IM soccer

So, i signed up for 11 on 11 soccer on monday and 6 on 6 soccer on tuesday.

monday, out team free agents (every one who didnt have a team) were winning 1 - 0 then the other team scored in the last second!!! darn.

so 1 - 1. but it was ok, the team we played were better than us, n i set op our goal. :)


today i played the 6 on 6, and we didnt have anyone that wanted to b goalie. so this guy did it for the first half (he knew wat he was doin).

But second half, he said he didnt want to, so they said "nose goes". Basically, everyone puts their finger to their nose. I of course didnt know, so i was goalie for second half (20 minutes).


CLEAN SHEET!!!!! woohoo, and we won 3-0, pretty good.

the sad part is now they prob trust me as goalie which is bad, cuz i wasnt really tested today, next time might be different.

Anyway it was all good fun.

monday, 2nd week

so, classes are not flying as fast now, but it seems worse, because were continuing n so the material is growing no matter how slow they go.

so i have a quiz on wed n thurs, lucky its a holiday on friday or i would have had 3 quizes in a row.

my schedule today was
8 calc.
10 get ready for spanish
1130 lunch
12 spanish
2 waste time
3 math n spanish homework
6 (now) really dont feel like doin anymore work
7 go for my intra mural football-today is coed 11 on 11
9 dinner if im hungry
study till midnight.

yawn, iim gettin bit bored of the repetitiveness of the studyin and homework.


well, i guess thats college.

1st weekend

so, i went to c the alcatraz today, brilliant view of san francisco and the golden gate from that island.

it used to b a high security prison but now its under the national parks and purely a tourist spot. So, cuz im livin in the I-house i got the ferry ride ther for cheaper.

but it was worth it i think, inside the prison itself, they gave us kinda like mp3 things where we walk aound n listen, n the mp3 guides u through the whole prison explainin things and stories of prisoners trying to escape n stuff like that, pretty cool.

so the ferry to alcatraz left from pier 33 and fishermans wharf is on pier 39, so i went there n just walked around a bit. then came back. thats it the rest of my weekend prob wont b very interestin,

except ill b watchin transformers tonight with my siblings, wooohoo

returning books

so, the bookstore sells textbooks for a higher price than wat u would find online, so i bought my books online, but they werent goin to arive till after school starts, so i bought them from the bookstore which had a 1 week form the semester start date return policy.

So, i returned them today, n got my books free for a week. Unfortunately, one of the books stil hasnt arived, so im not too sure how im goin to work around that.

but yeah, basically, just keep the receipt, keep the books in the same condition, n ull get a refund.

Tip- when u buy, buy used, cuz then ur sure to get a full refund, wheras if u buy new, then its gota stil look brand new

day 5

darn the math quiz, i think i got the last question wrong for pure carelessness.

darn, is sin always an odd function, i assumed he was talkin bout sinx so i said yes......ahhh just a bit more thinkin would have saved me, anyway its over now, and i guess doesn matter much since ill have 2 quizes a week.

so after spanish i met with a guy from Christians on Campus, he took me to this church where they meet. kinda cool they have like a basement with rooms to study and a ping pong table n stuff. we tossed a frizbe around 4 awhile.

then at 4 i met up with part of my team for the intramural soccer. Our first game is on monday.

monday- 11 on 11, guys n girls, half the team must b girls n guys can only have 4 touches in a row.

tuesday- 6 on 6, open.

so, that should b fun, now i just gota make sure i dont have too much work.

for dinner i went to a CC group meeting. its off campus at someones house. we had dinner, then sang some songs n shared. they were very welcoming, thats kinda nice. n i met one of the seniors on the football team, thats kinda cool.

anyway, its friday night, everyone is out partying. walkin back from the group meeting a guy came up to us (he was smokin somethin n smelled like alcohol) n asked us where 2 streets were.

LOL, we were stading at those exact streets, we told him that, n he was like oh, sorry im extremely confused, then he walked of in a daze.

i guess thats wat college is like for other ppl. wat me? im in my room doin calculus :)

anyway, tomoro im visitin alcatraz, that should be interestin.

day 4

whooo, today no spanish hw, that was nice, but i have a math quiz tomoto, n guess wat?

im worried! hahaha lol, 13 yrs of school n i never felt like this b4, darn i think its cuz this is the first time that i wanna actually do well.

well, lets c how it goes, i think i understand everythin, hopefully the 4 questions we get in 20 minutes dont contain any sneaky questions.

well thats that, i talked to spanish teacher, he said he thinks im doin fine so far, so thats good.

i played soccer today instead of doin spanish, so hope that goes ok.


