new york in the morning!

Hello hello... Really quick post before I go to LAX!

Check out the omelette I made for myself this morning with the five eggs I had to get rid of before the winter break!



The outside was a bit burnt because I got impatient... haha... ^^;



Inside it, I put: corn, onions, olives, two types of cheese, mushrooms, and beef steak.



SO GOOD! ^____^

Anyway.

I'm all packed and waiting for my shuttle to the airport, which should be here in ten minutes... This is my last blogpost from my room in Los Angeles for the semester!

See you in the morning, New York!
michelle. xx

wrapping up the semester.

Today is Monday 13 December 2010, and I am at Cameron's apartment working on my psychology essay.

I just wanted to let you guys know that my weekend was amazing, and a great conclusion to the semester!

Like I said in an earlier entry, on Friday (10 December) I went to Alexa's apartment because she was throwing a surprise birthday party for her roommate, which was great fun! Everyone brought desserts, and we ended up having, I think, over 50 cupcakes, a cake, a pie, and over 40 cookies. Between less than 20 girls. Haha! It was truly fantastic. I ate a lot of sugar, felt vaguely revolted at myself, and then had a nice cup of delicious tea. ^^

On Saturday 11 December, I worked on my psychology paper during the day, and in the evening I went to a comedy club with a friend of mine called Waleed. It was very fun and funny, and the comedians were great! They were Sunda Croonquist, James Harris, Erik Rivera, Jim Tavare, and Tiffany Haddish. My favorite one of the lot [by far] has to have been Jim Tavare, who claims to have been in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. His website is here;
http://www.jimtavare.org/Jim_Tavare_Official_Website/Home.html

His act was really good, and I'm glad to have seen it. All of the acts were funny, but his was in the best taste and was by far the most classy act; that is, he retained the most dignity of the five comedians.

On Sunday 12 December, which was yesterday, I went to the beach with Cameron, and it was gorgeous! I was glad to have made one last trip to Santa Monica beach before the end of the semester and the winter holidays, wherein I shall have three weeks of tramping about in New York's half-meter of snow. Lovely, but at the same time, I will miss the sun while I'm away from it.

Here are some photos of the beach that day...


I took this, I'm quite pleased with it. The horizon is a tiny bit crooked, but ah well, what can you do. :P


Cameron and I about to leave... We had to disturb some random girl reading Twilight to ask if she could take a photo of us. Haha. I felt kind of bad, but it's just Twilight, so it didn't really matter... ^^;


And this was the rest of the beach. I love Santa Monica beach, even if it smells kind of strange and the water is dirty. Sitting on the sand and looking around is one of the best ways to spend time if you're in the mood to relax and destress after a long semester of hard work. ^_^

Today, I've just relaxed. Karlene, my roommate, left for home today, so I'll be sleeping alone in the room tonight! Awh. It's interesting how accustomed one can become to the sounds of another person sleeping nearby at night.

I'm meeting a friend for dinner tonight in an hour, who will be studying abroad in London next semester. Ah that would be so fun, I'd love to study in London for a semester, but that would probably take away from my four year course plan, so... Probably not. Haha.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. I'll blog again sometime soon!

Until then,
michelle. xx

egg drop soup and poopie face. ^^

Good afternoon! I look like real poopie, which is why I haven't put my face in this photograph. Haha.

In any event. I'm working on my Psychology essay right now, but just thought I'd share this briefly...

Today, for lunch I made myself an americanized version of egg drop soup! It was delicious. :D



... Haha, that is legitimately all I wanted to say in this entry.

On another note though, I'm going to be in New York in only five days! Yay, I can't wait! :D

Oh yes, and in the photo at the top of this entry, that cupcake is from a surprise birthday party Alexa threw for her roommate last night. I made about 35 cupcakes and bought 20 cookies... Cameron, Ivanna and I took 21 cupcakes and the cookies over to Alexa's place, and the fourteen leftover cupcakes... Are sitting in front of me on my kitchen table. They are very inviting, haha. I hope I don't suddenly put on five pounds in my last five days here! :)

Alright, bye for now!
michelle. xx

sore throat. :(

Hello again!

A few things to say...

Primarily, I'm sick! Noooooooo!
What happened was, ALL THREE of my apartments were deathly sick with some sort of severe cough, and I was perfectly fine until a few days ago, when it started getting really cold outside... At that point, they closed our apartment windows and turned on the heater, so there was no ventilation!

No fresh air + many nights sleeping and breathing the same air as them = I will get sick.

:(

It's really unfortunate, because they've been sick in turns for the past seven weeks or so and I've been perfectly fine. Until they closed the windows. :(
Now I have a sore throat and a cough. Booooo.

Anyway, moving on... You know what else I realized? When classes ended, I created this beautiful piece of pure art that I for some reason NEVER showed you guys!



This is a creation of mine called the "cakeinamug", which is essentially exactly what it's called... A cake in a mug! With frosting on top, of course. :)
I ate it after the last day of classes was over, as sort of... celebration. Haha. Cameron helped me, because it was a lot of cake. It was so delicious, I felt so fat afterwards, but so gratified! :D

So yes. Next semester I shall create many of these beauties and indulge myself after large exams and the like. I hope I don't get too fat! Haha.

Well, today I did my presentation for my Latin American class, as well as handed in the corresponding essay, which were both about the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the group's interactions with the Colombian government. I talked about how the FARC is the cause of a LOT of unrest within the country, as well as a large part of the reason why the Colombian government is/was on bad terms with its Venezuelan, Ecuadorian, and Nicaraguan counterparts. Therefore, I talked about the fact that the FARC funds itself through drug exports and the taking of hostages, and the issues resulting from these actions.

... Well, that's all for now. At the moment I'm going to Cameron's apartment to watch The Apprentice with him, Ivanna, and a few other friends so...

Until next time!
michelle. xx

chem final.

Well, I got out of my Chemistry final exam an hour ago, hopefully I did well enough in it... We shall see.

Now I'm going to reread some notes about the FARC and the Colombian government for a presentation I have to do tomorrow. Woohoo! After the presentation, I'm going to sleep A LOT. Haha.

Then, I'm going to write my take home final exam for Psychology on Friday, after which I shall embark on one last weekend of fun before the winter holidays!

Yay, I can't wait to get back to New York, I have missed it. I've also gotten in touch with quite a few friends from Woodmere Middle School, and apparently I'm going to see them over the break... That should be good! I especially can't wait to see Cathy, I was really sad that I didn't get to see her this past summer, so I must see her this break! ^_^

Furthermore, apparently the family is going to Baltimore for Christmas. Yay! I look forward to that. I really really miss the family in Baltimore, I don't get to see them nearly enough.

