Parents Visit Means Food

One of the most important element of a college student's life (besides studying and studying) is good, healthy, cheap food. Sadly, you can only have one of the three. Thankfully, parents are the guardian angels...and they're that for reasons other than food, but right now, I'll just focus on food.
Due to exams that seemed to pile on every two weeks, the last time I went home was Labor Day weekend and that was nearly a month ago. Hence, I was short on food. I could just eat the food from the university center, but hell, I ain't doing that now that I have a kitchen to utilize. So, I did the next best thing. Rice, soy sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggs. Simple. Cheap. Partially unhealthy. Luckily, my parents came over the weekend and brought me food! And enough to last me two weeks until I would be able to go home (the strange, but much appreciated three day weekend in October). My mum, being an awesome person and an amazing cook, made me bún bò huế, which is a vermicelli soup dish that originated from central Viet Nam. It's filled with spices, literally, since it's spicy. Anyways, she packed me about seven soup bags, so now I have bún bò huế stock in the freezer. Love. She also packed me caramelized pork and eggs, again frozen in the freezer; organic tomatoes and cucumbers-because that's how we roll.
But anyways...I went to Target over the weekend as well to buy some stuff for my room. I found Febreez Reed Air Diffuser with a willow blossom scent and I fell in love with it. It is now making my room smell woody sweet. Today was the Make-A-Wish charity day that Coldstone Ice Creamery holds annually in which Coldstone gives out a free ice cream (although it's charity, so you should be a good Samaritan and donate money!). I came out of lab at around 7 and my friend and I drove to downtown Stockton to find Coldstone so we could get free ice cream. Downtown Stockton is freaky. If you're in the wrong part of town. We had to take a detour because the road was blocked by some weird festival or concert of some sort, but luckily my friend managed to memorize the map (the only time she had ever looked at the map itself and not just the directions), and we wove our way to downtown. Negative side of downtown streets: one way street. So we were going in circles. We turned into the Stockton Police station, we drove through a Greyhound station, turned onto a creepy/shady street, and voila! We managed to find a parking spot one block away from the plaza where Coldstone was at. It was such an adrenaline rush being out in downtown Stockton at night. But, we made it back in one piece AND we got to eat ice cream.

Now that all these adventures are over, back to hitting the books. Ochem and microbio exam are on the same week...AGAIN.

Corner Tip #10: The worse thing you can do when getting lost on your travels is panicking. The best thing you can do is to calm down, enjoy the view, and know where north, south, east, and west are. 

Because School Has Resumed

School officially started for me two weeks ago. I have no idea where my summer went...it left so quickly. I'm still living on campus, but I think I'm the farthest away from my classrooms. Most of my classes are located on the south side of campus while my apartment was on the north side, so it's like a 10-15 minute walk to class everyday, sometimes twice a day.
I love my classes, especially those not concerning my major. I don't know whether this is a good thing or it's just normal. I mean, I do like microbiology since learning about microbes is just as fascinating as it is frightening. And I do enjoy Ochem...only at times when I understand it. When I don't, I get totally confused and cannot help but think: ohmygosh, failure. I have to learn Ochem though. Not like I have to learn it for the major, but more like I have to learn it because my career is going to be based on it. I wish Ochem lectures would be as fun as microbio lectures. I absolutely love my classical mythology class. The professor focuses on Greek Mythology, a field that I've been introduced to since the sixth grade. It is awesome. I feel that, that is my chill class. And the readings is like reading a story, so I take joy in that. I love art history, although I'm a bit iffy on contemporary art history. I try my best to understand the logic, the theory, the philosophy behind those modern works, but sometimes, I feel like I'm just staring at a blank canvas with lines...which exactly what some of the works are at times. But, it's a required class for getting an art history minor. The professor is brilliant though. And when I say brilliant, I mean, an absolute bloody brilliant woman. She doesn't seem to require any notes for her lectures and she knows a lot of stuff about art. And that's not an exaggeration.
But anyways, the new school year has started and this year is one bloody important year. I need to get through all of my classes and with exceptional grades. Pharmacy school applications are due in November and I sometimes go into 'flipping out' mood when I realize I haven't written my essay yet. But...as I tell myself, whatever comes, will come, regardless of what I do. So I might as well do the best I can and have faith in myself and heaven above...and keep a little hope (even though in Greek Myth, we've debated on whether hope is an evil since it was in Pandora's Box..but w/e). Ride out the storm!

Corner Tip #9: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I will come out in 73 days. Watch it.