It's Crunch Time

"We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility." - Albert Einstein

I saw this sheet of paper on a door the other day. I just wanted to tear it all off. I really had a rough start at the beginning of the semester. The person right now writing this if completely different from the person who moved into Chapel Hill at the beginning of the year. Right now, I feel more confident and my grades are improving which is GREAT. I was so worried whether I could settle into this little college town because outside of this place is a whole different story. I have to be careful though because sometimes my old self will come back. The old me where I felt like I was a turtle hiding in a shell but I have to remind myself that hiding in a shell won't lead me anywhere.

My English class is okay, despite the fact I have a very chill but tough grading professor. Hist 51 is very interesting. It's about Latin American Rebellions and Revolutions. It's shown me a new perspective in a part of the world that I didn't even know about and made me reconsider the political decisions of the United States. It's a discussion based class with 3 midterm papers. So sometimes the discussion part is tough for me. It takes me a while to analyze plus I'm not planning to become a history major in any sort of fashion. I'm trying to speak up more though. My Chemistry class has been a roller coaster. I basically bombed the first midterm, so I changed everything I was doing. I dropped my music theory class because I felt so uncomfortable in the class to the point where the people in the class annoyed me so much that I just threw my hands (mentally) in the air saying it wasn't for me. I was doing fine in the class but I had this gut instinct that it just wasn't for me. I was kind of depressed though dropping it because I had this plan to major in music and apply to medical school but it just wasn't meant to be. I knew I had taken the right path when I actually didn't fail my Chem midterm test and was higher than the class average. It's interesting how excited I am when I realize that I scored above class average.  I've also been taking an exercise class Ultimate Frisbee which has been fun but I'm about over it now and Symphonic Band which has been great but I don't think I'll take it again next semester. A one credit class that takes up 2 hours of my day seems to be too much.

I have one more midterm before Thanksgiving and I can't wait for that! (Even though I'll just be doing more work.) Despite my struggles I can definitely say I'm proud to be a Tarheel Born, Tarheel Bred. Oh and GO TO HELL DUKE!

Messy Desks, Creativity, and Intellect

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“If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then is an empty desk a sign?”  

~Albert Einstein

The fact that I’m typing this right now either means one of two things. I’m procrastinating for writing a paper that is due in a week or I’ve actually found some free time to not think about chemistry, musical dictation, Latin American independence, or AMA citations.

I’ve been in college for about 4 weeks now. As seen from my last post, it’s obvious that my college studies have taken over my life. Seriously, the only reason I’m able to type this now is because I had a chemistry test on Friday. Therefore, the professor did not assign Mastering Chemistry for the weekend (which has consumed at least 3-4 hours of my day each weekend).

College classes can be tough. It really can be. I do remind myself though that everyday that this is what I was looking for when I applied for all those colleges. I was looking for a challenge. I was looking for a campus driven with passion. I was looking for a student body where everyone was not seeking to be the most popular but instead have a great intellectual factor that would inspire me to ask questions and require me to step out of my comfort zone. Thankfully, so far, Carolina has lived up to my expectations.

So, as my desk clutters up with historical documents, dimensional analysis problems, and music bar line paper, I always continue to appreciate the fact that I was accepted to this amazing place where there are so many other students with messy desks, creativity, and intellect.