Hey everyone!!

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is settling back into their routines nicely. I am happy to say that classes have gotten much better (and yes, this includes Chinese!) and I am slowly but surely appreciating my schedule. 

I won't lie, the first few days have been pretty difficult. I had quite a bit I needed to work on, and felt like I wasn't making any progress in my work. I also have an on-campus job now, and this takes up either 3 hours of my time in the morning or evening. My shifts these past few days have been in the morning, which I like because I get out of work pretty quickly, but the downside is that I have to go to bed at around 10 so that I can wake up by 4. This has been really hard since it means I have to try and get my homework done before 10, which is usually when I'm doing it, and saying goodnight to my friends a lot earlier than I would like. I'm hoping that as I get settled in that I will be able to manage my time better. I like my job, but I wish I had more time to see my friends and do homework. Unfortunately I've chosen homework over socializing, so I can only hope it pays off. 

Anyways! Like I said in the beginning of this post, my classes have been getting much better. Chinese, which I believe everyone could tell stressed me out, was actually a lot better yesterday. I think the teacher picked up on that only a few students were understanding her, so in class yesterday she acted out more of her speech and I feel like she "dumbed down" her vocabulary. I'm not too sure on the late, but I am positive I understand more of her yesterday than I did the day before. 

After Chinese was my long break (which I spent trying to nap) and then East Asian Studies. That class also went by very quickly, and the lecture was about classical China. So far my impression of that class is that it's going to be pretty easy. It seems like a lecture and a paper halfway through the semester. It really doesn't seem all that demanding, and the focus is on China, Japan, and Korea. His syllabus says Taiwan, as well, but he never mentioned it on day one so I doubt I'm going to learn much about that country. 

After East Asian was Honors Genetics. Truth be told I'm not entirely sure what science class this is, so I'm just calling it genetics. Yesterday my professor, who seems very laid back, told us to "not take any notes, just sit back and listen". He also ended the hour and a half a bit early, which I appreciated. What I like about this class is that there are no exams and no tests. There seems to only be a paper during the semester, and at that it's a topic of our choice. The class is pretty small, about 8 kids, and they seem to be upperclassmen. 

After that I went back to my room and tried working on some homework. I met up with the girls for dinner in Waikiki, at the udon shop, and then returned to finish my work. I'm about 30 characters down, but I need to memorize 50 for tomorrows Chinese test, and I also need to do some pages in my Chinese workbook. I'm thinking I may dip out of my math class early today so I can work on some of my Chinese. 

It's almost Friday, everyone! Hang in there.

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone,

Today is one of those days! 

I woke up early, again, and decided to use this time to shower and get an early start on my day. I had my tea and was able to relax since I spent much of the night before finishing up my Chinese homework. The homework was surprisingly easy, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. With 50 new words I know I'm going to spend a lot of my time tonight working on character sheets upon character sheets. I'll attach a picture later so that you can see the kind of work I have to do for this class alone. 

Then was Chinese class. 

My Chinese class honestly stresses me out so much and I've considered switching to a different time just to try and calm down my nerves. However, I checked today and the class I would switch into has been removed, probably due to how few students are in the class. The fact that I would switch classes should tell you how worried I am about this semester. Additionally, my teacher was true to her word and only spoke in Chinese. She even asked me a few questions and I didn't understand most of what she was saying. I know that my listening comprehension is my weakest area, but in my defense she was also using a lot of the new vocabulary that we got yesterday. 

When the class finally ended I had to rush to the other side of campus in a record time. My calves were burning but I kept going. Then, after going to the wrong hall three times I finally found the classroom and went inside the room the exact minute it started. And, of course, the professor had already begun teaching by the time I walked in. He wasn't rude but he wasn't pleased that I was "late". I'm just glad I only have this class twice a week. 

Finally I had a break! I have, conveniently, a break from 11:45 to 1:30, and then I'm off to Math 100. I don't have much of an opinion on this class, just that I'm taking it to get the credit. I am glad, however, that I at least know someone in this class. As excited as I was a week ago to be in classes with people I don't know, I forgot that people sometimes pick classes based on their friends, and so they're gonna be more of a clique than a welcoming group. 

Update: Math 100, if I were to not go to a class , would be that class. The professor announced that attendance was not mandatory, and that we would be "okay if we didn't go" He showed us how all of his materials are online, and only asked that we get the access code as soon as possible so that we could begin our homework assignments, which are also online. So far everyone I have talked to about that class has told me there's no point in going, and for now I think I will go to a few lectures before deciding. 