Well, that's all I have to say for now, I'll blog about my presentation and my weekend later!

Until then,
michelle. xx

hi.

Hello hello. ^_^

First order of business; I forgot to upload the image of the cupcakes I made on my birthday!
So, here they are; you're going to have to click on the photo to see all of them, because it gets cropped out by the margins. :(


... That's after my friends had a few already. Yes. I made a lot lot lot of cupcakes and gave them to all of my friends, and I felt good. Sorry I forgot to show those to you!

I'll put the photos from Las Vegas at the end of the blogpost, just in case you were wondering. Yes, I did upload them finally! :D

Anyway, since the last time I blogged, which was on 1 December 2010, I've done a few things, but basically life has been rather relaxed and calm.

On 2 December I handed in the last term paper for my Holocaust General Education class. In that class, the Professor told us that every single person in that class had a current grade of A or A-... And then told us that he would cancel the final exam because none of us could do better anyway! Hurrah! So I definitely have at least one A or A-... Yay! That made me happy. ^_^

On 3 December I handed in a take-home final exam for my Latin American General Education class, woohoo! I'm really glad that class is over, it was pretty boring... Also, on that day I taught at a high school called Animo Locke. That class was by far the most rowdy and raucous of the classes I have taught so far. Whew! Those kids knew a lot more than they should at that age, and it was truly unfortunate. I hope they turn out alright. What made it even more sad was the fact that some of the kids, you could tell, were truly good kids who wanted to learn and be good people, but the other students weren't letting them, and forcing them to try to be 'cool'. It was really sad.

On 4 December, USC played their last American Football game of the season against UCLA at the Rose Bowl (the stadium) in Pasadena. OF COURSE, we won. Fight on! But I must say, that was maybe the worst performance of the season by USC. Shameful. I really hope the USC team pulls it together next season. Of course the NCAA sanctions hit us bad, but that doesn't mean we have to lose our dignity too! Come on, Lane Kiffin. You can do it!

... That's about all that has happened so far really. Today I went to a review session for Chemistry. I really hope I can do well on that final. I need it.

Tonight I got free food from a USC sponsored event... Free Chipotle burrito and Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets! Hurrah! I love free food. ^_^
... But of course, so do all other university students! So, the line for the free food was soooo long... I'd say at least 1500 people showed up for the free food! Thankfully, Cameron and I showed up an hour early and made sure we were at the front of the line. Haha.

And... what else... Ah yes. On Wednesday I have my Chemistry final, and on Thursday I have an essay and a presentation for my Latin American General Education class. After that, I have until Wednesday 15 December to write my take home final exam essay for my Psychology class. Then, it's home sweet home!

... I suppose that's all I have to write in terms of blogging for now.

With respect to the photos from Las Vegas, I realized that it would be a huge endeavour to put photos of everything here, so I uploaded them all here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251841&id=504703030&l=04c0ba22d8
copy and paste the URL into the address bar, and you'll be able to see all of the photos I took in Las Vegas!

I hope you enjoy!

michelle.

Thanksgiving weekend adventures! :)

Well, it's been a bit busy with schoolwork since I got back from Las Vegas, but I'm going to just post anyway because I feel like I should. ^^

I took so many pictures in Las Vegas, but I haven't uploaded them onto my computer yet! I'll do that as soon as possible and put them here when I do.

The last time I blogged was a week and a day ago, which was my birthday. Now I'm nineteen. :P

So far, my nineteenth year has been amazing at times, and terrible at others. But I shall spare you the sordid details of my friends' foolishness and just talk about the great times!

So as you are well aware, on 24 November 2010 I went to Vegas. It was a 45 minute flight... We took off at 19:30 and arrived just in time to have dinner at the Hooters across the street!

It would probably take a very long time and be very tedious if I went through everything I did day by day in detail, so I'll just say what I did en bref, as the French would say. :)

24 November 2010 (Wednesday)
- arrived at and looked around MGM Grand
- ate dinner at Hooters across the street from MGM Grand

25 November 2010 (Thursday)
Saw the following hotels...
- Bally's
- Flamingo
- Imperial Palace
- Mandalay Bay
- Luxor
- Excalibur
and...
- had lunch at 'Hash House A go-go' at Imperial Palace
- saw the Lion King musical at Mandalay Bay! ^_^

26 November 2010 (Friday)
Saw the following hotels...
- Harrah's
- Venetian
- Wynn
- Circus Circus
- Bellagio
- Planet Hollywood
and...
- went to Adventuredome
- had lunch at Flavors Buffet in Harrah's
- had dinner at Spice Market Buffet in Planet Hollywood
- watched the Fountain show at the Bellagio

27 November 2010 (Saturday)
Saw the following hotels...
- Paris, Las Vegas
- New York, New York
- Rio
and...
- had lunch at Carnival World Buffet in the Rio
- watched the Volcano fountain at the Mirage
- saw the lion exhibit at the MGM Grand

28 November 2010 (Sunday)
Saw the following hotels...
- Caesar's Palace
and...
- ate breakfast at Lago Buffet at Caesar's Palace
- saw the animals in the Secret Garden at the Mirage
- ate lunch/dinner at the buffet in the Wynn

So... That's what I did in Vegas!

I suppose that list was rather ambiguous, I should really elaborate... I'll do that in the next post, when I put up photos from Vegas too! That way you don't have to imagine everything when I describe it. :)

But for now, let me just put this here for you; the music to the fountain show at Bellagio was the song "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". It turns out people take videos of the fountain displays and put them on youtube... So here's a video that someone put up of the same fountain show I watched! Except, of course, taken on a different date. :)
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDZA2s6njw8&feature=related ]

Oh by the way... on Saturday (27 November 2010), USC played Notre Dame in American football, which I just barely managed to follow by looking at television screens as we walked through the casinos... USC was doing well, we were winning 16-13, when OF COURSE, at the last moment (with about 2.5 minutes left), we conceded a touchdown... There have been so many games where we were winning and then lost in the last minute or so, it's terrible. Silly USC. Heh.

... So as you can imagine, it was a truly hectic weekend. Having gotten back to school, I was immediately set upon by loads of work that I hadn't had that much time to work on while in Vegas!

On Tuesday (yesterday), there was a laboratory exam for Chemistry which I had studied for a bit, but not as much as I would have liked. Honestly though, I feel so demotivated for Chemistry based on the rest of this semester... I don't know what I'm going to do with that class. Eh.

