Event #4: Sporting Event

So, this semester I never really got a chance to go to any of the sporting events. However, I feel that I have missed out on a lot. It’s just that I’m not interested in sports at all. I did win phase one tickets for one of the basketball games, but I ended up not going. This past Sunday I went to visit one of my friends who stays at Avery. The most amazing thing was that they can watch the baseball games that go on from their balcony. Coincidently, there was a baseball game going on. UNC was playing against Maryland. Hence we both decided to sit in the balcony and watch the game. It wasn’t as exciting as a basketball game, but the crowd still seemed very excited.

Even though it was not as crowded, the audience cheered for the team throughout the game. However, the cheering was much louder whenever there was a homerun. The best part was that we won the game. The excitement of going to a game just doubles when your choice of team wins. So, it was definitely very exciting to see UNC beat Maryland. While enjoying the game, I also learned a little more about the rules of baseball and how it’s played. After watching this game, I realized what I have missed out on all year long. Attending sporting events really keeps you in spirit, and it is definitely a good way to support your school and its team. I’ll definitely try to attend more sporting events next year.

Event #3: Lecture

Yesterday, I attended a teach-in on the budget cuts titled “Whose University is this?: A Teach-In on the Budget Cuts” at the UNC Student Union. The event consisted of a panel consisting of students, staff, and faculty. The topics of discussion were tuition hikes, layoffs, budget cuts, and the economic crisis. The speakers included of: Rakhee Devasthali, an undergraduate student, Frank Dominguez, a Professor of Romance Languages, Salia Warren, an organizer with UE150, and Marko Duman, a graduate student in Russian and East European History.

The main argument that Prof. Frank Dominguez made was that workers, specifically the women and minorities, at UNC are being exploited. They are being paid relatively low compared to the others that perform the same duties as them. However, Salia Warren’s main concern was that the budget cuts are being made at the lower level rather than the administrative level. People such as housekeepers are barely paid enough. Hence, cutting their wages even more is probably not a good idea. However, if these same wage cuts are done at the administrative level, then they would not be affected as much since they already earn so much. The lower level workers do not even have any savings that they can depend on once they are laid off. Also, she felt that the lower-wage workers were being exploited by being hired as temporary workers. The important thing to notice is the fact that temporary workers at UNC have to go through a temporary agency owned by UNC. Hence, they benefit from hiring temporary workers who have to give a certain percentage of their income to the temporary agency, which in this case is owned by UNC. So, UNC benefits in that sense as well. Salia Warren was a very good speaker. She knew what she was talking about, which made people pay close attention to what she was saying. Most importantly, her voice tone was very loud and clear.

The other members of the panel included of students at UNC, both undergraduate and graduate. They basically talked about how the budget cuts are affecting them. Their main concern was that classes were being canceled in certain departments, class sizes are being enlarged, and that more classes are being taught by overworked and underpaid faculty and graduate students.

Prior to attending this teach-in, I had no idea about the budget crisis at UNC. However, this event really informed me about the topic and what the university is doing to overcome this crisis. I would completely agree with them that layoffs or forced time off without pay occur at the administrative levels only, and that the University not cut costs and rely on the use of temporary workers.

Feeder 3.1 rough draft

The influence that the past has on the traditions of the present south can be seen in all of the readings. Even though, the south was presented in several different ways, the family dynamics of the south were very similar. In both “Cats of Confederacy” and “Drawing Names,” the family dynamics and the southern pride changed from generation to generation.

In “Drawing Names,” Carolyn’s mother cooks a lot for Christmas, but Carolyn thinks that her mother just makes a big deal out of such events. Also, at the beginning Carolyn decides they should draw names instead of getting a gift for everyone, which bothers her mother. Carolyn’s generation seems to be more practical rather than traditional. Also, Carolyn’s father does not approve of her divorce, and because of this Carolyn’s sister, Iris, is also hiding the fact that Ray, her husband, is no longer staying with her. Based on this, it is very obvious that the previous generation tried to maintain their marriage life no matter what. However, the new generation no longer worries about the traditions and ideals of the previous generation.

