Undecided/Undeclared Anteaters Blog

Week 10, December 6, 2009

This quarter went by really fast! I don’t know where to begin…

I really still can’t believe that this quarter almost over. From leaving home and high school, college is way better than high school (except the food ):).  I just recently adjusted to the loud 2 a.m. yelling in the commons of the Otero hall and like Anthony, I’ve had some problems of my own while living at the dorms. I had a my dish washing sponge stolen and my roommate’s water boiler removed from our room. ): who would steal my poor sponge? it’s like a dollar… hehe. nevertheless, I’ve replaced it with a new sponge I’ve recently named Susan. HEHE. I’ve definitely learned to lock my dorm door everytime I leave my room. And I’ve bent my dorm key a couple times while accidentally pulling my key out of the lock while rushing to class. It was at a 90 degree angle… ): poor key. But I’ve managed to bend it back with the help of my hallmate next door.

I’m so glad I’m done with Writing 39B. I didn’t hate the class as much as I liked it. In other words, I would not take that class again. Writing has never been my best subject and I’m just glad to be finished with it. I’ve managed to get through this quarter but hopefully next quarter I’ll study a bit harder. I’ve been trying to catch up on all my reading that I neglected but thankfully my first midterm is on Tuesday so I’ve got some time left. I’ve learned that I have to focus more on my time management. It’s my responsibility to figure out what I need to do and when. In this sense, I don’t need my parents anymore to tell me what to do. I think I’ve matured a little bit. JUST A little. I’ll always have my mom to yell at me to come down for dinner or to stop watching so much t.v. when I go home on the weekends. It’s then that I’ll just revert back to my immature loving self that my parents know and love.

Good Luck on finals!

Toodles~

Jeannie

Week 9, November 29, 2009

This… HAS BEEN THE BEST WEEKEND SO FAR!

Now, I’ve been going home every weekend (just because I live only 20 minutes away!) And for this weekend to have been a better weekend than any other, it had to be totally awesomeeee! I really was looking forward to this weekend because I wanted to catch up with some high school friends and just take a long break. I couldn’t wait to eat some REAL food like some legit Chinese and American food, not the food in Mesa Commons.

And it was AWESOME! I came back home on Tuesday night actually because my two classes on Wednesday had been canceled.  So I started my Thanksgiving break earlier than most people (: I totally did nothing the whole day and it was GREAT! I’ve forgotten how long its been since I’ve just sat around all day watching tv.

My family never cooks a Thanksgiving dinner, only because my mother doesn’t know how to cook turkeys. Traditionally, most chinese people eat a dish called Hot Pot instead of a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner which consists of just boiling fishcakes, seafood, and tofu in a big pot. But instead, my mother went to Honey Baked and bought some food there. There was so much food, that I’ve been eating turkey and ham four days straight. Turkey sandwiches everyday! But nonetheless, I haven’t gotten tired of it yet!

On Friday, I went Black Friday shopping with my sister. It was extremely crowded at the mall but my sister and I only spent 30 minutes maximum in each store. HAHA I felt like a madman running around and rushing all over the place.  We didn’t get a lot of things because we were looking for sales on apparel but none of the sales were really that great.  I did buy some cute boots though and three seasons of “Friends” for 9 dollars each! So I’m a happy camper (:

On Saturday, I met up with some high school friends and we celebrated my friends birthday at Olive Garden.

For the rest of the weekend, I curled up on the couch in front of the tv to watch “Friends” .

Now to get ready for finals. Time to get serious and studious ): But I’m excited for winter break! Disneyland here I come!

Sincerely,

Jeannie Lee

Week 8, November 22, 2009

Where in the World is Jeannie Lee?

I’m in the exotic country of Irvine of course…Hehe.

This past week, it was International Educational Week here at UCI.  I’ve always wanted to go study abroad, probably in Europe like Britain or Asia like Taiwan or Hong Kong.  Maybe I’ll go to Spain to study in a few years even though my spanish isn’t very strong. ( I stopped taking spanish after junior year in high school! )

Anyways, so there was international cuisine at Mesa Commons this whole week. I tried the curry from Malaysia and the pad thai from Thailand. I didn’t really like the pad thai because it was strangely white. Normally it’s very orange and I thought it was lacking peanuts which makes the noodles normally very sweet and tasty.  I was so excited to try the pad thai because I haven’t had any since the summer at Sweetie Thai in Cerritos.  But I was deeply disappointed.  The Malaysian Curry tasted pretty good but I felt that it tasted just like Thai curry. Strange indeed. Overall I liked having different dishes from all over the world because normally Mesa Commons just has Mexican food and bland Chinese food.