Tonight I'm going to work on a 5-page essay due tomorrow for my Holocaust class. There is a PHE group dinner on tonight as well, which should be fun... Free dinner with all of the members of Peer Health Exchange! Yay! ^_^

Tomorrow, I am going to write a final exam essay for my Latin American General Education class that is due on Friday.

On Friday, I'm teaching a PHE workshop at 14:00. It's my last workshop of the semester, awh. I will miss it over the winter holidays.

...And those are my plans for this week! I do believe that is all I have to say for now. I do have an interesting weekend planned, so I'll blog about that next week as well!

i have nothing to say.

Helloooo.

I have a huge chemistry exam in the afternoon today (at 15:30) which I need to study for like crazy, and on top of that I just had a pretty saddening argument with one of my closest friends here. Plus, North Korea attacked the Korean border, and South Korea returned fire!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11818005

I really hope Sejong is okay...

Ah I am stressed and sad. I just want to sleep. I want a hug.

I miss my family, and my friends in Geneva.

Ah.

pictures and rain

Hi! The photo above is not me right now, like I usually do, but I took that photo on the train on the way coming back from San Luis Obispo, to Los Angeles. I just wanted to put up some photos I took while on the train, because when I pasted the entry I'd written during the commute, I was kind of in a rush, which is also why I didn't correct my typos. I'm sorry! :(

Anyway, here are some photos! I hope you enjoy! It was a truly beautiful train ride! [:


My ticket. ^^

Here are the rock formations I mentioned, giant boulders everywhere and such:




Here is one of the farms I saw;


And here's the Pacific Ocean!


This is a very old fashioned looking train I saw at one of the stops. I thought I'd take a photo of it, because it just looks very... a la Americana. Do you know what I mean?


By the way, the weather this week has been rather gloomy, in Los Angeles. For once it's chilly and windy, and I wear long pants and sweaters everywhere. Interesting. Today some friends and I were planning to go to Six Flags, but that ended up not happening, obviously, because according to weather.com, it will rain today. Well, there is an 80% chance of raining. So, we decided not to risk it.

Tonight, I'm going to go see Harry Potter 7 with Cameron and Ivanna! That should be fun, my friends who went to the premiere had mixed views of it, but in general people said it was definitely good. So I'll let you know how that goes. I'm excited.

Okay well, that is all I have to say for now, I'm going to go study because I have an exam on Tuesday I really have to do well in... So, au revoir!

A bientot mes amis!
michelle

Hello hello!

I have news!

First of all, on Tuesday 16 November 2010, Bill Nye the Science Guy came to USC to speak! His speech was mostly about the health of the planet Earth, and what we can do as members of the global community to preserve the planet and live in a sustainable manner. He also spoke about the position of the Earth in relation to other planets in our galaxy, like Mars, as well as our entire galaxy, and then other galaxies, and then the entire universe. Basically, it was a talk based on environmental and astronomical sciences.

Did you know that Bill Nye's highest educational qualification is an undergraduate degree, in Mechanical Engineering? :o Man if only society worked like that now too.

Anyway, it was an amazing experience, and as Appa knows, I have loved Bill Nye ever since I was ridiculously young! Hearing him speak live, seeing him on that stage, it made me so happy. ^_^

Unfortunately... He fainted towards the end of his presentation, I was legitimately terrified. He just collapsed onto his side, laid there for ten seconds, and then got up and said, "Woah, that was weird. Did I just pass out? How long was I out for?"

I will not lie to you, I had tears in my eyes. Bill Nye, my childhood hero, had just collapsed on stage in front of me. It was a very traumatizing realization of mortality, considering I had looked up to that man for so many years of my childhood.

You know what really disappointed me? When he collapsed, everyone grabbed at their pockets, pulled their phones out, and began to text. It was a very disturbing sight, as no one leapt onto the stage at first, to help him. Not only that, but people were taking photos of him on the floor of the stage, and of the ambulance and fire trucks that drove up to the building to take care of him. Have they no shame, or respect? I was very ashamed of the USC population at that moment.

The official line is that he collapsed because of exhaustion, you can read the story published in the USC newspaper here:
http://dailytrojan.com/2010/11/16/bill-nye-speaks-at-bovard-about-global-climate-change/
However, honestly it looked to me like he had a miniature stroke... I was terrified.

Apparently though, he's feeling better now, thank goodness. I hope in the long term he's okay. I will keep track and keep you updated!

Anyway, moving on; last Thursday (11 November 2010), I was in my Holocaust class, which is my General Education Category 5 class. The professor handed back my two term papers that I've written so far this semester, out of three total that will be graded this semester. I got A on both of them! I was sooooooooooo happy! I hope I get an A in that class! That would make me so happy, and would be a great start to the winter break. ^_^

Furthermore, today I got my new California State ID in the mail today, I'm glad. Here's a photo;



My photo is better than the last one, thank goodness! Haha.

Anyway, I have to go to a PHE meeting now, so... Blog again later!
^_^

xx michelle

in San Luis Obispo!

Well, I'm visiting Tom for the weekend at his university (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo campus).

I wrote an entry on the train, so I'll copy paste it here:

Oh yes and I'm sorry about the terribleness of the picture, the train was really shaky, the amount of light was overwhelming, and it's awkward to smile at my computer in public, which is why I'm making such a strange face... ^_^;

------------------------------------



Right now, it is noon on 12 November 2010. I am on an Amtrak train on the way to visiting Tom in San Luis Obispo! This weekend will be fun. :) I look forward to meeting all of his friends, whom he has told me about, and seeing him and his girlfriend again!

I was sitting alone for a while, having boarded the train at 10... However, just now an old woman sat down next to me. She's very awkward and refuses to speak or look at me. So, I am being equally as awkward and refusing to look or speak at her and just typing on my computer. At the moment, I'm writing in font size 6, color very light grey, so that she won't be able to read it, because I feel like she would be offended if she read what I just wrote. I'm writing on a word processor, because the train has no wireless internet connection available, as far as I'm aware. Or, well, there is one, but my computer can't connect to it. So I'm just writing on the processor for now, and I will copy paste this into my blog later.

Ah it is really beautiful outside, the scenery as I go from south central Los Angeles to further north in California is breathtaking indeed. So far, I've seen rock formations that are rather impressive up close, whole fields of gigantic boulders that look like they easily weigh at least one ton each! On the other hand, I've seen vast farms with picturesque rows of vegetation, looking so wonderfully neat and orderly... I love California, I feel like the cliched saying of “Once you go to California, you never leave” … might actually be true! At least, for me. This is a really beautiful state, and I'm so fortunate to be able to go to university here. Many people spend their university years feeling like miserable academic recluses, wehre I... I am on a train looking out the window at glorious Californian scenery, waiting to see a great friend of mine whom I rarely get to meet. Life for me in this moment of time is very content, and I am pleased with everything right now.