N i just found out the meal plan in the I house only covers 12 meals a week, not the 18 that i thought. that means i gota start payin for lunch or skipin lunch or breakfast.

i think im goin to try eatin a big breakfast at 730 n eatin a fruit for lunch n early dinner at 1800, that should work.

day 3

so, today spanish was better, i almost understood him most of the time.

hopefully by tomoro or at least next week ill understand, im still relying too much on his hand motions.

anyway, he walked in class today n said in spanish, joe can u write the date on the board pls?

LOL!! i think i must have been the lowest on the quiz, at least i wrote my name :), but i didnt know wat the blank for date was so i left that blank, thats prob y. wel at least he knows i dont speak it well, after class tho he asked me where im from and wat languages i speak, so i hope thats a good thing. anyway, i plan to get ahead of him if posible, then ill understand everything.


calculas was ok, there was one part where i think only i understood wat was goin on, that felt good, but gota make sure i stay there, quiz on friday then well find out wat i really know.


i had lunch with 2 seniors today, there from the club christians on campus, n i was askin them bout the club. so friday theyll show me around bit more, n let me know the schedule of bible studies n stuff, pretty good.

anyway we were talkin bout stuff n all, n they laughed at me for taking 2 classes in the summer, it seems normal ppl only take 1. NO WONDER the workload is so high. well, get used to tough then normal bcomes easy, so ima goin to do it!!

but i wont be so social in the I-house i guess

ok, 8 hours of studying to do now,

hasta luego (until later)

day 2

didnt do my math from the first day, so now i still have to do that.

i finished my spanish only to have a surprise quiz which i got 2 out of 6....


darn not a good way to start off huh?

anyway, ill try n do some math now in case i have a math quiz tomoro which wont surprise me.


my schedule today was

7-wake up get ready, breakfast
8- calculas
10-buy some books, relax, lunch
12-spanish
14-relax
15-study (more like look up words in the dictionary
18-dinner (extended version, i took spanish words wt me n ate while reading)
20-now im online checkin some stuff n wastin time
2030-math n spanish
0000-hopefully i can finish n sleep cuz i have to get up bout 7 again.


wheeeee, does it sound like im havin fun?



today i studied in doe library, pretty cool with the book racks thats on tracks, so u turn a lever n the whole shelf moves, but u gota make sure noone is inbetween the shelves or u might smash them, ill take pics some other time.

sad part, library kicked me out at 6pm, they close early during the summer i guess.

Day 1 of summer session

so i moved in finaly at bout 1am, went to sleep( roomate was already sleping), woke up at 7, showerd, had bacon, bagel n eggs in the International house dining hall for breakfast and went for first class calculas 1a.

teacher is cool, hes a grad student. class went ok, first hour he taught, 2nd hour he made us solve questions in groups.

gave homework, 30 questions, i think hes goin to give 30 qs a day. anyway he made it compulsory that we each c him at least once in the first week during his office hours to ask questions. so i got mine out of the way. found out i had to buy the textbook cuz they changed editions and the questions r all out of order. darn.

had lunch, some sorta pasta and went for spanish. joker he taught 3/4 of the class in spanish.

NO ENTIENDO!!!! (dont understand)

well, watever, i guess thats the only wat to get us to learn.

its pretty fun, thers bout 15 of us in the class, n i think well spend a lot of time talkin to each other, so i think ill get 15 more friends, lol.

anyway, my roomates from china, as i write this hes next to me stresin cuz he doesnt know how do his work.

i should get back to my spanish work, 10 pages of reading n answering questions, not so bad right?

but i dont understand almost every word......

no pain no gain or something like that, ill get this.

all right, thats it for now,


oh, today i decided i dont have time to work during the summer, so im not goin to search for jobs anymore in the summer. ill just wait till the fall.

tonight the I house had free salsa dancing lessons, kinda cool, i just watched for 5 mins.

mayb ill participate next week if i dont have any work.

adios.

summer reading

cool, Cal sent all the 2009 freshman Michael Pollan's The omnivore's dilemna.

and the first page is a foreward to US!!!!!! woohooo, the books were printed just for us, pretty cool huh, anyway, its not even a must to read it, its just sugested, but im half way thru n enjoying it.


what we should have for dinner. To find out, Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on.

The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or taste, quite the same.

http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

go here if u wanna read the first chapter, trust me its worth it.

were all made of corn, lol

Cal Student Orientation

CalSO. this is a long overdue post.