While walking to class on Ring Road, I passed by the EAP stand where my friend and I picked up some pamphlets about studying abroad.  We wanted to win some free stuff (then again who doesn’t LOVE free stuff?! hehe) so the volunteer asked us some trivia questions about foreign countries.  I THOUGHT that the questions would be super hard because the prizes were rather useful such as a wallet belt for traveling and a beach ball for going to the beach. But they were really easy! My friend was asked, “What is the biggest city in Australia?” and of course he said “Sydney”. He won a beach ball, which he was thoroughly excited about! Such a silly college kid. I was asked, “What language do people in Portugal speak?” and I answered ” Portuguese.” which was obviously correct. I won an international student ID card! Orginally $22, I got the card for free!  According to myisic.com, the ID card is the only internationally accepted student ID card and proof of current student status in existence. If I plan on studying abroad this year (which is sadly highly unlikely), I can get discounts to more than 33,000 locations in 103 countries, a mobile phone and a calling card communications package, an insurance plan, and access to an emergency help line. Maybe I’ll travel during the summer! My friend from Taiwan showed me her ID card during the summer so I was really excited to get my own FOR FREE! Anyone can get an International Student ID card, just go to the STA travel center in the Student Center and bring $22!

After getting my card, I went to the Center for International Education in the Student Services II building room 1100. I wanted see the application students needed to fill out in order to apply for studying abroad. I walked up to the second floor where I saw Room 1100 and I entered the room. The peer advisors were very friendly and asked me to go to the computer room next door to fill out a survey.  The survey asked me about which countries I wanted to study abroad in which I chose, Taiwan, Japan and Britain.  The computer told me to go back to the peer advisors for counseling and the advisor took a look at my survey. She told me that since I was only a freshmen that she would not advise studying abroad until perhaps junior year especially since I’m an undecided/undeclared major.  She said I should probably figure out my major before deciding where to study and why.  (I AGREE!) She then led me to a revolving brochure stand with information about different study abroad programs in different countries where I picked up a few.  Along the walls, there were pictures of current and past students who studied in specific countries such as Japan and Spain.  I thought that the decorations in the Center were very informative and creative.

Even though it may be expensive, Studying abroad is a unique experience that everyone should have and I hope that I get that opportunity in the future.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions or comment below!

Jeannieeeeeeeeeeee Lee

Week 7, November 15, 2009

Currently Playing: Last Christmas by Taylor Swift (Sorry, I can’t add the song under media!)

Have a holly jolly Christmas…..

HAHA. I’ve been listening to Christmas music recently. It seems that since it is November now, I have an excuse to listen to happy Christmas music. I went home for the weekend and guess what I saw! CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AND TREES! (along with tons of sales (: ) Everywhere, it was so colorful and there were so many Christmas decorations in the mall! Felt like a winter wonderland indeed. But the parking lot was packed with people! I was so surprised because it’s not even Thanksgiving let alone Christmas yet. I bought a teal wool coat and purple scarf for the upcoming winter weather even though it’s been hot and dry these past couple of days. It really does seem way too early to be singing Christmas songs and putting up the Christmas tree. I mean, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet! I also really want to go to Disneyland! I want to see the Christmas decorations and the Sleeping Beauty castle dressed up in white! Hopefully I will be going during the winter break. I remember watching those yearly Christmas parades on Main Street where Gingerbread Men and Women would dance in the street. Hehe.

This past Tuesday, I went to my peer counseling session with Hannah. I’m planning on taking science classes next quarter because I’ve been trying to decide my major, which has currently been between Environmental Science/Studies and International Relations. I took AP Environmental Science last year and I really liked it, but I also enjoyed being in Model United Nations where I learned about international issues. I know I don’t have to decide until the end of the year, I’m so anxious to decide!  Currently I am taking Intro to International Relations and I have not really enjoyed the class as much as I had hoped to. I took two social sciences this quarter so next quarter, I’ll be taking science classes. I plan on taking Chem 1a, Writing 39C (or Writing 31 if I get a B or higher currently in Writing 39B!), Chinese, and Environ Analysis and Design. I better get the classes I want on November 30! (:

Yesterday, I went to my cousin’s house to celebrate my grandfather’s 78th birthday! He’s pretty old now, but he still seems like a child at heart! We had a sushi, tempura, soup, garlic crab, cuttle fish, and rice noodles for dinner. It was SOOOO good. A good break from the food from Mesa Commons! I really miss my family’s homemade Asian food.

I’m going to try to get the H1N1 vaccine on the Nov. 25th. I don’t want to get sick! I already have enough problems with my allergies and reaction to the Santa Ana winds when it gets dry ): I need to go call for an appointment soon!

Have a lovely week 8! Comment if you have any questions!

Week 6, November 1, 2009

I am finally done with midterms. The dreaded but important midterms. A week filled with late nights of studying and naps after classes.

I hope I did well on both my poli sci and psych tests and I’m ready to conquer the rest of the quarter! My professor for poli sci gave us a study guide to study from which included identification of terms and essay questions. The test was exactly the same as the study guide except I forgot some terms! Thank goodness I went through the study guide! So that midterm wasnt too bad.  But yesterday I had my psychology midterm #2 and that midterm was not fun. I forgot a lot of the definitions of words and I ended guessing on a lot of the questions. For some weird reason, I left my class 30 minutes before time ended. I’m a bit worried that I did not do so well. My goal this coming week is to get some more sleep. Running on 20 hours of sleep per week isn’t healthy and I’ve been really tired everyday. TIME TO SIT BACK AND RELAX! Haha just kidding. Time to push through the quarter and continue studying and having fun!