However, I do have a large project due on Monday, which I'm going to have to work on this weekend! That shouldn't be a problem though, as Tom and his friends are allpretty studious and devote a lot of time to their studies. Also, Tom is apparently always asleep by 23:00 or so, which gives me at least two or three hours every night to get some work in before going to sleep myself. So, the project should definitely not be a problem or a hindrance to having great times this weekend!

I feel like I'm making a bunch of typos. I'd better proof-read this before pasting it into the blog.

Well, Tom goes to CalPoly San Luis Obispo campus, which as I mentioned before is a while north of Los Angeles. The train ride is five hours long, from 10:15 to 15:35. Don't worry though, I'm making good use of my time and reading for my classes. And napping. It's a rather pleasant train ride.

I've had a better look at the woman next to me, and she definitely seems unhappy to be sitting next to me. Or maybe her mouth and eyes just naturally curve downward and give her a permanently disgruntled and unhappy expression. In any event, her head is firmly turned away from me, and her jawline is looking rather rigid. Man. This woman would be intimidating to live with. Or to entertain as a dinner guest. Her shirt has a rather interesting brightly colored floral print to it, and by way of trousers, she seems to be wearing some sort of wooly stocking-legging thing, in navy blue.

Wow the scenery outside right now is ridiculous, on my left there's a beautiful view of the Pacific ocean and the beach, with palm trees scattered artistically and strategically about... And to my right there are some farm fields with workers, or they might be day laborers, walking about... harvesting? I couldn't really see what they were doing, we passed them too quickly.

Ah, now on my right there's a mountain range. These mountains are so bright and desert-y. Such a contrast from the Swiss mountains.

Apparently we're in an area called Seacliff right now. Seacliffe? Who knows. On the water to the left there's a couple of oil rigs that are apparently not active, but are still maintained by major oil companies... And we just passed an oil depository that holds enough fuel to fuel the United States of America for 75 years. HA. I scoff at that ridiculous figure. You naïve man, we will run out of oil pretty soon at our rate of consumption, and not only that, but we'll run out of fresh water too. How about that? Don't just blindly and blithely read the lines that amtrak has given you to say! Alas. And thus the misinformation to the American people continues.

Anyway, like I was saying, the woman next to me is dressed in the manner I described, and for some unknown reason, her hair is extremely short, I'd say no more than one inch, and gelled. It's slicked back a la Costello, and in some ways is amusing to look at. I hope I don't do that to my hair when I'm old and my hair is white. Unless that's what the norm is. I suppose I''ll do what everyone else does, as long as it's practical and comfortable.

Woah, I just passed by a tree that had what looked like an egret sitting on one of the highest branches. What a pretty sightt. ^_^

Well, I really haven't much to say about this past week, since I usually update you about my life when I blog. Last Sunday I had dinner at Olive Garden with some friends, and it was absolutely delicious! If you are looking for a nice restaurant to have dinner at anytime soon, definitely go to Olive Garden! Great breadsticks, great entrees, great raspberry lemonade, and great desserts... What more could you ask for? Haha.

There's someone in my car listening to Justin Bieber REALLY LOUDLY on their headphones. Sigh. Must we all be subject to this? Albert, when you are between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, IT'S NOT COOL TO BLAST YOUR MUSIC AS LOUD AS YOU CAN ON YOUR HEADPHONES! NOT EVERYONE WILL LIKE IT, AND A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL NOT THINK YOU ARE COOL AT ALL!

Haha, I know you might not understand why I'm saying that now, but when you are that age, I'll tell you again, don't you worry about it, little brother. ^_^

Well, it's now 12:40 and I'm getting sleepy, so I think now is my cue to nap. Since I won't be arriving for another three hours anyway. I suppose at some point I will wake up and continue to read my book about the women's orchestra in Birkenau (a Nazi concentration camp), but for now I just want to close my eyes and rest.

So that is all for now, I will blog again soon. Thank you for reading! ^_^

schedule, fall 2011

Well...

I made my schedule.

It's worse than I thought it would be.

By the way, you can click on the image to make it larger and see the specific classes! ^_^

SIGH.

The reason my Monday to Thursday schedules look so bad is because PHE teaches on Fridays, and so we have to keep our Friday schedules as open as possible to allow for greater flexibility with teaching schedules. Therefore, I had to pack all of my classes into Monday to Thursday. Of course, I don't mind doing that for PHE, though. So it should be fine.

Alright well, I'm going to go continue doing homework.

Until next time!
michelle

halloween weekend 2010, and then some. ^_^

Good morning!

Currently, it is 7:07 in Los Angeles, California, and I am awake because recently I've been waking up pretty early. I've found that when I wake up early, I am full of energy! I'm definitely a morning person when I wake up early... However, when I don't wake up early, I'm as lethargic as a sloth. ^_^

Anyway, I said that I was going to blog about the weekends, so that is what I will do now! These past two weekends have been pretty eventful, and I am quite pleased with how they went.

Alright let's see;

On Friday 29 October, I woke up bright and early in the morning and went to a local high school at 9:00 to teach my first lesson with PHE! It went amazingly well, and I love teaching, so I'm definitely continuing to be in this program for the next 2.5 years that I'm at USC. My partner and I did kind of run out of time while teaching the lesson and had to rush starting from about halfway through, but we covered all of the material we were supposed to cover, so it was good. ^_^

Later that day, I went with Cameron, Ivanna, and a few other friends (by the names of Jordan, Stephanie, and Natanya) to Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights! It was legitimately terrifying, and the park was set up to make guests feel like they were in a horror movie. There were tall men in masks and robes with extremely realistic chainsaws chasing people around the park!

For an idea of what they looked like, imagine this guy:


and this guy:


...chasing you around the park, both with the chainsaws that the clown in the second photo has. AHHHHH! hahaha. Actually, I didn't scream or run, because I thought it was pretty funny and cool to see, because the makeup/costumes etc were all extremely well done. However, I did see one girl sprinting for her life across the park with three pigmen with chainsaws chasing her... Poor girl. Eventually she huddled against a wall and shivered as they surrounded her and waved their chainsaws in the air... The employees aren't allowed to touch the guests, however, because Universal could get very heavily sued if something goes wrong in that sense. So, eventually they left her alone.