In addition, Laura Jean and Jim bring a bottle of Rebel Yell bourbon, which is a little shocking for Carolyn’s mother. On the other hand, Laura states that “A couple of drinks a day are good for your heart.” Also, it was really interesting to see Pappy there with the two most recent generations. His values were surprising to even Carolyn’s mother, which clearly shows how people’s traditions and ideals change over time. It was just shocking for everyone to hear what he had to say about the men and children eating separately and the women eating last. The reaction of the other people sitting there was directly hinting towards the idea of how times have changed now and such values no longer exist.

Autobiographical 2

I can definitely relate to what an African American would have to undergo because I have also experienced discrimination at school. When I was new to the US, I would just go and talk to whoever I wanted. At first, I made a few friends that were of different racial backgrounds. I used to primarily spend time with the Caucasians and the African Americans; however, I soon realized that I did not fit in. I felt as if I wasn’t treated the same as the others. I don’t really know why, but I ended up getting along really well with the Hispanics. This may be because we were all recent migrants and spoke the same amount of English. Even though, I learned English pretty fast, most of my elementary school and middle school time was spent around Hispanics. During high school, I started opening up a bit more and got to know other people. I guess there weren’t as many clicks. Everyone pretty much got along with everyone else.

Even though my family is not originally from here, I still feel that my family believes in a lot of the same values and traditions as the typical southerners. In “Drawing Names,” Carolyn’s father is disappointed over her failed marriage, which is the same case with my parents. My parents have completely different views on this idea. My mom feels that if marriage with someone is not really working out then it’s better to just get a divorce than having to suffer for the rest of your life. However, my dad feels that one should do whatever they can to maintain their relationship no matter what happens.

Respone to "Dying for Dixie"

I think this chapter was definitely more intense than the one we had to read previously. However, once again I felt that Horwitz tended to sympathize with the African Americans. At first, we learn of Michael Westerman being shot by Freddie, and Michael is portrayed as being completely innocent. Later on when Horwitz visits Michael’s previous workplace, he finds out that Michael was racist. One of the waitresses there said, “Mike had a racial hang-up.” Also, she considered him as being a bully. Also, the treatment of Hannah, Michael’s wife, towards Freddie’s mother was quite disturbing. In contrast, Horwitz portrays Freddie as being apologetic for his behavior. However, at Michael’s house at the end, they are still supporting what they believed previously. They had rebel flag on display at their house and one of the toddler’s wore a rebel-flag shirt.

The thing that I found most interesting was when Frances Chapman states that, “Blacks just need to get over slavery, and you can’t live in the past.” However, she was doing the same thing by defending the rebel flag. Also, she states, “Don’t put us where they used to be.” She says this right after saying that slavery was not really that bad. So, if it wasn’t that bad then why should she mind being in their place? I just don’t understand why people can’t just treat everyone as equal, but then again if I think about it even now we still have class and status divisions. However, no one is limited to what they can achieve. Such things still exist, but just not as much as before.

Autobiographical

First of all, I was not born in the United States. I was born in Pakistan, and my family moved to the U.S. in 1998. I stayed in New York for almost a day, but I never really got to see how life was like up there. We then moved down to Asheboro, NC. I have been living there ever since. I personally really enjoy living in that small town. Not many people even know where it is. It is where the North Carolina Zoo is located. My family is very conservative and restrictive, which has kind of made me what I am today. I was told last semester by one of my friends that I had an accent, but definitely not a southern accent. I guess that would be obvious, because English is no t the first language that I learned. However, I have felt that a few of my relatives that live in New York and Maryland consider us as being very traditional and mannered. In fact, a few days back I was talking to one of my friends that lives in New York, and he was telling me how the children that are normally brought up there are very spoiled. I feel that someone can be spoiled anywhere, and it doesn’t really matter where you’re brought up. I think it is the decisions that we make about who we would spend time with at school that represents the type of people we eventually become.