After class I went to the beach with Shannon and later had dinner at the cafe. And then after that we then went back to my room to work on homework. I had about 15 minutes in doing my work where I was able to leave and finally swap christmas gifts with the girls, but I had to hurry back to Lokelani so I could finish working on my Chinese. As it is I'm not done with it yet, but I'm going to try and finish it tonight and Thursday night. The only problem is that I have 5:30 am shifts now at work, which means I'm waking up at 4 and going to bed around 10, so when you think about it 4 hours isn't giving me a lot of time to work on my Chinese class. My second, and last, 5:30 shift is tomorrow morning, so I'm hoping that after that I can come back, nap, and then work on my homework to prepare for my first vocab test. 

I'm going to end this post here, but as promised here is a picture of the work I have to do (only 10/50 of what I need to get done) for Chinese class. 




Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys!

So I'm gonna be honest here, I actually posted my earlier post this same day, but just at an earlier time. I ended up falling asleep yesterday and not getting the chance to post, which is why I posted it today instead of yesterday. However, as I said earlier, here is my first post regarding day one of class!

My first class this semester is Chinese 202. Unlike last semester, where I had it at 8:30, this semester I will be having class at 9:30. After arriving, the teacher introduced herself and was quick to tell us she's going to be speaking only in the target language. She also made it a point to tell us that today was the only day we would hear her speak in English. While this is a good thing, as only being exposed to Chinese will help immensely with developing the language, I'm very worried that I won't be able to keep up. This semester the class also has 12 students, about 5 more than last. I have a feeling most of them were in the same class last semester, too. There is a total of 4 (counting myself) from my class last semester who are also in mine. I wonder if the others are in the 8:30 class, too. 

After Chinese I have about a 2 hour grace period where I could either go to my dorm or find a study spot on campus. Because today was the first day of class I opted for the later, choosing to go to the bookstore and try and grab some used textbooks.

No luck. 

Instead I was greeted to an absolute mob of people. Seriously, there were so many students trying to buy books that the store had to open additional registers all throughout the store. I stood in line for probably 15 minutes and then forgot to get notebooks, but altogether decided to forfeit getting them because the line was simply too long. The prices for my two books (I gave the character workbook back, but that was around $35) came to be $103. That's right, one book cost $71 and the second cost $31. This was an insane amount, because last semester my Chinese books came to be around $50. I'm aware that the bookstore is going to be where my textbooks are the most expensive, but since I have homework already, I knew that I needed the books as soon as possible, and the reality is that you're paying for convenience. 

After buying my books I met with Shannon for a little bit before waiting in line to change out my bus pass. The line for that looked small compared to the bookstore, but still snaked throughout the campus center. Once that was done, as it's something that will be changed every semester, I headed off to my next class: Intro to East Asian. I'm probably most excited for this one because it will be pretty in depth about East Asia and I'm excited to learn more about China culturally. I'm also pretty interested in learning about Korea, so I'm hopeful that this class will be beneficial. 

Once that class ended I had another hour to myself before heading off to my next, and last, class for the day: evolution. 

Evolution fulfills my honors requirement for the semester, while also being a science credit. I took this class not because I like biology, if I'm being honest, but because the cutoff is at 15 kids and the teacher doesn't assign tests or quizzes. This means I'm able to enjoy class without taking tests and my grade is essentially me just talking to other people, as it's a lecture class with one presentation as my grade. I have a good feeling about this class, because my teacher had even said as long as we listen to him and follow instructions that he has no problem giving us all an A. I'm hoping he keeps to his word.

Overall I would say my first day went better this semester than last. A part of it is due to my class sizes (all less than 20!) and the times are great. The only downside to today was how stressed I got from being in Chinese class. The teacher has made is obvious she's only going to be speaking in Mandarin, and while I'm sure my comprehension of spoken Chinese is going to improve a lot, I'm worried that the class is going to be difficult. I think what I'm going to do is stay after class during her office hours and just practice my spoken Chinese with her. Not to get ahead, but just to review everything with her. I think I might even reach out to my Chinese teacher from last year, too, to see if she might be available to help me. I want to give it a while before I go to her, though, because I'm sure she's busy with the start of the semester. 

Besides all of this, I have work to look forward to later on and dinner with the girls. Because I work pretty late, I'm really going to try and push for dinner later. Or eat on my own. 

I hope everyone had a great first day and a relaxing break! Because I don't take a lot of pictures of class and my walking to and from, I hope this picture of the palms suffices. 



Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone!

I'm sure all of you have been anxiously awaiting my first post describing what my time back has felt like. Well, I hope this doesn't disappoint. If anything, I hope this lends some insight about what going away, and finally returning, to college feels like. 



