Thinking… But not about classes. October 30, 2007

This past weekend, my cousin Jenny and her British fiancé, Andy, got married in Virginia Beach, VA. The wedding was absolutely stunning. I had so much fun. Although, now it mazde me think about what I want out of the rest of my life. College has brought such a wealth of opportunity and chance. In such a short time, I have done so many new things. While I completely love all of the new experiences, it makes me really unsure of things I had been sure of. For instance, I was completely sure about my professional ambitions. I want to major in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Science on my way to getting a Masters in Environmental Health Engineering.  The nice thing is that engineering really interests me and since I a woman in a science field, I have a good chance of getting a job right out of school. But, I was watching the movie Chicago with a couple of friends and it made me really want to change my major to costume design. I really love costume design. It’s something I truly enjoy.  So, what I’m hoping to do is work as an engineer for a few years and then get a degree in costume design just for the fun of it.  I was talking to my friend from high school I told her that I could very easily spend the rest of my life in college. 

I have always enjoyed learning. I love the academic minded atmosphere of UMBC.  The students here are driven to achieve their goals while learning as much about other fields as possible. That is one of the traits I was looking for in a college last year. UMBC is definitely the school for me.

Examination Procrastination? I Think Not. October 25, 2007

I have two killer exams next week that I really have to do well on.  I’m trying to do very well mostly because I hadn’t done as well on the first exams as I could have. I won’t be specific but I’m not pleased with my grades on Exam 1 in chem and calc.  Lucky for me, Exam 2 for both classes is in the same week.  I’ve written out a detailed study schedule because I’m so determined to do well. I guess we’ll see how that goes. I’m sure I can find people on my floor to study with!  I really didn’t study much in high school; I never really needed to. I’m trying really hard not to have that kind of mentality this year.  I know that I have to study hard. I mean, for every hour I’m in class, I should be studying for three.  I’m going home this weekend so I can go to my cousin’s wedding. I’m so excited. Out of the 24 first cousins on my mom’s side, Jenny is the first to get married. I’ve already begun study because I know I will get absolutely no studying done with my family.

 Many on-campus students go home for the weekends but I much prefer to stay here. Weekends are a good opportunity for me to clean, do homework, go shopping if I need to, etc.  I’ve heard a few students refer to the campus as “dead” over the weekends. Most of the activities are planned during the week.  During the week I go to class, study, hang out with friends, and do as many on-campus activities as possible.  By the weekend, I really need that time to study and relax.

Do we have chemistry? October 22, 2007

It’s National Chemistry Week! YAY! I never thought I would be enthusiastic about chemistry of all things. I’m not a huge fan of chemistry and moles and Lewis structures and naming compounds. But, today in class, my professor presented all 275 (give or take a few) students with a container filled with Hershey Kisses. So, in celebration of National Chemistry Week, a person can guess how many kisses there are in the container AND how many moles of Na (sodium) are in said amount of kisses.

In the last hour, I have researched as many pertinent facts about Hershey Kisses as possible. I even noted the type of container the kisses were in and found their website. I’m pretty sure I have the precise volume of the container. Using three methods I came up with five possible answers (taking air space and different sized bags into account). So tomorrow, Mole Day, I will have a answer ready to guess as soon as the festivities begin.

I really enjoy being a dork! J

“Good morning, Baltimore!” October 17, 2007

Ok, so it wasn’t morning but the feeling is the same. I love Baltimore! My roommate, Robyn, the girl across the hall, Debbie, and I decided to trek-it into Baltimore to go to a mediterranian restuarant we heard about.  Debbie mapped out a plan to get to the restuarant (none of us have a car on campus).  It just so happened that the 35 (a bus line) goes from campus to a few blocks from the restuarant.

After we got slightly turned around and waited for the bus in the wrong direction for over an hour (woops!), we got on the bus headed downtown. I get quite a kick out of adventure which comes in handy when the restuarant was closed. We found a great Thai place instead.  Dinner was delicious; I really Thai food and trying new things.  We got to eat at an outdoor table. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. I love Autumn. The air was dry, crisp, and cool. For me, there’s nothing better than a Fall night. We walked all over after dinner scoping out new places to try (that is, next time we have money!).  It was great! By the time we got back  to campus, I was actually willing to do homework.