Cats of the Confederacy

The chapter, Cats of The Confederacy, was very interesting. I was a little surprised to know that we still had people in the south that held meetings to honor their great-grandfathers that fought in the Civil War. I liked how the author, Horwitz, showed us both, the perspective of the people who were for the Civil War and those who were against it. However, I felt that Horwitz seemed to be a little biased towards the people that were against the Civil War rather than the ones supporting the Confederates who fought for the Civil War. Horwitz seems to be making fun of the meetings the Sons and Daughters of Confederates by saying, “The birthday party that followed was even stranger.”

However, Horwitz didn’t have any negative things to say about the African Americans that he met. At the end, Horwitz talks to an African American who basically disagrees with the celebration of the Confederacy. I feel that by not saying anything negative about the African Americans, Horwitz seems to also disagree with the celebration of the Confederacy. I also agree with Horwitz. It is unpleasant to celebrate the Confederacy when everyone knows that they fought for something that was wrong. Overall, this was an informative chapter for those who had no knowledge about the Confederates. It is a great way for people to know about the existence of such groups as the Sons and Daughters of Confederates.

Event #2: Performance at Memorial Hall

This past Wednesday, I chose to attend a performance at Memorial Hall, Orpheus et Eurydice. It was basically a re-enactment of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus, a great poet, fell deeply in love with Eurydice. However, Eurydice died from a snake bite, and her spirit went to the underworld. Hence, Orpheus went to the underworld to get the love of his life back. Once there, Hades allows Orpheus to return to the earth from the underworld with his wife only if he does not look back during the journey, but Orpheus looks back, and Eurydice disappears forever.

I think Orpheus et Eurydice would have to be one of the most fascinating performances that I have seen yet. The dancers did an amazing job at re-enacting the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology. Expressions of the dancers were the most important thing in this performance. Most of the times the expressions of the dancers were very intense, but at times, they were really funny. At the beginning, they all just screamed really loud, which I think represented the frustration and anger of Orpheus. Later on in the performance, they just made these really weird and sad noises portraying the feelings of Orpheus after losing Eurydice. One of the dancers really caught my attention, because I could tell that she had really put in a lot of effort. There were hardly any conversations in this performance; hence, she had to express everything using her body to convey the message to us. The audience really seemed to enjoy the performance. I, being a member of the audience, was really immovable throughout the entire performance. The most interesting part was when one of the dancers, playing the role of Eurydice came into the audience, and was literally just crossing over seats and people sitting in those seats. That really caught the attention of all the members of the audience.

Overall, I think this was a wonderful experience. I was a little skeptical at first about attending a performance, because I didn’t think that I would enjoy it. The dancers were just incredible. They in fact got a standing ovation at the end. I came back and told my roommate about the performance and she wants to go see one soon now. So, I might be going before long to see another performance at Memorial Hall.

Observation: hour 3

I did my last observation after my 12 o’clock class on Friday. Since the weather was very nice, many more people were present at the flag pole. With a bigger population, it became very easy to notice the groups that smokers tend to form when they are at the flag pole. Hence, this indicates they prefer to be more social. There were only 2 people who were smoking by themselves. Other than these two, everyone was else was at least with one other person. There were a lot of small groups with two to three people in each group. They all seemed to be having casual conversations with each other.

There were groups of students coming and going. A few of the groups there consisted of five or six students that stayed there the entire hour that I was observing them. However, the other smaller groups of students just came for a few minutes and then left. The interesting thing about them was that, they came in groups and left in groups. It’s as if they stick together as a community.

Observation: hour 2

During the afternoon on Wednesday, I decided to sit in the quad again to observe the smokers. I wanted to see how different it would be now since classes are over for most students. As expected there weren’t as many students there. However, it was very interesting to see that most of the students there were sitting down around the flag pole and doing school work. On one side, there was one female and one male. They both occasionally conversed with each other while they were working and smoking. Other than them, there was one other female who was leaning against the flag pole doing her work as well. She also held a cigarette in her hand. These people remained there throughout my one hour of observation.