I laughed. Is that wrong?

Anyway, here's the website of the attraction, have a look if you're curious! ^_^
[ http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/hollywood/2010/ ]


Moving along, on Saturday 30 October, USC played University of Oregon in Am. football... Considering Oregon is the top team in the country, and we are quite far from that, obviously we lost. For a few glorious moments though, we were beating them! I was proud of the Trojan team. ^_^


On Sunday 31 October, which was Halloween, I went to HARD Haunted Mansion 2010, which has basically become a tradition with me and Jason. Basically, we're going to go every year, and whoever else wants to come with us joins. ^_^

Here's a photo of me and Jason in our Halloween costumes!


...And here's a photo of Jason and the other two guys he was coordinating outfits with;


It was a very good night, I had a lot of fun, but we went home early (at around 12:30) even though it ended at 2:00, because we all got tired. All meaning us four and a few other people we went with, totalling to about... 12? Yes.

On 2 November it was Albert's birthday of course, and on that day I also had a chemistry exam. It didn't go well at all, and I hope to do well on my next exam to make up for it.

On 5 November, I taught my second lesson for PHE, but AHHHHHHH the driver got lost on the way and we couldn't find the school for a full 45 minutes! My partner and I ended up getting to the classroom 20 minutes late, with only 25 minutes left of the lesson, which normally takes one hour to get through. So, we zoomed through the material and managed to cover most of the information, and all of the vital information of the lesson. I think we did well there, and the teacher said afterwards that she was impressed with how we took control of the class and taught so much information in such a small amount of time. She also said that she's currently doing her Master's degree at UCLA.

Ha. Ha.

Anyway. On 6 November, Tom, my very very good friend from EPGY, visited LA with his girlfriend! I was soooo happy to see him, as I had only seen him once since EPGY! We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, the three of us, and had an amazing time. Unfortunately, his girlfriend, Sam, didn't want to go on any of the scarier rides... Tom and I, on the other hand, LOOOOVE roller coasters; the scarier, the better! So it was a little disappointing that we couldn't go on the most famous coasters, especially since they had driven for 4.5 hours to get there. Still though, we had a good time, and Tom and I got to see each other, which is great, since we are extremely good friends, and have kept in touch consistently since EPGY. I like seeing my friends face to face every so often. ^_^

Later that day, USC played Arizona State in Am. football, and thank goodness we won! We've been losing waaay too much lately. All of our games end up the same way, getting very very close (with us having a tiny lead of anywhere from 1-3 points), and then we either manage to fend the other team off for long enough for the clock to run out and thus we win... OR, our defense, AS USUAL, lets the other team's offense run through no problem, they score a touchdown or a last minute field goal, and we lose by a very tiny margin.

BOOOOOO.

So, I was very pleased when USC won. Not that beating Arizona State is anything in particular to speak of, but I was still glad. ^_^

Today, I am registering for my classes for next semester!

I'm going to register for:
PSYC-274: Statistics 1
PSYC-100: Introduction to Psychology
BISC-230Lxg: Brain, Mind, and Machines; Topics in Neuroscience (a General Education class)
CHEM-322AL: Organic Chemistry 1

Should be interesting. If my classes stay like that, then my school day is as follows for the week:

Monday; 830-1650
Tuesday; 930-1550
Wednesday; 830-1650
Thursday; 930-1550
Friday; 900-1150

NOOOOOOO SOOO MUCH CLASS!
I'll post a picture of my schedule when it's finalized. Hopefully it's manageable!

Well, that's all for now, so, I'll post again soon...

I miss you!

Until next time,
michelle.

happy november!

Today, 4 November 2010, is Umma and Appa's 20 year anniversary!
CONGRATULATIONS, UMMA AND APPA!
Even though there have been many ups and downs over the past two decades, you are great people and I'm glad we can celebrate today together. Well, not really together, since I'm in California, but in spirit I'm in New York with you! So, congratulations again, and I hope you have many more happy anniversaries to come. Be happy! I love you both! ^_^

Also, two days ago was the birthday of my one and only, favorite and best brother in the whole wide world! I'm sorry I couldn't post on that day, but happy happy belated birthday Albert! I love you so much! I hope you had a great day, and we will celebrate when I come back home on 15 December! I miss you very much, little brother! :)

I'm working on an essay right now, but I'll post again later about the past weekend and this week. Until then, I love you all, and thank you for reading!



michelle

smile!

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking
When there are clouds, in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile, through your fear and sorrow
Smile, and there'll be tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through
If you'll....
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....
Smile



Personally, I find that this song reflects one of my must fundamental idealogical constants;
"smile despite everything."
People who spend enough time with me will know that I say that all the time, because really, as the song says, "Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you'll just smile."

In the end, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to, so for now, don't worry about it and just smile despite everything. [:

politics and things

Hello hello!

Well, since I last blogged, many things have happened, and many things are about to happen, even though it's only been a week and a half.

First of all, in the image above, I'm sitting on the sofa in my living room, wearing the MUSE shirt that I love and adore, from the MUSE concert. I love them. :)

Now, moving right along;
Nothing really happened during the week after I last blogged on 18 October. Life was life, consisting of classes, studying, food, friends, the usual.

On Friday 22 October, I went to a USC v UCLA football (soccer) game, received a free scarf, and left the coliseum without even setting foot in the main area where the game was happening. Obviously, I just went to get the scarf. I don't have it with me right now, but next time I blog, I'll take a photo of it and show you. :)

Also on that day, Obama came and spoke at USC, as part of his nationwide rally. I wanted to go see him, but the line was more than two miles long, and I didn't feel like it was worth it... So I sat in my living room and opened the window to my balcony, and his voice came in. He gave a pretty decent speech, it was the one where he says that when you want a car to go forward, you put it in D (democrat), and when you want it to go backwards, you put it in R (republican). Ha. Very silly.

Anyway, this week on Monday was the birthday of one of my friends. Her name is Rachelle, and she's not really a close friend, but I met her a while ago and we're... acquaintances. Anyway, a group of about 25 people jumped up from behind a low wall while she was on her way home, and we all shouted, "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIIIIRTHDAAAY!!!" at the top of our lungs... It was very nice, she was very happy. Her close friend Elie made homemade carrot cake FROM SCRATCH, it was probably one of the most delicious cakes I'd ever tasted. I'm happy to do this kind of thing now, while we can, as opposed to fifty years from now when that sort of thing is probably a legitimate health hazard. Heh.
Oh and after surprising Rachelle, while we were standing around talking and eating cake, I met my first korean at USC! Haha. His name is Josh Woo and he's a broadcast journalism major, and he's korean! However, he's like me, where his face and body is korean, but inside he's completely white. Amazingly, he speaks much, MUCH less korean than I do, and can't even hold a very simple conversation. Furthermore, his korean accent is even more terrible than mine. It was mindblowing.
Now, I'm proud of myself for whatever level of proficiency I have at speaking korean.