 Tonight is definitely going down on my list of college memories!

Yay campus life! October 14, 2007

College food does not equal mom’s (or dad’s) cooking. It’s just a fact of life.  I don’t mind dining hall food. I really like the cereal bar, the salad bar, the sandwich bar, and the pasta(!!!). I like other food the dining hall serves too but those are there every day. My all time favorite food in the dining hall is the mocha chip ice cream! I have a crazy weakness for ice cream and this stuff is amazing!

 On a totally different note, I love campus life! There’s always something happening which is good for me becaue I’m not the type of person who likes to sit around and facebook for hours.  I love walking into my building to find a new poster promoting some on campus activity. I like to write the interesting activities on my wall calendar. Right now some of the activities I have written down are homecoming (too many events to include in the tiny boxes), midnight madness (It was last night and SO much fun), a screening of the movie Chocolat (yay! Johnny Depp!), and a costumed Rocky Horror Picture Show event.  I have actually started doing more homework on weekends than I ever did in high school so I can do the activities during the week.

Sleepover! October 10, 2007

So, to be perfectly honest, I’m still completely psyched about the whole being away from home and on my own thing. Yesterday my friend Debbie got back to school after being home in Minnesota from a few days. I was thrilled that she was back, kinda hyper, finished with my homework, and looking for something to do. We came up with the brilliant idea of having a sleepover. So, my roommate and I had four of our friends (all of whom live on hall) sleep in our room. It was a ridiculous idea but that’s not to say it wasn’t fun. We didn’t even make it through one round of  “Truth or Dare” yet bedtime didn’t find us until 4am.  So a sleepover in the middle of the week was a good idea in theory but kinda nipped us in the butt after only four hours of sleep.

Writing this blog is [suprisingly] much more difficult than I ever anticipated. Now that I’ve made it sound terribly tedious, let me explain.  Coming to college is probably the most change I have ever had thrust towards me in my life. And it’s the best (this is coming from someone who usually avoids change so it’s weird)! There so much that I love about UMBC (and college in general) that I want to say. But if I said everything that popped into my head, no one would be able to follow and I would look ridiculously crazy. 

 Right now what’s on my mind is President Hrabowski’s speech at Convocation (it’s like induction into the school). I know it was a while ago but I remember it which means it must have been good, right? (It was a really good speech!) Sadly, over the summer a girl who was supposed to be a member of the Class of 2011 passed away (from a car accident, I believe). President Hrabowski said that we should strive to make the school year a good one in her memory.  I realized that UMBC, despite its magnitude, focuses on making sure every student’s experience is a good one.  I came from an all girls’ Catholic high school where my graduating class had 69 girls to UMBC. The fear of being one among the many was definitely following around like a big dark rain cloud.  But everyone I have encountered thus far has made an honest effort to learn my name and something about me.  I think that’s something really cool.

I LOVE college! October 6, 2007

As this is my first blog, let me introduce myself.  My name is Mariah and I’m a freshman at UMBC (woo! class of 2011!).  I’m a Mechanical Engineering major, and college is the best thing I have experience thus far in life!

I’m not going to lie, college scared me a little bit.  Being the slightly high-strung person that I am, I insisted that my family and I be at UMBC twenty minutes before my move-in window actually began on  move-in day.  We arrived at the ridiculously early time of 7:40 AM.  UMBC students acting as Welcome Week Leaders (Woolies) were awake and ready to direct us in the right direction.  Honestly, having move-in day go smoothly made the whole “being in a strange place full of strangers” thing so much easier.

So, fast forwarding one month, it is now early October and today I had a CHEM 101 exam. I have never studied so hard for anything — ever.  A bunch of my friends on my floor and I took over the study room for hours upon end.  Chemistry is not exactly my forte. Luckily, my professor was very fair.  The exam was very much like the practice exam she posted online. (Thank god!) The exam was difficult but managable.  It was pretty much exactly what I expected from a college exam.  (The best part was that I got to sit in a left-handed desk!)

On a completely different note, I love my floor!  Most of us leave our doors open and people just filter in. I love it.  Almost all of my friends are people on my floor.  I really like living close to the people I spend the most time with.  I also really like my roommate.  Yes, living with a stranger is rather awkward at first, but all the Welcome Week activities made that situation infinitely better.