Firstly, I left San Francisco bright and early Friday morning. I board the plane at 7:30 PST and didn't land until noon HST. For the first time, I was not able to sleep on the plane. I was actually awake the entire flight, and to make things even more uncomfortable I had to sit next to this Australian couple who would not stop eating! In the beginning of the flight I actually got my bag moved because it was too big (kudos to me for thinking I could fit two weeks of clothes into a carry on) and with it, went my food. This would not have been a problem, but Virgin America doesn't feed you at all, which means no snacks, too. This was very hard, and by the time I had gotten off the plane I had not eaten in a total of 12 hours. Needless to say by the time I made it back to my room I had successfully eaten all my Korean BBQ meat and a rice krispee treat. Not to mention I kept feeling like I needed to eat (and eat and eat), which was the complete opposite of when I was back home. Truth be told when I was back in Colorado I didn't feel the need to eat that much. I wouldn't snack at midnight and would typically only eat two meals a day (as I would often sleep through breakfast). I have found that throughout the days back I have often felt like I needed to eat, and never because I'm actually hungry. I'm hoping that if I can control this that I will be less likely to binge on food (not that I do that to begin with) and that I'll be less likely to gain weight I don't need. 

Since being back, there are also a few other things I have noticed. 

One of these things is that I completely forgot how utterly insane Waikiki is. When I was in my shuttle going back to the dorms, we had to make a few stops downtown. Well, without even thinking about it, I had no clue that I had arrived on the busiest day of the week: Friday. All up and down the block were tourists, and this explained the absurd amount of Australians on my flight and in the shuttle. In a way I myself felt a little like a tourist, but I knew that it would be short-lived. I also knew that I would very quickly feel annoyed at the tourists, so I have tried to stay out of Waikiki since being back. Of course when that beach is only 15 minutes away it's hard not to go. I actually went yesterday and was blown away at how crowded the beach is! I assume that it's either because people got trips as Christmas presents, or I really just forgot how busy life in Hawaii is. 

The second thing I noticed is that I'm waking up earlier. While this seems like an obvious one, the strange thing is that this has happened even after readjusting to the time. I keep waking up at 7 in the morning, and now that I don't have class until 9:30 I feel like I should be doing something, like running or working out. I guess we'll see what happens as the semester progresses. 

I'm going to end this post here, as it's late already and I'm posting this in-between classes. Later after work I will update you all on my first day. 

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys,

After a long and busy day of playing tourist, I am back at my hotel resting. Today is also my dad's birthday, and while we celebrated before coming here, where else would one rather spend their birthday if not in the beautiful Bay? 

For this post in particular I made sure to include a lot of pictures. My goal is that you all will feel like you were here on this day with us, too!


My dad and I started our day around 10:30, where we both decided to go to Chinatown and walk around for a bit. Besides needing to get my mom some new nesting dolls (We got her a red one last time, and she asked that we get her another one this time around) I also wanted to go into some of the shops and just look around. 



Even though I have very fond memories of Chinatown, I have to say that this time around it felt a little bit different. Maybe it's because we went on a Thursday, or maybe it's because I've already been here before, but this time I noticed some slight differences in the Chinatown today versus the Chinatown yesterday. The most noticeable of differences was the trash everywhere. Trash doesn't bother me, and I'm not saying it bothered me this time, but it was clear that the streets had not been cleaned in a while. There was food and garbage all over the sidewalks, and I could not believe how different this was compared to the time I had been previously, where there was little to no garbage on the sidewalks. Ultimately trash on the ground isn't going to make me not want to go back, but it definitely made me realize why San Francisco's Chinatown gets certain yelp reviews. 

After browsing through Chinatowns eclectic variety of shops, we then began walking towards the Embarcadero. Of course neither of us have ever done this, so really it consisted of us just walking down the same sidewalk until we felt it necessary to look at our map, which then confirmed that we had been going the right way. After walking for awhile we finally made it to where we saw Pier 9; from here we knew we were close. A little bit farther and we stopped to get breakfast, later changed to lunch as we noticed it was 11:30 and no place was selling breakfast anymore, at a place called Eagles Cafe. Located right on Pier 39 at the top left, parallel to the Hard Rock Cafe, we both ordered bread bowls with chowder. The food was delivered much faster than anticipated and, as a result, our time in the restaurant was brief. 



The bread bowl was, to put it simply, interesting. Obviously the bread is going to be sourdough (C'mon, this is San Francisco we're talking about) and the soup was clam chowder. Now I'm personally a big fan of sourdough bread, but I've never actually had clam chowder before. For $12, I would recommend that one order this. The bowl itself is very big, albeit very hard, and the soup is, for the most part, filling. The ratio of soup to bread is a little small, but I think you're paying for the bowl more than the soup. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I would definitely order this again, but for those of you who won't, the restaurant also had sandwiches and fish options to try as well. 


