Hey guys!

And just like that- we're already going into our fifth week of school! I'll spare you the sappy "I can't believe we've made it" bit and will just jump right into it!

This past week has been nothing short of busy. From having study nights with my friend in Chinese class, to going to Waikiki to watch the fireworks and get dinner with my friend Jin, I have been growing increasingly busy!

While I'm thankful that it's the weekend, I have to say I miss being able to just come home right after class, or go to the beach. Isn't it funny, I haven't been to the beach in six days, and yet I feel like it's been weeks. I won't complain, it's been really nice having other things to do and meetings to go to. Let me break down my week for you guys. 

Mondays and Fridays are typically my free days, but one of them will be the days I'm going to see my friend Jin. Jin is someone who I'm helping improve his English, and we've decided that half  of the time spent studying will be studying English and the other half is studying Korean. As of right now I think it's difficult to study Korean, but I'm still happy to help with English.

A typical Tuesday night, however, consists of the Korean club meeting + dinner with other members. For those curious, this semester has been so much better than last year. The club feels so much more inclusive and I really appreciate the steps the leaders have taken to make sure that everyone is happy and feels included. Saturdays also occasionally have events, so I make sure to try and go to those, too!

Wednesday of this week is going to be the first HerCampus Hawaii meeting, and I'm very excited for this! I'm surprised that there's the amount of people going, because for a while the only people that were included in the emails were around 5 of us. Now online it shows theres a little over 10, most being girls from the same sorority. I can't help but wonder how cliquey this is going to be, or if it's going to feel weird not being one of the girls in a sorority. 

Thursday nights, as of now, are my days of rest! While I finish class at 4:20, I'm able to come home and just relax. Unfortunately I'm not able to go to the beach on this day, but I am able to go home right after class, and for this I am thankful. 

And that's what a typical week looks like! I'm still trying to make plans with people, and I'm finding it difficult to do. Again, I really can't complain! I'm thankful to be doing more this year and am happy that I'm not spending all of my time in my dorm. Once I start working I'm sure I'll have even less time, but it's all part of the college experience. 

In other news, I have been doing absolutely phenomenal in Chinese class! Seriously, 80 must be my lucky number because all of my assignments have come back with that grade. Compared to last semester, this is such an improvement. I can't pinpoint when I started getting better, and I really hate phrasing it like that, but I do know that my friend Kylin has had quite the help in my progress. A few weeks back we met almost regularly to study and do the homework. I think that studying with him, as compared to last semester, has been really beneficial to both my understanding and my time spent on homework. Seriously, I can't believe I used to spend three hours on the homework last year! And now I'm done in no more than an hour and a half! I'm also not going to class panic-ridden anymore. This takes the cake for being my biggest improvement. 

My other classes are going along fine, too. Korean is getting difficult, but I think this is more of a departmental problem and not a content problem. What I mean by this is that the teacher is now only allowed to teach in Korean. While I could understand doing this in the 202 and above classes, for those in the 100 level this makes little sense. Especially when you're trying to understand basic grammar. 


As the week goes on I will do my best to post more. 

Until next time,

Aislinn