So, i got there on thursday at bout 330. check in was at 3 and there were already a couple of ppl who had checked in, but i never saw them.

4 oclock n i wanted to go check out the gym and i still hadnt met anyone yet, so i went into the lift and left a note (we all were staying in the same dorm block and all had to use the lift) tellin ppl that if they wanted to go for dinner with me to call me, n i left my phone number.

then i went to check out the gym, pretty cool, i cycled for 15 mins then did a bit of weights.

anyway the gym was the size of a school hall, with diff sections, one part for cardio, one for weights, one for dance classes. anyway ill post more some other time.

after doin weights for a while i decided to check out the turf field. :) there were ppl playing soccer there n they let me join in. it was a group of middle eastern guys bullying a group of white guys, the white guys let me play on their team while the other team snickered (prob at the thought of how easy it was to make us look bad) anyway, it was still a friendly game with one team trying a lot harder than the more talented group. but its soccer, it was fun, i had a good time.

while playing i got a call from someone who had seen my note. he had already had dinner tho, so i told him id call him later (i was still playing)

after playing i left n got a text from another guy, met up with him n went for dinner.

about 9pm, ppl started mass gathering, most ppl seemed to have checked in bout 8pm.

then sudenly the girls apeared in a big group n said they were goin to go karaokeing.

so the whole group went, a few stayed behind and went for frozen yogurt. i went with them, then went karaokeing (1st time). it was pretty amusing watching everyone else who was very much into singing.

then later at bout 11pm most ppl went to bed, i stayed outside tossing an american football with 3 other guys.

sometime later we went to bed.

next morning got up b4 8 and bathed in the coed bathrooms (not during calso, but during the normal school yr)

after breakfast met out counselors (other students who had gone thru training specifically for this)

had a talk, one of the professors welcomed us (parents who came were in the same hall at this time), told us how special we are n stuf like that.

then she took out a human brain!!! (yeah thats the pic above, i dont know how to control where the pic ends up), then she told us a bunch of cool stuff n she was the scientist that studied Einsteins brain, cool huh?

pretty cool way to start CalSO dont u think?

then there was more talks bout our first semester n how we should start slow and wat we should do, who we should meet up with if we need help and some other things (unfortunately i dont remamber as much now, should have done this post 2 weeks ago.)

then we broke into our groups (bout 10 ppl) n played icebreaking games. intro ourselves kinda games, talked abit with our counselors who was a freshman last yr (only one yr ahead of us)

then we went for lunch.

after lunch we had a few diff talks we could choose to attend, i went for the work study one called hire me please, where it was super crowded (guess eveyone needs money in this sad economy) ppl had to sit on the floor.

then i went for a gettin involved at cal talk where the lecturer asked how many ppl were involved in about 2 or 3 diff activities in school and practically everyone rasised their hand. then he told us that were at Cal now and have to focus on one thing or so, and that we cant spread ourselves around anymore, but that there were 990 clubs at Cal so if we wanted to we could join one. We can also start a club if we want to.

then we had a health and safety talk, health was boring except the part where i found out i was covered for at least 80% for EVERYTHING, just need to double check that, but sounds like a pretty good deal.

the safety talk was by a cop and he was pretty entertaining, warned us bout the dangers at berkeley. he was actually the most entertainin, mayb ill do a separate post on him.

after dinner, we listened to some students talk bout their first yr experience, then they did this cool program called STAND IF.

later at night there were games, we played mafia among other games, sadly most ppl seemed to not really know how to play. and the odds were against us 3 mafia, 1 traitor (there were about 15 ppl playing) well one of the sophomores playing got us in the end, he was the detective (i should have killed him), anyway it was fun, gave me a happy glimpse of what the next four yrs would be like.

Later that night most students were either sleeping or on laptops trying to figure out wat subjects to sign up for.

Next morning we took turns getin our cal id and taking a campus tour as well as registerin for classes. (registration is all online n done in 2 phases, each phase u can only sign up for 10 units, so that everyone has a chanve to get a class they need.)

then we were taken to a slope they called 4.0 n said if u roll down ull get a 4.0, so yes ppl started rolling down. :) (those r the other 2 pics)

after that we were pretty much done and went to the hall where we were wished all the best and just as we were ending the Cal Band rushed in playing music.

then they played a song that has a dance to it, i think its from some movie, but im not too sure, anyway, its called time warp everyone who knows the dance does it aparantly, and EVERYONE is suposed to learn the dance. i think they all do it together at football games, its like a cheer i think, anyway, i got a video of it.