Two other males came for smoking. They both stood there for a while. They were talking to each other the entire time they were there. After they left, another male came and sat leaning against the flag pole on the other side of the female that sat there. He also took out a notebook and a cigarette. I had never thought of the flag pole being a place for studying. I always just saw people going there for a smoke break. Upon seeing this, I have realized that the smokers have formed a community of their own. Also, most of them prefer to be social.

Observation: hour 1

During the first hour of observation, I noticed that students were gathered around the flag pole most of the time. However, the amount of students present changed throughout the first hour. The number of students decreased during class time, and it increased during the time in between class change. A wide range of groups were seen, which included of larger groups to people smoking by themselves. At the beginning there were only a few students there. The groups were smaller, including of two or three students, and a few students that were smoking by themselves. One group included of three students. Two of them were standing while the other one, a female, was sitting down. Also, there were two other girls standing away from the flag pole on the grassy area smoking and talking to each other. One male was sitting on the floor leaning against the flag pole, and another one was just standing off to the side and smoking by himself. He seemed busy reading a newspaper.

Later on more people started coming in and suddenly there was this huge group of students gathered around the flag pole to smoke. In addition to the one large group, there were other smaller groups off to the side. However, they were all talking to each other. The most interesting thing that I noticed was the fact that the few smokers that chose to smoke by themselves stepped away from the flag pole. In totality, most of the students gathered around the flag pole were busy talking to one another. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. The more crowded it was, the more obvious it became that they had formed groups and were socializing with each other. It seemed as if they had all formed a community of some sort.

Hypothesis update

The microculture that I chose is the smokers who gather around the flag pole on the UNC campus. I have been walking past them since the beginning of the school year; however, I have always just ignored their existence like most of the other students on campus. The flag pole is a very common place for students to gather around, because it is one of the few places on campus where smoking is not prohibited. They are generally a group of students who prefer to smoke in groups in order to socialize rather than by themselves.

I plan to observe the behaviors of the smokers at the flag pole, because I want to know how they interact with each other, and respond to the behaviors of the others outside of their microculture. My main concern is finding out why they choose to gather around the flag pole instead of anywhere else on campus. According to the rule, the smokers are prohibited to smoke within 100-feet of all campus buildings. Yet, why do most of them choose to smoke around the flag pole? My hypothesis is that smokers prefer the flag pole area to smoke, because they can socialize with people they share common interests with. This hypothesis could be supported by observing whether smokers who choose to smoke around the flag pole socialize with each other or not.

Studying this microculture can broaden the views of the larger UNC community, because not many people understand the views of the smokers. So many people tend to ignore people who do not have similar views or interests as them, but one can learn to appreciate others by understanding the reasons for their behaviors. Most importantly, studying this microculture can provide one with a better understanding of the smokers as human beings and their beliefs and values.

Smokers at UNC

I plan to observe the smokers on the UNC campus. I have been walking past them since the beginning of the school year; however, I have always just ignored their existence until now. Though, a few days ago, I was exposed to the cigarette smoke as I walked past them, which really bothered me. I finally acknowledged their existence. So, I decided to find out why they were there in the first place. Upon doing some research, I found out that the smokers are prohibited to smoke within 100-feet of all campus buildings. Therefore, the flag pole is one of the few places on campus where smoking is not forbidden. Hence, a lot of the smokers have to gather around the flag pole in order to smoke.

Consequently, I chose to observe the behaviors of the smokers at the flag pole, because I wanted to know how they interacted with each other, and how the behavior of the others, outside of their microculture, was towards them. My main concern was finding out why they chose to gather there and smoke instead of anywhere else on the campus. My hypothesis was that they were able to socialize with others that they had something in common with and because the flag pole is very conveniently located. Hence, most of the smokers choose to go to the flag pole to smoke. Also, the people who do not want to be exposed to the secondhand smoke can easily choose to avoid walking by them.