On Tuesday, in one of my classes the professor started to show us an amazing documentary about the immigration debate that's raging rampant through the USA right now, and I was so intrigued that I watched the whole thing. It's a beautiful and extremely informative documentary, and I strongly recommend it to everybody. Here are links to the whole thing:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKNV26f-KHM
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHLLGulxGHo
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTivOsv6mR0
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_pSdYow4Qw
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHG4_vdCqH4
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp1DZodl_o
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAmfN9M76a0
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Imq3ujxU8
It made tears come to my eyes more than once. :)

Today, today being Friday 29 October, I taught my first class for PHE! It was at the Health Services Academy, and I think it went really really well. I love teaching! I'm definitely doing PHE for the rest of my years at university.

Tonight, I'm going to Unviersal Studios with my friends Cameron and Ivanna for the Halloween Horror Nights tonight... Apparently it's really scary, haha, I'm very nervous. Hopefully it's not too bad, and we'll still have fun, and I'll survive to tell you about it! Haha.


Election day (which is also Albert's birthday! Yaaaaay!) is in five days, and of course I'm going to vote, so I've been reading a booklet that the state government sent to all registered voters. It's extremely helpful and informative, and I'm glad I can make an educated contribution, however small, to this country and state. :)

Alright, I do believe that is all I have to say for now, so I'll blog again very soon! This weekend is going to be quite busy, with a USC v Oregon American football game tomorrow and HARD Haunted Mansion on Sunday! So I'll blog again soon...

Until then,
michelle.

^_^

long time no blog!

Hello! I have a lot to write about, as I haven't blogged in a very long while. Here's my face, as you can tell. Behind me, though you can't see very much of it, is my kitchen. Yay kitchen! :)

Anyway, right to it!


First of all; I ordered my guitar on Wednesday 6 October and received it in the mail on Monday 11 October! It's a Takamine Jasmine S34c NEX, and looks like the one in the picture. I like it, it sounds beautiful. ^_^

Also, on 10 October 2010, I made donkatsu with my friends, and it turned out great! It was delicious, probably because the bread crumbs we used weren't plain, but italian style. That apparently means that they have extra seasonings in, like oregano or... something. In any event, our donkatsu turned out great.


On 6 October I went to get another California State ID made at the local DMV, since I lost my old one. It was a pretty quick process, since I'd made an appointment online. Therefore, I didn't stand in any lines, and was done in about half an hour. Yay for appointments! I felt and feel bad for people who don't know they can make appointments at the DMV and avoid the lines.

My volunteership with Peer Health Exchange (PHE) is going well, we have started going into the classrooms and teaching now. On 15 October I observed what a lesson in a classroom would be like, and wow. Honestly, I felt so bad for these two girls who had to not only keep quiet, but also teach a lesson to this class of 25+ students who couldn't care less. Not only that, but they were ninth graders, which apparently is notorious for being the most loud and difficult age to deal with as a class. Sigh. Haha. I teach my first lesson next week on 29 October, bright and early at 9:45 in the morning! Haha. I'll let you know how that goes.

Also on the 15th was the inauguration of the 11th President of the University of Southern California! His name is Chrystostomos L. Nikias, and he's Greek. The ceremony was from 10:00 until 13:00, and then there was a free picnic offered by USC, but I couldn't go to that because I had to go observe the PHE lesson in the local high school.

Anyway, here's a photo of the free booklet given out at the inauguration ceremony...

It's very fancy, you can't see it in the photo but the paper is thick, like card paper, and in total the booklet has 53 pages. The letters on the front are embossed in gold, and there's a random gold-colored elastic holding the thing shut. I wonder how much money the university spent just printing these financial abominations, considering there were definitely thousands of them at the event. -_-'

For the Red Cross at USC, I am now officially a part of the Blood Drive Committee! Every year USC holds a rivalry blood drive with UCLA, to see which school can collect more units of blood. This is great, as it supplements the great need for blood by patients around the time of the holidays, when college and university students are at home and don't donate as much. Thus, I am now helping to organize the blood drive, which this year will be from 29 November to 3 December 2010. Our goal is to get 350 units of blood from USC, and hopefully an equal number from UCLA, giving a total of 700 units from both schools! Not too shabby, huh? Hopefully we reach our objective!

By the way, I finally changed my major! I went to speak to the neuroscience advisor, and we had a nice long talk about the major, and where I want to go in life, and what sort of thing I want to do... And afterwards, he officially changed my major to neuroscience! Therefore, I am now working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience, and as of so far, I am doing pre-Health courses, because I want to do the graduate program in Biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University, and it seems to require some of the pre-Health courses at USC as prerequisites. I figure I may as well do all of them, no? Here's the URL of the Johns Hopkins about the Master's program;

http://biotechnology.jhu.edu/graduate-education/ms-in-biotechnology/index.html

Tell me what you think!

So, since I last blogged, I have been to two more concerts, both at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood.
The first concert was the group Train on 30 September 2010... One example of their music is the popular song "Hey Soul Sister", which you'll find here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpv8-5XWOI
They were pretty decent, but not the best live. Considering they've been a band for fifteen years, they could really have done much better. However, the show was not too bad, and the performers did have stage charisma for sure. The opening act was a band called Needtobreathe, who were alright, but not as good as Train, who were already not that great, so... Needless to say, this isn't the best concert I've ever been to, but it was still entertaining. After the Muse and John Mayer concerts though, I don't think my mind will ever be blown away by a concert ever again.
On 9 October 2010, I went to see Maroon 5. Here's their song "Sunday Morning":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8nJ-KAiBeo&feature=related
Maroon 5 was a better show than Train, as their music was generally of better quality, and they were better performers as well. Since they've been famous for a while, the show was better, and they were nice to listen to. :) Their opening acts were Ry Cuming and One Republic. The first guy I'd never heard of, but he was definitely alright to listen to... And relative to their success, One Republic was remarkably mediocre live. Ah well. Nonetheless, it was a good concert overall.

