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[ Tuesday, July 15, 2003 ]

 

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is the Question!

Ok. I know I haven�t blogged in ages, but I have been lurking around everyone else�s blogs. I guess I�m just getting lazy or something. I remember things I want to blog about, and then I just forget about them. I haven�t really been that busy either. So, get ready to fall asleep reading a very long and boring blog!

I had my orientation (CalSO) at UC Berkeley, which was really cool! It lasted all day on Friday, and then ended on Sat. in the afternoon. Some parts were really boring (like the safety presentation) and overwhelming (like the presentation on academic requirements), but overall I had a lot of fun. I have to admit that I was a little confused with the intro. to the university and college requirements. Apparently, we were supposed to have read the thick books of material that had been sent in the mail. I had done most of the reading, but I couldn�t remember everything; and I felt that the presenters were going to fast for me to keep up with. It kind of sunk in that I wouldn�t necessarily be at the top of my class any longer. As they told us, although most of us had tutored other students in high school, we would now be the ones needing tutoring. The smaller session, with the three counselors, was much more helpful to me in terms of understanding the requirements and picking my classes. So far, I�ve signed up for Math1a and Chem1a, and I�m still trying to sign up for a Freshman seminar and an Asian American comparative lit. class, but I haven�t had much luck in getting into the site, especially since everyone else is trying to do the same thing.

The health presentation was surprisingly very lively and funny. My counselor, Dave, and a student did a whole skit about the surreal quality of their friendship and finding dead bodies in strawberry lake on campus (killed by an irate student who did poorly on her finals). It was hilarious and somewhere in there, there was a point about health.

I met three other Muslim sisters at CalSO. Their ethnicities are: Pakistani (and her dad actually speaks Pashto!), Indian, and Iranian. Two of them are actually hijabis! Yeah! Hijabi pride! It�s funny how hijabis tend to find each other and group together�although we didn�t do that because we were all assigned to different counselors. But it was really cool meeting them, especially since one of them is from my area and she�s also going to be commuting to Cal.

All our meals were provided for us. Hehehe; I had a chocolate donut for breakfast (then I realized that maybe I should balance it out a bit, so I also had some fruit). We had a picnic lunch, which was pretty cool. For dinner, we ate at Crossroads, a restaurant for Cal students. It was nice; there was a lot of variety. We walked around on our own in Berkeley afterwards. I actually knew the campus and city a lot better than other students, which was quite a surprise because usually I am directionally impaired.

In the morning, we were all assigned to counselors. Each group had about nine students, and throughout the day we would alternate between hanging out in our groups and going to the huge lecture halls to hear presentations. My counselor, Dave, was just plain awesome! He made the whole experience a lot of fun with all his anecdotes and willingness to have fun with us-like trying to learn the moonwalk from one of the students in our group. It was amazing how enthusiastic he was, especially since we were his 13th group of students. He didn't get irritated or impatient with us. By the end of CalSO everyone in the group was cracking jokes and we all felt like we had known each other for a long time. Our counselor, Dave, had many interesting and funny facts, and he wasn't embarrassed to sing us all the Cal songs (which are actually pretty funny, in a weird way).

We learned about the huge rivalry between Berkeley (Cal) and Stanford. In fact, whenever Stanford was mentioned, Cal students would hiss! The counselors would crack jokes about Stanford students and how they�re �yuppies.� Cal students are recommended not to wear red (the Stanford color), especially during game week and at football games, because people will actually boo them and force them to take the red off. Kind of crazy. And apparently there�s a whole story of an ax. Long ago, Cal and Stanford were playing football (Cal was winning) and bitter Stanford students got an ax and would tear up blue and gold (Cal colors) ribbons every time their team would make a goal (which wasn�t very often). Cal ended up winning the game and some students also stole the ax. On the way back to Cal, they had to break off the handle of the ax to make it easier to transport it on the ferry. To make a long story short, Stanford and Cal students kept stealing the ax from one another, and it got so bad that they started pulling guns on each other (I�m just repeating what my counselor told me!). The schools got involved and made the ax the trophy for the games. So now whenever each team wins a football game, they get the ax. We won the last game (30-7)! Woohoo! Go Bears! Cal has a big gold �C� painted on its football field. Stanford always tries to paint it red, and then it has to be repainted. Stanford also has a much smaller tower than Cal (Our�s is the 3rd largest in the world!). One night, Cal students snuck out to Stanford and painted bear prints going up the tower (the bear is our mascot). Stanford�s president was very angry and he made a speech about how �Those bear prints must come down!� Cal students then obliged him by sneaking back in and painting bear prints going down the tower. During game week, students from both campuses make anti-Cal and anti-Stanford fliers and pay planes to drop them onto the campuses. It�s kind of crazy and seemed kind of absurd to me. Some of their plans get really elaborate.

Anyway, at the end of CalSO, a video was played about Cal and the CalSO experience, and the Cal band marched in and played for us. It was so awesome! The Cal band is actually pretty cool. Everyone got really involved and hyped up about Cal, and it was a nice conclusion to orientation. I�m so excited now! Half my mind is with the present, and the other half is eager to start at Cal in the fall.

I had my first college midterm yesterday for my Social Sciences class at DVC. It was not bad and I finished in less than an hour. I had totally crammed at the last minute. I started studying on Sunday afternoon (only after baking cinnamon streusel of course!). Man, I must�ve mad at least 200 flash cards (I normally don�t even study using flash cards). I�ll find out how I did on Thursday.

Well, I still haven�t talked about all the Islamic programs that have been going on lately, but I think I�ll save that for another blog.

On another note, you can all see one of my paintings! My friend, Angela, and I had applied to a local art contest and she won second place and I got a honorable mention . My painting is called "Shadows in Open Space." Shell Ridge Open Space is right near our home, and we can see the hills from our hall/courtyard window. I don't think the photo is as good as the actual painting, because the colors are a bit muted in the photo, but it's still exciting!

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