Studying this microculture can broaden the views of the larger UNC community, because not many people understand the views of the smokers. So many people tend to ignore people who do not have similar views or interests as them, but one can learn to appreciate others by understanding the reasons for their behaviors. Hence, observing the smokers at the flag pole can provide one with a better understanding of them as human beings and their beliefs and values.

Observation 2: Disrupting a Space

I chose to disrupt the smokers at the flag pole. In order to do this, I decided to just walk by them and cough. I knew that I would probably get a lot of mean looks if I did this, but I went ahead and did it anyways. I coughed out loud as I walked past them when I was returning from class on Friday. I then looked to see if any of them reacted to my behavior. I saw exactly what I had expected. The few who actually observed me were just staring at me. They didn’t look very happy. However, the others just carried on with their normal activities.

After a while, I decided to cough while I walked through the group of people that were smoking at the flag pole, instead of just walking past them and coughing. I was bound to get more attention this way. So, I did exactly what I had planned on. I walked through them and coughed. As I coughed while I was walking through them, I noticed that this time I got the attention of most of the people that were there. They all stared at me really awkwardly. I’m assuming that they were wondering what I was doing there in the first place. After leaving I just observed them from a distance and noticed that they all had just continued their normal activity after I left.

Rainy weekend....

I’m not excited at all about this weekend. The main reason is the bad weather. I really don’t like the rain. It’s not that I like sunny days a lot. I would not mind having a cloudy day either, but just not rainy days. So, I just checked the weather and it’s supposed to rain the entire weekend and also on Monday. There’s also a chance of snow showers on Monday. However, I really don’t think that we’re going to get snow. I’ve heard this at least twice before that it would snow, but we didn’t get any snow. So, this time I’m just not going to expect any. I just can’t wait until spring break. Mine starts a day early because the class I was supposed to have on Friday has been canceled by the teacher. So, I’m really excited!

Observation 1

I chose to observe the smokers gathered at the flag pole. It is very normal to find people standing around the flag pole smoking. They all gather around there to smoke and socialize with others who smoke as well. One thing that I noticed was the lack of awareness of the smokers and the people passing by them. The people passing by seemed to take no interest in this group, unless they were joining the group. So, the smokers at the flag pole were just ignored by the people passing by. Also, I noticed that most people chose to walk in a route that was farther away from the flag pole, avoiding the smokers. I guess this would be the normal behavior if one does not want to come in contact with the secondhand smoke. In addition, the smokers were also somewhat apathetic about their surroundings. A few people just came to smoke a cigarette and then left. They seemed to just look around at the people passing by. However, the others that stayed there longer to socialize while they were smoking didn’t really seem to care about what was going on around them. However, most of them seemed to enjoy their time spent at the flag pole. In fact, they became very loud at times.

hmmm.......

I’m so glad that the weekend is here. Fridays are usually very relaxing for me, because I only have two classes on Fridays. However, I really didn’t feel like getting up this morning. I just kept on hitting the snooze button and went back to sleep, until I finally decided to get up. My only motivation for getting up was the fact that I had a quiz in my class, which I still needed to prepare for. It was really windy today, which made it seem really cold outside. It is weird how just a week ago we had temperatures in the 70’s and now we’re back in the 50’s.

Anyways, I finally got tickets to a basketball game. Even though, I’m not really a huge sports fan, I’m really excited! This would be my first basketball game ever that I will be attending. I can’t wait until next Saturday. I’m so glad that I get two tickets. I’ll be able to take someone along with me to the game. At least that way I won’t be all by myself.