Intra Mural

Intramural Sports consists of basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, and tennis and mayb some other sports, im not too sure, heres the link.

http://www.recsports.berkeley.edu/insidepage.aspx?uid=80563032-c0cb-4572-932c-583016b6b0d5


i signed up for soccer for the summer. so teams play once a week to make at times that dont clash with clases, so basically 6pm to 8pm.

signing up was pretty easy, but first u need to b a membet of the rec center (which is worth it, $10 a semester n u can use all the gym n pools n other facilities)

anyway ur a member of the reccenter, then u gota get an IM account. then choose s sport n either sign up as a team of sign up as a free agent.

as a free agent u can-wait for someone to choose u or -join the free agent team(till its full)

so i joined the free agent team n wat i had to do was go to the rec center (not convenient if ur not already on campus) and went to the 2nd floor, wrote my name down, went back downstairs and paid ($25 a sport per free agent). Then went back up and i was put on the team roster for the free agents, sounds good i signed up for mens speed soccer on tudsday and corec 11's soccer on monday. so i havent met my team yet, their all random students who also wanna play.

but their email r on the team roster, so i can contact them.

my sumer session starts on the 22nd and the IM's start a week after that.

ill post more bout IM's when i actually start playing.

Summer Financial Aid

so, I just found out the summer system is totaly separate from the normal school yr (fall n spring)

so even tho im starting in the summer, im not really a registered student (for some things) cuz i haven payed for fall classes yet.

So, basically i cant get a job through calisto(its where ppl in berkeley post if they have job openings) till the fall, so for the summer im on my own, which means ill have to get a random job off campus prob, the problem with that is i only have 6 weeks, who wants to hire me 2 days a week for 5 or 6 weeks?

well well c, anyway back to the topic, sumer fin aid, so i got a pell grant and bout 3000 in loans that will cover all my costs for the summer. anyway, how it works

apply for summer financial aid-

• Take at least 6 units in total during Summer Session.
• Complete the Summer 2009 Financial Aid Application for Entering, Transfer & Returning Students by May 15.
  
• Fax it to the Financial Aid Office at (510) 643-5526.
• File the 2008-2009 FAFSA by May 15. List UC Berkeley (code 001312) on the list of schools to receive the FAFSA.
• File 2009-2010 FAFSA by May 15.
  Click here to go to the FAFSA site.

that of course was for 2009, next year it will change.

anyway, after i did all of that i got my package, acepted it, then got an email saying a check was waitin for me :)

so i went to 140 university hall on oxford st. and picked up a check (the schholarship amount minus the tuition, they already setled my tuition fees, i didnt need to do anythin)

so except for 3000 in loans already, im all set. (the good thing is the interest on the loan only starts 6 months after i graduate.)

Freshman summer session

So, i applied for the freshman summer session and will be taking calculas 1 and spanish 1.

also, ill b staying in the international house, itll b cool to c wat thats like and meet ppl from everywhere.

theres a few summer sessions, im takin the 6 week one from 22 june to july 14.

anyway, the cost is 2500 for fees and 2300 for room and board.

I managed to get grants for the fees, n loans for the housing, so im all set(till i have to pay the loans).

CalSO

so those who dont know, Berkeley goes by the nickname Cal also.

so CalSO is Student Orientation. Ill b attending it this weekend, 5th n 6th (fri, Sat) june.

Its starts at 730 friday morning, so i chose to stay over on thurdsay instead of wakin up at 5 on friday.

this is the proposed program

Day 1
7:30		Check-in
9:00		Welcome Address
9:30		Morning Meeting with Counselor
10:30		College Overview
11:30		Preparing for Your First Semester
Noon		Lunch
1:00		Schedule Planning
3:10		Break
3:20		Options (e.g., Financial Aid, Student Learning Center, Education Abroad, and Getting Involved)
4:40		Health and Safety Presentation
5:30		Dinner
7:00		First Year Experiences
8:00		Bear Territory
9:30		Late Night Activities
Day 2
7:15		Breakfast
9:00		Tele-BEARS Registration and Explanation Cal 1 Card/Student ID Campus Tour Campus Traditions
Noon		Final Meeting with Counselor
12:30		Closing

yeah, ignore the close button.

anyway, i already got my cal 1 card :) gota b ahead of the curve.



anyway, it should b cool, ill prob meet a bunch of friends, well hopefully.