It was my friend’s birthday Wednesday and my friends and I went out to UTC to eat dinner and celebrate her 18th birthday! We ate  some Japanese food at Gen and headed to Cha for Tea to get some drinks. I had a great time hanging out with them and chatting about college so far.

Don’t forget to apply for 2010-2011 housing! Starting on November 9 at 7 a.m, students will be able to apply for dorming! Applications close at 11:59 p.m on Thursday the 19th. I’m going to definitely wake up to get my first choice with my friends.

“Hip hip
Hip hip

When you’re on a holiday
You can’t find the words to say
All the things that come to you
And I wanna feel it too

On an island in the sun
We’ll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can’t control my brain”

Does this look familar? It’s Weeeeeezerr! For any of you Weezer lovers, you can vote to bring Weezer to UCI for a free concert!  Currently UCI is # 40 so let’s vote a lot! All you have to do is download the CLIQ and it votes for UCI!

Don’t forget about your mandatory U/U advising! Peer advisors will go help you decided which classes to choose next quarter. I definitely need to go because I have only decided on two classes to take next year – Chinese and a writing class. Haha I will be put on unit probation if I can’t decide!

Week 5, November 1, 2009

It’s…NOVEMBER? Wow, October passed by really fast and I can’t believe that it is November, already? It really does not feel like so much time has passed and I still feel like a new freshman who started school just a couple weeks ago.

Midterms. The dreaded Midterms. Either most students have already experienced these or are about to. For me, I’m the latter. I have two midterms this week, one right after the other and I am definitely not looking forward to studying for either of them. The week will pass by really fast and I don’t think I will ever have enough time to cram everything into the little brain of mine. Hopefully I do get enough sleep; otherwise, I think I might just forget everything I crammed the night before. I hope everyone does or did well on their midterms! We’re halfway through the quarter!

Halloween was this past Saturday and I spent it well by going back home and trick or treating with my siblings. We went around the neighborhood and gather lots of sweet treats. I went to a carnival at the local city park and met up with some old high school friends. I went to the Haunted Pippin themed dinner on Thursday with some friends and the food was pretty good. Though the names of the food were creative, such as bat wings for chicken wings, I thought that UCI dining did a good job to make a successful dinner with high attendance. The line for the pizzookie was a 15 minute wait and it was so good!  On Friday, I was going to dress up as a ninja for extra credit for Writing 39B but I bailed out, afraid to be the only one on campus in a costume and being looked at weirdly. Maybe next year.

All current freshmen! Don’t forget to sign up for second year housing next Monday at 7 A.M.! It’s hard to believe that we’re signing up for housing for next year! Hopefully I will force myself to get up at 6 and maybe I might get my first pick along with my requested roommates.

Week 4, October 25, 2009

Hi everyone! My name is Jeannie. I am from Cerritos, California, a city only just 20-30 minutes away but I am dorming at Mesa Court on campus. I love listening to music, playing musical instruments, watching television, painting, and cooking. My favorite hobby is watching asian dramas because they not only help me learn languages, but I love romance and cheesy lines. I can’t stand eating eggplants, bananas, onions, chocolate ice cream/milk and ketchup! You guys might think I’m weird, but I MUST have my french fries plain.  My favorite place in the world is the beach (I just love the sound of waves and jumping at the touch of freezing water) and I want to travel the world someday so I definately want to Study Abroad hopefully within a year or two.

It feels like college just started barely four weeks ago, but that means that we’re halfway already through the quarter! I can’t wait to choose my classes next quarter and figure branch out into new subjects ( The perk of being a U/U student is that we never have to stick with one thing!). I am currently taking Psych and Beh 9, Poli Sci 41A, Writing 39B, and of course Uni Stu 2. I hope everyone is studying hard for their midterms! I know I am. One midterm down, two more to go. It seems like psych 9 is a more reading intensive class than I previously thought. College has definitely been a big change for me and I still can’t seem to adjust to staying up all night after a day of lectures to have fun. I end up falling asleep at around 11 o’clock, but use my bright desk light to push my brain to read Blood Meridian into the early hours of the morning. I hope by the end of freshman year, I can adjust to this problem accordingly. I hope by the end of 9 months that I can finally figure out my major and manage my time more wisely.

So this past week, the career fair was held in the Pacific Ballroom in the Student Center and my roommate and I decided to check it out. Unknowingly, we walked into the room way underdressed in casual clothes, surrounded by a sea of companies and 3rd and 4th years handing out their resumes. My roommate and I took a lap around the room, but we bolted out of there after a circle, laughing at ourselves for being so silly and assuming that the fair was for on campus jobs.

I know the I will have a unique exprience my freshman year. I am trying to get involved on campus and I am currently in clubs such as Taiwanese American Organization and Chinese Association at UCI but I am also in the process of creating a new club with friends for this winter quarter. There are so many things you can do and I hope I inspire you guys to get more involved on campus with clubs, internships and jobs! Don’t let the idea that only because we’re first years that you can’t do anything! Just try hard, believe and you can accomplish anything!

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below! (:

Jeannie