Fall 09

I just got my grades for this semester and it turns out that I didn't do so bad after all! Ever since the semester ended, I've been meaning to blog about how it went but didn't get a chance to until now. This was, I think, my favorite semester. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what made it so good and I think I've narrowed the list down to a couple of things:

For one, I think the classes were really interesting. Beyond the stress, which I can never seem to get away from anyway, I found myself not getting bored (which people can vouch for is no easy feat for me).
For another, I think the reflection class I took gave me a space to evaluate where I stand as of now. I was able to reflect on where I began, where I am, how far I've come and where I want to go. As an MCB major, I was not very happy. What I was studying did not interest me and I'd always find myself wondering how does this stuff apply to everyday life?! Not surprisingly, my grades reflected this as I couldn't bring myself to put in much effort. But as I switched to Public Health and discovered the Global Poverty Minor, I finally seem to have found my passion (at least for now). And though my grades aren't much better, I find myself much happier studying the subjects I am taking and actually want to learn more. The class also helped me take a decision about my future- that I do want to approach poverty though health care. I think setting an end goal pushed me to work harder towards achieving it.

My extra curricular activities have also been good. I have an awesome group of officers who I can depend we were able to host many successful events this semester. And by cutting down on the hospital and starting to volunteer with kids, I'm finally involved in things because I want to be and not because I should be.

Finally, I can't forget the roomies. We've had an awesome time together and I enjoy the feeling of being able to live with people I can relate to on such a deep level. Nothing is off limits during our conversations ;)

And so my last fall semester at Cal comes to an end. It's kind of scary to think that graduation is just a semester away as I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to be doing after that. But in retrospect, I'm proud of myself for having come so far in my self-discovery and am thankful to Cal for giving me the opportunity to do so.

Blakes Dinner

I wrote this long post about work last night but decided it was too personal to be blogged about. Ah, how do people decide whether something is too personal or not?!

Nevertheless, I wanted to blog about Thursday night's dinner at Blakes. Our group had a fundraiser where we got 15% of the bill from anyone who mentions us. I was just so happy with the turnout and grateful to those who came that I had to express it somewhere.

For one, my roommates brought with them a huge group of people who made up more than half the people there! It was so gratifying to not only see these many people, but to know that I could always depend of them :) A couple of officers also came and we had a good time talking and eating. But the icing on the cake was when my other friend, who couldn't make it to the actual dinner was able to rally a few of her friends and each marched in to the restaurant all the way to the back where we were sitting and handed me money one by one. It was such a shock to see them come in like that and even more to have them hand me the money that I was left speechless. Of course it wasn't about the money, but that so many people actually seemed to care about us and our drive and that I have such awesome friends who will go out of their way to help me. My friends have come to support me before, but it was just really nice to see again how if I needed their help, I have such great people around me who I can always depend on <3