Posted by alexandra_k on February 21, 2014, at 22:33:33
eep!
so... orientation turns out to be one week prior to the start of the semester. you can do little classes on how to use the library, how to set up printing / computer accounts, how to find course readings etc etc etc. and there are day long things planned for different majors with proper welcomes etc etc...
wow. pretty sure at all the other universities i've been to orientation activities / events occurred DURING the first week of classes. which was kinda insane, for sure.
and here... the residence halls start charging you from a good couple of weeks before classes start. so... you may as well move in already since you are paying. so... you may as well get your how do i get to the supermarket and where is the hairdresser and lets visit the local landmarks and check out the art galleries etc etc etc... out of the way before classes start.
which is all... brilliant, really. in not making people choose between academics and other things.
after much angst and faffing about... i have:
-intro chemistry (to prepare for organic chemistry next year)
-intro sport and exercise science (just because!! even they say you better have done physics / maths at high school or you will struggle. if i can't get an A in sport and exercise science there really won't be much hope for me!):-/
then in the second semester i have:
-animal biology (to give me some biology labs and experience with microscope)
-conceptual physics (doesn't presuppose calculus but does presuppose maths - to prepare me for physics for the life sciences - which is supposed to be an easy pass of a paper ahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa).and a bunch of math in my own time. and organic chemistry, too... i have access to a lot of the extra content that will be covered in organic chem and... well... that is the paper that sorts out the candidates from... those who need to figure 'work life balance'. or... switch to sport and exercise major or... something.
uh huh.
my maths progress has stalled. how come? cause that sh*t got HARD. sigh. no more point and click... need to think... figure out... it hurts my brain. ahaha. i need to schedule time to do it now. it does feel like work. but i have made considerable (huge really) progress already. and i have some stuff now from the chemistry people for their math prep (so, for example, i can focus better on stuff that will be relevant for that like scientific notation, order of operations, converting fractions etc etc etc...)
i think i need to learn the little tricks etc now. before... i was figuring stuff out... but intermediate now (ages 11 and 12) and i need to learn rules like flipping over fractions and doing stuff or... whatever. just learn the rule and free up cognitive resources... multiplying and dividing positive and negative numbers (important for unit conversions)... damn... sh*t just got real...
but it seems... possible... which is very cool for me.
i still feel like i'm about the luckiest person in the whole world sometimes. but then i feel that things are so really very fragile indeed and i feel scared. scared that i'll lose things... i don't know. scared that i'll turn out not to be any good at science. scared that i won't get into med... or... that i'll get into it and be bad at it / hate the other people / that i'll find it too hard / that i can't do it. i don't know. i guesss everyone has this really. i remember feeling this way when i first started uni even... i'll work hard and hope for the best.
i still loves my house. very much. very very very very much.
i have a basil plant. it has root rot because i overwatered it. overwatering it made it look so perky and pretty and happy and green... right up until it started dying bottom up. sigh. i might get a big terracotta pot with some pumic-y soil for drainage and... try and cultivate it properly. i f*ck*ng love basil. yum. and my room is temperate and sunny. not direct sunlight, much. but lots of bright light... i think things will do well here... i'd kinda like an aloe vera plant... maybe some little cactus?? i wonder if i can grow sweet peas up the walls ahaha (don't worry i jest). maybe a hanging fern from my wardrobe... does something good to the air quality... only... the soil doesn't. that's the trouble, i guess. i used to have a venus flytrap.. maybe another of those...
the gym here is great. saw the cutest little asian chick today training with some guy... she was pretty strong considering she probably only weighs around 2x the weight of the bar... it is a pretty good gym, really. a lot less... a lot less.... people poncing about than i think i've ever seen. some insecure guys of course... aren't going to escape that at a uni gym... but realatively few.. mostly.. just people introvertedly doing their thing. yay. i loves it here.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1061016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20140129/msgs/1061016.html