied to be an RA for the next school year! The whole RA application process is pretty length and selective, especially for underclassmen, so I'm not getting my hopes up about getting the position. After the physical application, there's a set of 2 group interviews that everyone has to do, and then from there, you get an individual interview if they still like you. I have my second group interview tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! Fingers crossed.
The most exciting commitment of all is, of course, class!! This quarter, I'm taking Chemistry 14A, Economics 2, and my GE Cluster still (Interracial Dynamics). I'm also doing a Fiat Lux seminar called "Perceptions of the US Abroad: Discussions with Fulbright Scholars". Each week, a different Fulbright scholar currently at UCLA comes and talks to us about their country, culture, and of course, how they view 'Murica. Super interesting! And all of the scholars are incredibly impressive, intelligent, and all-around amazing people.
Chem and Econ are going pretty well so far. To say that my high school's chem department was bad is an insanely large understatement. I forgot the little that we learned in my junior year chem class, and am now doing a lot of self-teaching just to be sure that I understand the material. So that's going...as good as it could go, I guess. At least I like the professor. His humor is beyond dry, but I can definitely appreciate that. He's cool.
Econ is really interesting, actually! I haven't really been bored in lecture yet, which is pretty notable since the lecture is at 8 freaking am. On those two days, I wake up around 6:30 so I can wash my hair, get dressed and ready, and eat some type of breakfast on-the-go before lecture. And I also like this professor so far too. He has a cool accent, is occasionally pretty humorous, and lectures rather well. Nothing to complain about so far :D
I guess that's it for now. College has been giving me plenty of great memories so far. I really can't complain, even with all of the stress and worry that I have.
From grabbing late-night pizza after volleyball, to roaming around Grand Central Market and Walt Disney Concert Hall, to strolling around gorgeous Bel-Air neighborhoods, to watching Olympians like Jordyn Wieber coach the UCLA gymnastics team at their first meet-- college has been unforgettable so far.
I can't wait to see what comes next, and I'm so happy for the memories I've made so far.
But now this girl's gotta get back to work.
