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And We are back for Round 2…

Just when fall quarter finished, I thought college can’t possibly get harder right? Again I was wrong. Week 1 of winter quarter just finished and I am already behind my reading and understanding of classes and content (Yikes! Help me). However, looking back at my fall quarter AFTER final grades came out, I realised I can’t repeat the same negative mistakes I made in fall in winter, otherwise the situation would not be pretty. For example: in fall quarter, besides being a Zot Blogger (it’s a great experience!), I had no other way to spend time productively besides gaming, sleeping, and studying/homework/classes. Unfortunately I never took action and I started to become less interesting compared to fall quarter. So my advice: if you find yourself having more time for other things, look for opportunities. Remember those spam emails you got from giving your email to clubs you never attended? Well now is the time to use them. Ask them if it’s not too late to join. 98% of the time it’s not too late. For my winter quarter, I am looking to some beneficial organizations to join.

Another example: I noticed I had an abundance of time (to certain extent) in fall quarter, and I never made any good use out of it, like learning something fun and useful. I realised this more towards during winter break when I saw I had absolutely (no hw, no classes, no work) during the break, and I decided to learn python. There was another reason that played part in the lesson: taking education in your own hands. I heard those words before, but I never understood what they really meant. You may think spending a mere hour every week isn’t productive to learn something new, but I was surprised. Within a couple of days I was able to knock down the basics of python and started to create programs too. My point is: use your time wisely and take education in your own hands.

Final example I promise. A little bit of history: I took freshmen edge and I saw that I always went to the TA or the professor’s office hours after every quiz or hw when I had questions. Now the example: I noticed in my fall quarter, I rarely stuck around to talk to my professors, or the TAs and never really went to their office hours. During summer I always went (keep in mind I had one class and one university study for summer) for help, which actually helped me greatly as I passed the class with an A. In fall, I had questions, ideas to talk to professors, but something pushed me back, and with that, those questions, ideas all dissolved and that quarter my grades weren’t as good. What I am saying is always go talk to professors and TAs for help of any kind. They are willing to help, plus they can help you for a letter of recommendation your senior year! This winter quarter, I will go to office hours when I need help (and trust me, I need a lot of help).

Those were some of the things I reflected upon my fall quarter and I will make changes to improve my winter quarter. Honestly, it’s going to be hard to change my negative habits, but it’s not impossible right?

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Metamorphosis

Transformation is always a cool thing to observe, but it is even better to be a part of it. Fall quarter was truly a transformation time for me as I was transforming from a high schooler into a college student. And, you know what, it was really fun!

In general, the quarter’s been great for me. I managed to receive three As and one B which I am really proud of. This is definitely a result of a great work and big effort. The only thing that I carry out of this is that since I had four letter grades and not all four of them were As, there is clearly a room for improvement. There is no doubt I would like to keep up with that result this quarter. I will do my best to achieve an even better grades.

College is not only about grades, though. It is also about social life and making new friends. Thanks to the University Studies class I have made several new friends with whom I appear to have same classes this quarter! I am happy that things worked out like that because I was kind of sad when we had our last discussion for University Studies last quarter as I really enjoyed people there. Apart from acquiring some new acquaintances, I also hanged out with my old friends a lot. This really helps sometimes, especially when you fell frustrated and tired of studies.

After a good quarter comes a good break. That is absolutely true about me. I am very thankful to my parents that I have a possibility to travel all around the world and see new wonders that our world has to offer. This time I went to Sicily. Sicily is an island on the south of Italy, which is famous for its volcano called Etna, red oranges and very good vine. I witnessed a volcano eruption in person and this is truly an amazing experience.

Overall, my time at UCI has been great so far. Of course, there are certain things that I should improve in myself in order to become a better version of myself, but I am actively working on this an really looking forward for a new challenges this quarter has to offer.

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In Which Things Could Go Wonderfully Right or Horribly Wrong

I am terrified. Even with having already completed one quarter successfully, I am still as terrified starting Winter quarter as I was my first day as a college freshman. Just as quickly as I had established and settled into a routine, it is now time to form a new one. There are certain aspects that I can always rely on to remain constant. Traffic already starting to build up around 6:20 in the morning. Sprinting to my next back to back class on the opposite side of campus. Being sleep deprived. And then the features I again need to familiarize myself with are the new faces in lectures and discussions and different teachers with even higher expectations.

Entering Fall quarter, the persistent change was exciting. I was eager to meet new people and felt ready to take on a rigorous curriculum. Now entering Winter quarter, I have heart palpitations.

Last quarter I only took 12 units. This time, I am taking on 16. It may be only one extra class. But with the fast pace of the quarter system, time can really sneak up on you to give you a heart attack before you turn 19.

From having better time management by saying no to one more Netflix episode of Blacklist. To giving myself a pep talk to have enough courage to attend office hours and talk more to the other people in my class. And reviewing notes after lectures when I get home instead of making a trade-off between sleep and cramming the night before midterms. With a heavier workload, there are definitely some things I need to improve upon as I move forward in the Winter. But one habit I would like to keep the same that I did last quarter: trying to focus more on the excitement rather than the fear that comes with change.

 

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Round Two

With the first quarter done and over with, I am able to start the winter quarter fresh and new. There are things that I have learned about the college setting that makes creating my second quarter a whole lot easier. The first of which being class scheduling.

Since I am not a morning person, having classes before noon was a struggle. That’s why I tailored most of my classes to occur at around 12 PM. It was something that worked well for me the first quarter, and I decided to keep it for the second one as well. I also wanted so that I didn’t have to come back to my dorm over and over again between classes, so I made it so that the longest downtime I have between classes would be 50 minutes. This gives me an ideal schedule to work with.

The one major thing that didn’t work for me last quarter was the fact that I only had a few important classes. I wasn’t able to enroll in the amount of units that I really wanted. I have changed that this quarter by getting more 4 unit courses, thus getting enough credits for me to get sophomore status for the next year. That puts me on track for graduation, but getting into ICS is difficult so graduating with the right degree is hard.

Overall, the first weeks of the second quarter is a lot better than the first few weeks of the first quarter. I have gotten used to my roommates and hall members, and thus the aura of mystery and careful treading is gone. We are more open to each other, resulting in a chill atmosphere. My sleeping schedule is still the same though. It works out for me, since my classes are around the same time, but on the other hand, it works against me since my roommates have earlier classes. Still, I enjoy their company and the extra hours of interrupted sleep is a cheap price to pay.