Fall 2010

My classes started a few weeks ago and I’m already worried about not getting things done. I have to keep in my mind that I need good grades to go to UCB, but I feel very overwhelmed and afraid to get a C. I’m tanking five classes in this fall, 15 units, two campuses, and a lot of new experiences. I spend my mornings from Monday to Thursday at Berkeley City College, and my afternoons from Monday to Wednesday at Laney College. It’s not just it! I also have classes Saturday morning at BCC. Adding this to the minimum social life I’m trying to have, plus 20 hours of weekly work, I wonder where is the time to study for those classes. This will be so far the hardest semester ever here in the USA.
My week starts with Pre Calculus with Mrs. Elizabeth, a teacher who came from France, and I’m already not sure if she’s good or not. Mrs. Elizabeth arrives almost every time a few minutes late, and she seems to come straight from the street, not having time to go to her office to get the class’s name list. Her way of teaching is a little confuse because she always commits little mistakes in basic stuff. Last class I was wondering with she really knows what she’s doing. I also feel that the rest of the students think the same about her. There is a nice girl who sits beside me and always leaves the class mad with the teacher.
After eat a sandwich that I brought from home, I’m ready for my Perspective, Shades, and Shadows class, or just E/AT 35, at Laney. This is so far the scariest class of this semester. The teacher is really nice, but I was so lost in that class for the first couple of weeks. I should take another drawing class before starts this one, but since I did a fast, intense, little, course in Brazil about drawing, I said to myself (and to the counseling) that I knew what I was doing. For now, I can say that it’s getting better, but I still have a lot to learn. Mr. Simon, the teacher, is really making me comfortable to try it. He’s calm, always likeable, and patience with his students. I met this nice guy whom his name I still can’t pronounce (I know, it’s a shame) and he helped me a lot during the first classes when I looked like a lost kid in a crowed place or something like that.
On Tuesdays, it’s time for my English 1A class, the first English class I’m taking with Americans. Actually, this class seems a lot like the Writing class I was taking last semester, the difference is a few students who are really Americans, and the teacher, who isn’t so nice like the last one. The teacher, Mr. Sommer, is a cute young guy who tries to be really tough. I didn’t have a good impression of him on the first day of class because he arrived already demanding people who didn’t enroll to the class leave immediately, exactly like that, with no good morning, no hi, no anything. The class is going “ok” for now, but I gave my first essay to an American girl to take a look and we founded out a lot of grammar errors, so I can’t tell how I’ll be doing yet.
I also enrolled to this class called Introduction to Professional Design, once a week every Tuesday’s afternoon, and so far I didn’t like it. I was really excited about this class on the beginning because I though I would learn a lot, but so far the teacher, Mrs. Eleene, just ask us to ready a book with very very very basic stuff and spent the class summarizing it. It’s really hard to focus in this class. Am I too advanced to this class? I don’t think so, but I can tell already the class is really boring.
The last class is Geometry, every Saturday morning from 9 to 12. The teacher, Mrs. Mary, is really nice, and I’m learning basic stuff too, but I like it because I loved my geometry classes in Brazil. The class is all mixed up with all kind of different students; old women, teenagers, etc. nobody is really in the mood to socialize in a Saturday morning during a math class, so I didn’t meet anybody yet. The fact that it’s on Saturday morning is turning my head 360º. It doesn’t feel like Saturday at all, I feel like my Saturdays are now my Fridays, and when I realize it’s already Sunday, and I feel like I didn’t have time to study at all.
Since I’m still addicted to work out, I’m going to the gym five times a week, every morning, most of the time before class. I also go on Fridays, and since I’m close to college, I go there just to study by myself. I still have a problem to study at home, with the dogs, the cleaning, the distractions, work, and Dennis.
Talking about Dennis, he’s ok, I think. I feel we’re not so “together” anymore because of the little time I spend at home now and also another things. He cooks almost every evening waiting for me to have dinner together. It’s cute. His work seems the same for me, but now he’s also helping me with my EBay stuff, selecting photos and sometimes even shipping things out.
I decided do not pay much attention to my social life this semester, but I just can’t. I mean, I think I’m doing fine and more concentrated in studying more than socializing, but I feel that this is not enough. I’m building a nice social life with some guys from Berkeley, and I’m changing the gym to see if I can work out with more interesting people. But I still have in my mind that this will be my hardest semester and I will not fail.
If I survive this moment of my life, I’ll come back to write more.