Finally, big news! Obama is coming to visit USC! On 22 October 2010, Obama will be here at 13:30 to make a public address! Apparently his people contacted the university and asked if it would be alright for him to come speak... Haha, how amazing! I look forward to seeing him, if I can even get a spot! :)

Well, that's all for now, so... Until next time, peace and love!

michelle

update on the red cross flash mob...

... my Red Cross friends don't want to do it anymore! I have no one to go with, meaning I won't be doing the flash mob anymore. :(

IT'S HOT!!!

(To make the image larger, click on it)

Yesterday was 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Today it is 113 degrees, later it will 'cool down' to 104.
Tomorrow is going to be like this too.

WHY IS IT SO HOT?!?!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I'm soaked in sweat ten seconds after stepping outside, and walking to class is absolutely terrible. The sun is scorching, and I try to stay in the shade as much as possible, but of course I have to step into the sunlight sometimes, and I feel my skin burning whenever I do.

Terrible!

On the plus side, the nights are warm, instead of the usual freezing cold (which is the norm for desert climates).

Here's an article about the heat wave of the past couple days:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/los-angeles-september-record_2010-09-27

life is busy!

Hello hello!

Life has been so exceedingly busy lately, sorry for my infrequent blogging.

Well, anywho. My life since 14 September.

On 16 September, I saw the opening of the move The Town, with Ben Affleck. I liked it, it had a pretty decent and interesting plot, albeit a little bit predictable... Also, I tend to have a positive bias for Ben Affleck films, as his films are usually pretty great.

On 18 September, the USC football team played Minnesota, winning with a final score of 32-21. However, USC has been playing rather poorly this season, it's unfortunate. This game was no exception. Hopefully we get our act together sometime soon.

21 September, I went to the second USC Red Cross meeting. I'm participating in a Red Cross-organized flash mob taking place in downtown LA on 3 October... A flash mob, if you don't know what that is, is where a group of random people will all of a sudden start doing a synchronized dance together in a public place, usually to advertise and promote some sort of cause. I'm not sure if I can explain it well, so have a look at this video, it's a good example of a flash mob:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
The purpose of the flash mob that I'm participating in is to raise earthquake awareness in Los Angeles, to make people realize that they should prepare for the Big One, 'just in case'.

On that day, I also had my first Chemistry exam. Unfortunately, I didn't do well, I just got the average score, which was 74%. I studied a lot, so I figure something is wrong with my study technique. Hopefully I can do better on the next exam.

On 22 September, I had my written test for Peer Health Exchange, which was to make sure I know all of the material on the curriculum I am to teach to the students. Thankfully, I passed that with a score of 93%, because I already knew most of the material on it. Whew! ^_^

Yesterday and the day before yesterday, being 24 - 25 September, I had a two-day training session for Peer Health Exchange. During this training, the group of educators learned effective teaching techniques, public speaking skills, classroom management, etc. It was pretty intense. Friday's session was three hours, from 17:00 to 20:00, and Saturday's was eight hours, from 10:00 to 18:00. Thank goodness we only have to do that once. I was soooo tired by the end of Saturday's session.

Other things that happened on 25 September; the USC football team played Washington state, winning with a final score of 50 - 16. I didn't watch the game, so I can't comment on our team's skill this time around. I hope we played better. Yay for the win, though! So far this season we've been undefeated, with four wins. Next Saturday we play University of Washington, we'll see how that goes.

Also, last night I saw MUSE live!!! MUSE has been my favorite band since the end of high school, their music is simply breathtaking, and the performance was incredible. Honestly, when they first appeared on the stage and began playing, I started to cry hysterically, because their live sound was so... pristine. And amazing. Not to mention, the show itself was ridiculously wonderful. Their showmanship, stage presence, everything about the performance was perfect. Also, the way the stage was set up was genius, positively brilliant. I couldn't help but to cry for sheer happiness, for about five minutes. Haha. Then I was able to stop crying and fully enjoy myself. And the funny thing is, even though I was exhausted after the PHE training session, when I was there, I felt so alive, it was amazing. I sang along to every single one of their songs and smiled, laughed, and cried, for three hours. It was the most beautiful experience I've had at USC so far this semester.
To see what a MUSE live performance is like, look at the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzpGk44UXKQ

I love Muse.

Well, I have a term paper due on Tuesday that I must continue to work on, but before that I am meeting a friend for lunch in fifteen minutes. So au revoir, and cya next time!

:)

extracurricular activities

As of today, I have been at USC for exactly four weeks. Already! I can't believe it.

School is going well, so far I've kept up with all of my courses, though the volume of reading that has to be done is a little bit overwhelming.

Recently I applied for a position as a Health Educator with Peer Health Exchange. Here's their website, have a look:
( http://www.peerhealthexchange.org/the-need.html )

Yesterday evening I was sent an email offering me a position as Health Educator, teaching the kids a workshop about HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections). YAY! I can't wait to start... The first meeting will be this Wednesday, meaning tomorrow, at 20:30. :)

Speaking of first meetings, I attended the first meeting of the USC Red Cross group last Tuesday, and the next meeting is next Tuesday at 20:00... So I suppose I'm a part of that too. :)

So this year, I'm much more involved with extracurricular activities! I'm so glad, because last year I felt really, awfully useless. I'm very happy to be getting involved with campus organizations, finally! Not only am I doing something productive to help others, I am also in groups that are great additions to my CV/resume... maybe next year I'll actually be able to get a proper internship over the summer or something! Who knows!

I feel very optimistic about life as of late.

Yay! :)

Okay, I'm going to go do some chemistry work now, until next time!

ps. I forgot to mention, but I am also part of a club called Wushu Nation, which is where basically, we learn performace-based martial arts and then put on shows at events around campus. I love it! :)

back at school

Well, I'm back at school now. I moved into my apartment on 17 August 2010, and started class on 23 August. It's been nice to be back, I saw all of my friends, went to all of my classes, and everything seems to be manageable. Unfortunately, all of my classes (besides chemistry) require a LOT of reading and writing, so I hope I'll be able to able to manage my time efficiently enough to handle the enormous workload.

My apartmentmates seem kind enough, but it's very awkward in the apartment, because we are very different kinds of people. I feel like if I was myself around them, there would be a lot of disagreement, so I act nice and try to talk to them as little as possible. Thus, I have spent a lot of time with friends and/or studying in the library.

At the moment, it's coming up to one o clock in the morning, but I'm awake because I have hundreds of pages of reading to do that I'm trying to do a little at a time.

Right now, I miss home and my friends in Geneva a lot, which is not surprising, because when it's late I tend to get sad and think about things like that.

