Emery room 315
of the events of August 30, 2010 and
the morning of August 31, 2010:
Of August 30, 2010
Yesterday was my first day of classes. My schedule was as follows:
8:10a-9:00a: Calculus 21
9:10a-10:00a: Physics 11, Lecture
11:10a-12:00p: Global Citizenship Practicum
12:10p-1:00p: Introduction to Engineering Practices (Engineering 05)
7:10p-10:00p: Physics 12, Lab
I have been having trouble with my math class: Calculus 21 is a higher-level calculus which will guaranteed be difficult for me, considering I haven't taken a Calculus course in High School. And they say that math at Lehigh is "super hard-core" (it is a renowned Engineering school, after all). So I tried to switch it down to Math 075/076, which is a slower version of Math 021 (it is like Math 021 but covered over two semesters; I would have to catch up on Math 022 over the summer, but they say that some of the best students come from Math 075/076 and if I felt that I should be in a slower class, then they were willing to switch me). Anyway, you have to change your classes yourself. You get a code from your academic advisor (mine is this Japanese guy with a super strong accent. It's hilarious) and go on your "portal page" (every student has one) and go to change your courses. After many mishaps and trips to the Math Department (It's in a building called Christmas-Saucon...who doesn't think that's funny? And there are Christmas tree-like trees around the building, too!! :D ) I found that Math 075 would conflict with my Global Citizenship course and both courses have only one class. :( So I'm stuck in Math 021 and will need to find a campus tutor. :/
But anyway, my math teacher seems nice - his name is Changxe He, and, as the name says, is Chinese with a really strong accent.
10 minutes later, in a building almost a New York City block down the road from my last class (if you're looking at a Lehigh map, like this one,http://www.lehigh.edu/~dlj0/pict/cmap.gif , my math class was in Chandler-Ullmann, which is number 17. My next class is number 16, I believe, and while that doesn't sound very remarkable, let me tell you that it's a loooooong way). My Physics 011 professor was really nice. He seemed very caring but since there were 200+ people in the lecture hall, I didn't get a chance to talk to him.
After a quick trip back to Emery to switch books, I went down to my Global Citizenship Practicum. It was a really unremarkable class, but it was pretty interesting because we watched a video on how social change in China is putting them in debt. That's kind of what it's about.
Then I had 10 minutes to almost literally run from Rauche Business Center (number 37) to Packard Lab (number 17). It was a long way, but when I was there, I was surprised to find that I was fairly early. My professor's name is Keith Gardiner, and he's from England. He's an awesome teacher. He reminds me a bit of Tokes, only British. :D I don't have time now to go into detail of what he said that made him so awesome, but it was wonderful. :D I will love that class. (They have no final exams, so it's an added bonus :) )
I was free for a while after that so I went to lunch with Mom and Wayne. We went to Sonic for the first time, embarrassed ourselves, and had a wonderful time. We explored North Bethlehem for a bit and went into the Moravian Bookstore, which is the oldest running bookstore in the United States or something similar. I went back for the community/club fair on campus, got a bunch of free stuff (not as much as others, but that's because I have my pride and didn't want to sign up just to get pins or shirts :/) Went back up to my room, showered, changed, and then went to dinner with my Urban Ops group. Then I had to split and go off to my Physics 012 Lab. :(
It was horrible. My professor said to do Experiment 1 in our booklets. IT'S A LIE!!! EXPERIMENT ONE IS NOT ONE SINGLE EXPERIMENT!! IT'S THREE!!! THREE LONG EXPERIMENTS!!!! I ended up staying in until 10:30p but I still didn't finish. I need to go back at 7:10p tonight to finish my last one, which I hear doesn't take very long.
But my reason for the title is that my calculator is stupid. Well, was. It's original setting made me resort to using the computer's calculator. When adding a series of numbers such as 3.6+3.5, etc., I got a fractional answer. So I had to read my manual, which was the thickness of my pinkie, to figure out how to change it back so that when I added 3.6+3.5, I got 7.1, not some fraction like 71/10 or something. >(
But yeah. I Skyped Connie and we had a nice chat while I did some Physics 011 work and read the book. :( I ended up staying up until 12:30a±15 minutes.
Of the Morning of August 31, 2010:
I'm surprised I woke up this morning before my alarm. I got all of 6 hours of sleep last night due to homework. :( My first class was at 8:20a, but I was lucky because I woke up in time to be one of the first to breakfast. Thus, I could sit alone in a booth and read from my Physics book. Yes, I had Physics 011 again, but this time it was a recitation. For those that don't know what it is, a recitation is employed when there are large lectures and the teacher cannot answer individual questions (as Professor Licini said, if everyone asked a question during the class, each person would have 15 seconds to ask and he would have no time to answer). So recitations are small groups of Professor Licini or whoever's lecture that meet with a graduate student or another professor who then covers minor topics, brushes up on ideas covered quickly by the lecture professor, or answers questions and helps a little with homework.
My recitation professor is a crazy old man. As Jenna would say, he's 'cuckoo for cocopuffs'. :/ He seems nice, though, but reminds me of the Visine Tears guy. The one with the monotone voice. xD He's such a geek, though, but he's super nice. I think it was just 'cause it's so early, though. He asked where we were all from and asked a bit about us, which was really cool of him.
So next I have Calculus 021 (recitation) and Introduction to Global Citizenship, but they're not until 1-ish. :/ So I'm gonna do some work now.
Jya!
~E
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