Midterms! >:[

It’s crazy how it’s only been two months since school started, but it feels like we’ve been here soooo much longer!! I think it’s probably all this studying and homework that makes it feel that way. >:/
Well, I’ve only had two midterms so far and my first one didn’t go exactly too well. I did terrible actually. Grrr. But my second midterm however, went pretty well! So I’m pretty stoked about that! 🙂 I have another exam approaching next week, so I have to get my study on…again!!

Other than school work, life here in college is going pretty sweet. I’m excited for Halloween weekend!! I don’t how often you see you a college student trick or treating, but I’m going to do it anyway! Well, I’m going to attempt to do so. Haha.

Ahhhh!!!

I feel like my head is about to explode! I have sooo much to do and soooo little time to do it!! Two papers due Thursday! One entire book to read! And I have to study like crazy for my class, Age of the Dinosaurs (which by the way, is not easy as it sounds)!! I’ve been trying to catch up for a while now, but it just doesn’t feel like its getting better! Why must I be such a huge procrastinator?!! I need better study habits! Ahhh!! >:/

Coffee. 🙂

Well, on the brightside…coffee is one of the best inventions ever! All nighters – here I come!! :-p

Uh oh, we had homework?!!!

We have been in school for almost four weeks now and I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m barely getting use to doing homework! Well…apparently I’ve been assigned homework since the second week of school and I barely found out about it this week, which is NOT GOOD!! I’ve watched my friends work on homework these past few weeks and I simply thought I was lucky that I didn’t have work to do yet! No homework for me, life is good! Boy, was I dead wrong! But its not like no one told me, I mean my class syllabus stated it perfectly clear…all I had to do was look at it! Ahh!! Now I have to play catch-up, which is not fun. 🙁 So just a few words of advice to any future Hawkeyes…class syllabuses are your friends! Use them!

P.S. My time here has been great despite the whole homework issue thing. I’m finally getting use to this whole college life and I think I’m going to be  just fine. I’ve attended a few events on campus and I’ve really enjoyed myself, especially in the recent HelloGoodbye concert last Friday (There was a girl who was in front of me and she was dancing REALLY REALLY funny! Haha…but that’s another story for another time!) 🙂

Just a Brown Dot Part lll

I come from a predominantly Latino community back home and it felt strange coming to an environment that was completely the opposite. At first I felt like I was just a little brown dot in the center of a large white canvas. Everyone shared the same features, but I was the different one. My skin, my eyes, my hair, everything was different and at a certain point I didn’t know whether I was good enough or not. I felt like an outcast, but it didn’t take long to discover that there were many others who were just like me. There were different cultures, different backgrounds, different ethnicities and I felt less alone. The white canvas that I once saw was now filled with all sorts of different colored dots and I was convinced that I no longer needed to worry about being good enough because in the end, every color is beautiful.

I quickly formed a friendship with a girl who I related to a lot, and from then on all my fears and insecurities went away. I was proud of who I was and where I came from; and I wasn’t going to let anyone make me feel inferior anymore. With this new mentality, I actually started to enjoy myself. Welcome week was a blast! I have never been given so much FREE STUFF IN MY LIFE!!! Free food, free T-shirts, free EVERYTHING!!! I literally have enough laundry detergent and  M&Ms to last me all year!! I even got to see a drag queen show that would put a lot of girls to shame (I’m not even kidding! They walk better in heels than I do!). From drag queens dropping it like its hot, to a hypnotist hypnotizing students, and to a comedian singing like a hobo, the shows I saw were great! Welcome week is what made me see that the college life really is as awesome as people say. I just wish that every week was like the first week. I am now into my second week and there is work to be done. Good thing it’s almost the weekend and its not just ANY weekend, its Labor Day weekend! 🙂

I was right when I thought that UI would be the perfect school for me because even though I had a rough start, I absolutely love it now! I came to UI wanting freedom, independence, and of course a good time…that’s exactly what I got. I’m loving it here and I am looking forward to the next four years of the best years of my life. <3

Just a Brown Dot Part ll

I have the tendency of putting everything off to the last minute (which is probably really bad now that I’m in college) so it was no surprise to my parents that I had planned my orientation date to a day before move in day (not the best idea, by the way). It was decided that I was to move in the same day of my orientation so we wouldn’t have to drive back again the next day (we live four hours away and my parents hate wasting gas).

The campus was beautiful; the buildings, the parks, even the people. It was like walking into a movie where the actors and actresses play college students. They walked the streets knowing precisely where they were heading, while my family and I got lost a number of times and had to look in a map. Could we look any less like tourists or what?! Luckily, there were many friendly people who helped us out. “Iowa people are really nice!” I thought.

Soon after a long day of orientation and getting settled into my dorm, it was then that I realized that this was it. As soon as I closed the door on my family to leave, I realized that I was really alone now. No parents. No siblings. No friends. I was alone in a new town where I did not know a single soul (I didn’t even have a roommate). What the heck did I get myself into? All the excitement I once felt was overwhelmed with fear and doubt. I wanted to go back to that “comfort zone” because I knew I would feel safe, but it was too late to turn back now. This was college. This was the real deal. This was how life was going to be for a long, long, LONG time. It hit me so hard that all I wanted to do was cry…

Just a Brown Dot

I came to this school with the intention of breaking free from my hometown, Omaha, NE; where I lived a somewhat sheltered life. Going to an out of state college was the only way out. So I was excited when I got accepted to UI because not only was it my dream school, but it was also away from home. Finally, I thought, I can just get away from everything and everyone! I can live my life the way I want to live it and get out of that “comfort zone”! I’m going to take the world by storm! College was calling my name and I was eager for the Fall to start so I could finally start living the college life. I was ready. I was ready to take it all on. Then finally, move in day came but I was in for a surprise. I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was…