Event #1: Student Organization

I’m a member of the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA). I attended a few of the meetings at the beginning of the school year, but I became so busy afterwards that I couldn’t take out the time to attend any of the other meetings. Since, this semester is not as bad, I finally decided to do some volunteer work for MSA. One of the things that MSA is involved in is Project Downtown. I was interested in knowing what this was. So, I decided to join the group of students that were heading to Durham to distribute some canned goods and pizza. On our way there, I learned that we were going to downtown Durham to distribute food to the homeless people there. The people that I was riding with were talking about how this was such a great experience. The president of MSA was talking about how the people there are so thankful for everything that we do for them.
It was really unbelievable to see all these people there waiting in a line for us. As soon as we parked our car, a few of the people came towards our car to help us take the food inside. They all were very nice, humble, and respectful. Along with serving them food, we also took a few of the peoples’ interviews. Most of them were willing to get their interviews taken. We wanted to get to know them so we could better connect with them. However, because of the lack of space, we postponed the introductions to the next week. We’re supposed to be meeting in a conference room in the library close by there so we could get to know the people that we serve better. This was one of the best experiences of my life till date. I would have never gotten the opportunity to have this personal interaction with the homeless people if I wasn’t part of MSA. In fact, I never really knew that they existed in such large populations. I definitely cannot wait to go back next Friday. I think this is one thing that I would really like to continue doing throughout the rest of the semester.

Time flies

I can’t believe that we’re already done with our 5th week of the semester. Time really flies by. Last semester went by really fast as well. I can’t believe that I’m already filling out my housing application for sophomore year. Hence, I should probably decide soon on a major. I want to do either pharmacy or biomedical engineering, but I’m not sure about either of these. I may end up changing my mind completely.

I want to do something in the health field, but I’m not really sure. Sometimes, I just think about getting a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and then maybe medical school after that. However, I don’t really want to be in school for that long. I had always wanted to pharmacy; because I really liked the chemistry course I took at high school. That completely changed when I took chemistry here last semester. I just hope that I end up deciding on a career that I would be satisfied with for the rest of my life.

Last few days...

The last few days were very hectic for me. I had a lot of work to do and didn’t get much sleep, but I’m glad that the weekend is here. Even though, I still have an exam on next Monday, at least I can relax a little. I still have to study for the exam, but the problem is that I really don’t know how to get started. Almost everyone that I’ve talked to has said that the test is supposed to be really hard. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad.

Anyways, I’m really glad that we won the game against Duke! The only think I regret is not being able to watch the game. I had an exam the next day, so I was busy studying for it. I kept up with the score online and heard people in my hall scream and cheer for the team whenever we scored. I was so excited that we won. I really wanted to rush to Franklin St. since I’ve never done that before. I wanted to know what it actually is and what people do when they rush to Franklin St.

Exams

So, how many of you are waiting for the next weekend? I’m eagerly waiting for the next weekend not only because Valentine’s Day is on Saturday, but because I’ll be done with all of my exams. So, it should be a very relaxed weekend for me. However, this weekend is the complete opposite for me. I had an exam today in Calculus, which was according to me one my easiest exams ever at UNC. I have two more next weekend. I have Spanish on Thursday and Econ on Friday. Spanish should not be as bad, but I really don’t feel prepared for the Econ exam. I also have to watch a movie for my Spanish class, but I have another class at the day and time they’re showing it. So, I’ll have to go to UL sometime to watch it. I’m really stressed out right now, but thinking about next weekend definitely makes me feel better. I can’t wait for the exams to be over. The time does really go by fast. It doesn’t even feel like that we’ve been here for a month.

Econ 101

I took Econ 101 this semester hoping that it would be an easy class, but that’s definitely not the case. Econ is one of my most difficult classes this semester. I have the class on MWF and then recitation on Thursdays. In addition to having class four days of the week, we have online assignments due every Tuesday and Thursday. Furthermore, we have a quiz every Friday. This class is so time consuming. It wouldn’t be as bad only if the teacher covered course material during the class, but usually he’s just going off topic a lot. He’s an awesome teacher. The lectures are never boring, because he’s always interacting with the students. However, I never really feel that I’m learning anything that is covered on the quiz. So, basically I have to read the chapters on my own time to learn the course material. I just feel like I have to cram all the studying in for the quiz on Thursday nights, which is probably not a good idea. The problem is that I never really know what’s going to be on the quiz until I attend recitation, which only gives me one night to study for the quiz. I guess I just need to learn how to manage my time wisely. Maybe, I could get started early and study for the quiz during the weekend and then just review the night before.