I'll do a little more reading and go to sleep, but I'll blog again soon. I promise this year I'll be better at blogging than last year. :)

just thought I should say,

Today I got back my Classical Mythology midterm, and I got a SOLID A on it. 47 out of 50!
I got perfect marks on three questions, 8/10 on one, and 9/10 on another. Hence 47.

I am very pleased.
:D

my life, condensed into forty minutes of typing.

Second post of this semester.
Sad.

I have class in 52 minutes, so I'm going to write rapidly, probably in much the same format as the last post. Sorry about the lack of substance to these posts, I'm just really busy this semester. :S

So last time, I blogged on the evening of 27 February, which was a Saturday. Accordingly, why don't I start with the next day;

FEBRUARY 28: I met my apartmentmates for next year. They seem nice enough, but they're going to try and make me religious. Scary. And they seem like the people to be really, really scary when angry. So I'll be very nice to them, all the time. Yep.

MARCH
2: Biology Lab Exam. Score = 43/50. Class average was a 40.
3: Submitted one of two term papers for my classical mythology class. My score was a... 92! WOOOOHOOOOO I GOT AN A. It makes me so happy to get good grades, particularly after last semester, when everything was C. :P
6: Discovered an amazing sushi place close to campus! It's called Sushi Delight, and they have great stuff for great prices, considering it's sushi. My personal favorite thing from there is their dragon roll, which is U$D 7.99 . Only! Ah. So happy. [:
12: Had my second Biology exam (out of a total of four this semester), and my second Macroeconomics quiz (out of three total this semester). Biology I scored a 125/150, the average was 117. The macro quiz I scored 8/10, and we aren't told what the rest of the class scored.
13: The start of spring break! Went to six flags again, this time with Brian, his girlfriend who was visiting from New Jersey for the week, and Matias. Afterwards, we went back to campus and picked up Eric, and the five of us went to all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. Haha, such good food. :D
16: Went to Santa Monica beach. Since it was a weekday and we went early, there was no one there when we arrived. We had the beach to ourselves for a while. Great stuff. The water was kind of nasty, but the weather that day was absolutely gorgeous, so it was nice to just sit on the beach. And of course, I caked myself in sunblock, so don't worry about it. [:
20: Nothing really happened on this day, I just wanted to say that I went to the Korean food place in the University Village and had their yookgaejang, which was surprisingly good! I'll definitely be having that more often. ^^
22: I-Night at Bovard Auditorium. Basically, a lot of 'cultural' groups getting together and showing 'international' culture to the USC students. In actuality, it was basically just a lot of Indian people and Chinese people doing their thing. Heh.
24: Two things happened this day: first, I had my classical mythology midterm. I had a really good feeling about it, but at the end I sort of ran out of time, so. There were five short essay questions, and my last response was sort of two thirds of a short essay. Whatever, I feel like overall I did well. And I have yet to receive my grade for that. We shall see.
The second thing that happened this day was that I went to a presentation called "Breaking into Finance" where a bunch of graduate students and upperclassmen with internships at big companies like Merrill Lynch etc spoke to an audience of underclassmen about how to succeed in the field of finance. I don't know if this is what they intended, but basically what I understood was that in order to be successful, you have to have an impeccable GPA, and have amazing contacts.
Ehhhhhhhhhhh it would appear I am in trouble. Heuh.
25: Went to see Alice in Wonderland with Brian. I really liked it! I thought it was well made and extremely interesting, and the cinematography was definitely something not to be ignored. However, walking out of the film, Brian said, and I quote, "That was amazingly mediocre." Hmmm. I suppose it's really just each to his own.
26: Had an academic advising appointment with Dr Erickson. The normal advising appointment lasts 20 minutes, according to her; I was there for an hour and forty five minutes. Thankfully, I was her last appointment of the day. I told her the whole story of wanting to change my major to accounting etc, and she really offered me insightful advice and helped me sort through my thoughts. I also told her that I'm really concerned about my GPA, and she reassured me about that too. I walked out of there inspired. I'm going to do well from now on. [:
29: Had my second macroeconomics midterm. Guess what. I got the highest grade in my class for that! AHAHAHAHAHAHA I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF. I scored perfect, 100/100. I didn't even think that was possible, in university! HEEHEE YAY. The subject matter was unemployment, inflation, the business cycle, and aggregate demand, specifically the consumption and investment functions. I love economics. [:
Oh, but I also went to donate blood on this day, and the test pre-donation that they always do showed that the iron content of my blood is low. Ech.
30: Manchester United plays against Bayern Munich in the UEFA cup, and loses 2-1. The goals were ridiculous, ManU scored in the first two minutes of the game, the score was 0-1 for the next hour or something, and then all of a sudden twenty minutes to the end Bayern Munich brings it to a tie. And in literally the last minute of the game, during the overtime or whatever it's called when they allow two or three more minutes, Munich scores again. Ridiculous! ManU's keeper is amazing.
31: Ivanna's birthday! Cameron and I surprised her at midnight (so technically, Tuesday evening/the second she turned 19) by coming into the room with a giant cupcake we'd bought earlier in the day, while singing happy birthday. She was happy, it was adorable. Hehe. And we ate the cupcake then, of course, because we are all fat. Seriously, this cupcake had the same diameter as my face. :P
In the evening, a group of us (basically, Ivanna's closest friends here at USC) had dinner at Mana's, an Indian restaurant near campus. Man I love Indian food. The waiters, when they found out it was Ivanna's birthday, brought us this cake-shaped mango ice cream for dessert, and we all sang happy birthday. Birthdays are so happy. [: This was a nice day.

APRIL
1: April Fool's Day. Unfortunately, I missed it, and didn't do anything to anybody. Shame.
2: Good Friday. Cameron, myself, and another friend of mine, a Chinese guy called Tony, went to a great Greek restaurant I've been to before, and had dinner there.
6: Skyped Sudha and Natasia at 8 in the morning. That was nice. However, the internet everywhere on campus is rather poor, so I kept getting disconnected, because I was in an empty classroom that had poor wifi. Nonetheless, it was nice to see their faces.


... And now it's the 7th of April. There's not really much to say about today.
This Friday I have my third Biology exam, which I hope goes well, and then on Tuesday I have my second Biology lab exam.
This Saturday this thing called 'Springfest' is going on on McCarthy Quad, which is right outside my door. T-Pain, an internationally known music artist, is going to be performing, as well as a bunch of smaller music artists. I'm going. Obviously. :D

Heuh. That's all I have to say.

Ah perfect timing, class starts in ten minutes. I'll talk to you later, must run for now. [: