Hey everyone!

So my first day has officially ended and I am hours away from starting day two. What better time to start my "First Day" post than now?

My first day looks, at a glance, very rushed. I have 5 classes with breaks of no more than 15 minutes in between them. My first class of the day is "Global Politics". Theres about 50 kids in the class and it seems to be a good group of half freshmen and half upperclassmen. I guess that just leaves me, the only sophomore in the class. 

After that I head over to "Science of the Sea", which is the introductory course to oceanography. This class might just be my biggest one, as the majority of students in this class are either students majoring in OCN or students just trying to get the easy science credit. I fall under the latter. 

Then, with only 15 minutes, I hustle to my third class: Korean 101. This class is supposed to have 20 students in it, but yesterday only about 12 of us showed up. I'm hopeful that this class will be a lot of fun, because the Korean program has a great reputation and I can't imagine the 101 class being too difficult or boring. From what I've been able to see in the previous 101 classes, the students in Korean 101 seem to become very friendly and very close to each other. I think if this happens that I will be able to enjoy Korean a lot more and will be more apt to taking 102. I can only hope that it is better than Chinese.

Next up is just that- Chinese 301. My class is huge, probably pushing the 20 student limit. These students in this class are no joke. Immediately the class is overwhelming and the students are speaking rapid-fire Mandarin. Again, I have a feeling I'm one of the younger students in this class, with only the freshmen who tested into 301 being younger than me. 

Again, these kids are no joke. I can't tell if it's an upperclassmen mindset of needing to know everything, but there is a clear difference in my Chinese level and theirs. I can't help but wonder where I'm lacking, or what they had done differently. Needless to say I am absolutely miserable in this class and am losing sight of why I'm still in this class, if I'm being honest.

With only 10 minutes in this break, and the teacher being known to go over time, I have to actually sprint across campus to make it to my next class. So, with a set of screaming lungs, I made it with a minute to spare to my Oceanography lab. For 2 and a half hours we're supposed to sit in a lab and review what we've learned in class. Thankfully (because my friend and I were starving) he let us out at 2:30 instead of 4:20. 

And here is where you can take a sigh of relief because that was the end of my academic day. After class my friend Hailey and I caught the A bus and went to a Korean restaurant called Ireh. I ordered the garlic chicken and she got the spicy. The food there is amazing, so if you want some good, local Korean food I recommend trying Ireh - located in McCully! 

After a very late lunch Hailey and I went back to campus and I went off to the new "Welina Manoa" event. Manoa advertised that this would be huge and "highlighting more than 85 student groups", but it turned out to be a gathering of a lot of outside food venders seeking student workers. It was nice if you wanted free food, but since I had already eaten I wasn't hungry. So, after sitting with my two roommates for a little bit I left to go to the gym. An hour later we were walking back and getting ready to do homework.

The rest of the night carried on probably how the rest of the semester will- with the 3 of us hanging out in the living room either eating dinner, scrolling through our phones, or doing homework. Sunday night we had a "Movie Night" and watched a Korean horror film called "Train to Busan", so last night was more of a casual one with not much to do. 

I hope that the rest of you are enjoying your first days back! I hope to get more involved this year, so please look forward to that! 

Until next time,

Aislinn