home sweet home

It was a very relaxing day for me today. I was supposed to have two classes: econ 101 and math 231. Econ was canceled because my teacher was not feeling well. I was supposed to have a quiz in that class today, but now I have until Monday to study for it. I got up a little later than usual because I had calculus at 12. The most exciting thing about today would have to be me coming back home for the weekend. I love to spend time with my family, especially now when I don't get to see them as much. I realize how many people cannot go home and visit their families as often. So, whenever I get a chance I like to get away from the campus for a change. The best part is the food I get to eat whenever I come back home. It gets kind of boring eating the same food at the dining halls. In addition to that, they don’t always have what I like. I could always cook my own food at the dorm, but it’s more convenient to just go to the dining halls.

long day

This past Monday would have to be one of my busiest days ever at UNC this semester. My day started off early at 7, because I had a quiz in econ, which was at 9 in the morning. I had classes until 4:30 in the afternoon that day. I did have breaks in between, but even during the breaks I was doing homework that was either due that night or the next day. I knew that I would not have much time to do it at night. I think the best part would have to be going out to eat on Franklin St. for dinner. Right after dinner, I had the Kappa Epsilon meeting at 7. The meeting ended at like 7:40, so we decided to ride the bus, because the meeting was at the pharmacy school and we really didn’t feel like walking back to our dorms from there. After waiting for at least 15 minutes the bus finally arrived, but it stopped on Franklin St. and the driver told us to take the P2P from there. Since I lived on north campus, I decided to just walk back to my dorm, because I knew I would have to wait for a long time for the P2P. However, I had to walk all by myself back to the dorm, so I was a little scared because I rarely saw anyone else around me. It seemed as if I was the only one out at that time. Anyways, I got back to my dorm safely, but it was like 8:15 and I still had to study for my Spanish quiz, which I had the next day. So, I studied until 11 and then finally decided to relax, because the day had been so long.

Folk belief

I'm doing acne control. There's a belief that applying raw egg yolk controls acne.

Inauguration...

I hadn’t realized that inauguration was such a big deal until I saw the live coverage. I guess that was because I had never really seen a president being inaugurated before. I had never really taken any interest in politics until now. All of my classes got canceled because of the snow, so I was in my room watching the inauguration. I was eagerly waiting for speech, but my roommate and I decided to go take pictures outside in the snow and later on went to lunch. So, by the time I got back, I had missed the inaugural speech. Now that I think about it, it was so busy at Lenoir at the time of the inaugural address, which must mean that those people were not watching the inauguration either.

However, I watched the speech online when I got back to my room. I thought that it was a great speech. His eye contact with the audience was what kept me glued to the screen. “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.” The confidence and responsibility with which he said this was implausible. It was amazing to see how 2 million were gathered there to support him and watch his speech in person.

First blog ever....

Hey!

My name is Saba and I'm a freshman at UNC. I was born in Pakistan, but my family moved to the United States when I was 9 years old. We've been in the US for 10 years now. I'm from Asheboro, where the North Carolina zoo is. I guess that's enough about me. I would like to share with you guys what my first semester at UNC has been like.

I was really excited and somewhat nervous about my first semester at UNC. I was excited about meeting new people and being away from home for the first time ever. I was also a bit nervous about my classes and how I would do during my first semester. I really didn't get the classes that I had wanted, so I signed up for the classes that were available. I ended up taking two math classes (calculus and statistics), two science classes (biology and chemistry), and English 101. In addition to that, I also had two labs for the science courses.

It was not really as bad as it seems. I ended up with a total of 17 credit hours. The only thing I didn't like was that I had all 8 am classes. It was very hard to get up early in the morning. Even with the 17 credit hours, I was able to take out a lot of time for leisure activities. However, I do regret the fact that I couldn't really get the teachers I wanted for my science courses. I also didn't get to attend any of the football games, which kind of makes me feel like I've missed out on a huge part of college life, but I still have the next few years to do that.



Well.... I guess that's it for now.