After brunch we walked some more of the pier. We watched the sea lions, saw Alcatraz, and even saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Contrary to our weather apps, the weather today was very clear and sunny. Out of all the times that I have been to the Bay, this was the only time the wind wasn't too strong and the sky was perfectly clear. I have never seen Alcatraz so clearly before! Not to mention the Golden Gate Bridge appeared very bright and long, the opposite of what I've seen of it before. I'm thankful the weather was so nice, and I was anticipating it being quite poor. But I guess compared to what we were leaving behind the weather here was near perfect. 




Once we left the pier we stopped at a nearby park to plan out the rest of our day. While the weather was nice, there was still a chill in the air, so we began walking to find a coffee shop where we could get something to, hopefully, warm us up. With our coffee in hand, we warmed up a bit and then head off to Coit Tower. I'm not sure why it's famous, but there has to be a reason, as once we got up to the tower there was a line wrapped throughout the inside just to get into the elevator. Because of how old the place is, my dad and I decided we wouldn't risk it and take an elevator to the top. I did, however, get some nice pictures from the viewing spots that could be found all along the base of the tower. 




By now the time was 3:00 and, instead of going back to the hotel only to then turn around and get dinner, we decided to get a ride to dinner early. I really like this one sushi restaurant called Sanraku, located at the corner of Sutter and Taylor St, and so we decided to eat there. I ordered the San Francisco rolls and my dad got the combo meal with salmon. When we finished eating we were once again given a fruit dish (I'm curious as to why they do this. Is it a desert or just a kind gesture?) and then on our way. 

Walking up approximately three blocks and to our right was the Grace Cathedral. I had wanted to see the inside of it, and so we walked up quite a few stairs to make it here. With just our luck, the time was 5:00, only 15 minutes before mass started. However, neither of us wanted to actually stay for a mass, so we quickly admired the architecture and were on our way. I haven't been to many cathedrals, in fact I think my last one was St. Patricks, but this one was, I think, one worth seeing. Forewarning, in case you decide to stop by, be prepared to 'donate'. The cathedral is a donation based building and they expect you to leave what you can before fully entering the building. 


This brings us to now, with us back in the hotel preparing for our departures tomorrow. Like I've said so many times before, I am blown away at how quickly time is passing. I am excited to return to school and see all my friends again, but I am reminded once again that nothing is permanent and life goes on. Being home was nice, but was another reminder that my time home cannot last forever and that I must return to the island and finish up my first year. I am very excited to be back, and can only hope everyone else is, too. 

Here's to what the next few months hold!

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!

My trip home has, unfortunately, come to a close. 

The past few days I had slowly been coming to terms with the fact that I enjoyed being in Colorado. For years I had disliked living in Colorado but, over the past two weeks I had begun to enjoy being back and in the crisp air. Of course this all came to an abrupt halt this morning, when I woke up to a thin blanket of snow and the temperature being well below what I was used to (this morning is was 4 outside).

Given that today was one of my last days on the mainland, I was determined to get the rest of my "housekeeping" chores done. This included getting the rest of my shots, getting my hair cut, and doing last minute shopping at Kohls. However, in the midst of all of these self proclaimed "necessities", I was told the shocking reality that there was a high chance my flight the next day would be canceled. 

With just my luck, I knew that the only plausible reason was the possible threat of snow. You would think that a place like Denver, who is used to (and accustomed to) the snow, would have a better plan of action when it comes to heavy snowfall. This is not the case. Instead, airlines like Frontier decided that, due to the threat of snow, the best decision would be to cancel all flights. Thankfully my dad and I's flights were not through Frontier, however this did not prevent us from worrying about our flight on Southwest. We tried waiting it out, but once Southwest announced they would more than likely be canceling our flight, it was decided that our best move would be to change our flight before the airlines did. 

And so, unfortunately much earlier than I would have liked, we are now situated at the airport. I have had my fill of Chick Fil A and am getting my sudoko book out as we speak. While the reality of spending a day in San Francisco, a city I love, is very appealing, the sad part about it is that it means I'm home for less time than expected. However I really can't say expected, any Denver native (or really, local) knows that a trip to Colorado wouldn't be complete without a snowstorm completely changing your plans. 

I'll leave you all with one last picture from my trip back home. It's from Boulder and is one of my favorites. Even though the weather was gloomy, and Shannon and I were absolutely freezing, I still think of that as one of my best days home. 


For those of you still enjoying your winter breaks, have fun and enjoy these last few days! As much as I hate typing it, rest up as much as you can before the hustle and bustle of another semester.

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Update: We made it to San Francisco! Now we will get some sleep and later on spend the day in the city as tourists.