Entry 20--AKA: "Student: day 2"

It's the second day of class, which is kind of weird because it's a Monday and it's strange that class begins on Friday. Anyway, second day, and so far so good. I actually got up the nerve to raise my hand in two of my classes, even though both times I felt nauseous afterward from fright. Actually, the first time was much easier than the first. The instructor in my first class seems a little more approachable than my second, but I think it may just his demeanor.

The second time, as a matter of fact, I was borderline panic-attack by the time I finished my sentence. It was all in my head, though, because my instructor liked what I had to say. I wish I could remember what it was.

I bought all my books today. $134 for fourteen books--I count that as a win. That is one perk to being an English major: the books are cheap because it's all novels.

I also got the nerve up to go and talk to the philosophy adviser about declaring myself a philosophy major and also asked him about the logic minor. Turns out, my instructor for symbolic logic at ARC teaches here in the summer and the adviser said that if I did well in his class I should do fine in the upper division class. That made me feel pretty good since I got an A in symbolic logic.

I guess that's it. I really brought my computer so I could check my email but since I have none, I'm going to go back to reading, since I have tons to read before Wednesday.

Thanks for reading.

Entry 19--AKA: "My first trip to UCD as a *student*"

Hello, everyone!

Currently, I'm sitting in the "CoHo" at UCD main campus surfing the internet and drinking coffee, just like a real student. Sitting here among all these kids--seriously, most of the people are are less than 20--has me feeling a little awkward, but overall I'm more excited than anything.

I tried to keep the trip here today as real as possible. I left my house around 9:20, sat at the bus station, and walked to each of my classes so I could find them. Each of the classrooms I'm in are really much smaller than I was expecting. There are 4 classrooms total that I have classes in, and the largest of the 4 is about the size of the largest classroom I was in at ARC. None of them hold more than 40 or 50 people, so I think I'll feel right at home.

The most exciting thing so far is that right outside the building where my first class is located is a small coffee-house, much like the "snack shack" outside Davies Hall at ARC. To top it off, it serves organic coffee--none of that burned javacity crap that ARC gets away with. Unfortunately the little shack was closed today, but just knowing it was there for the first day of class brought a smile to my face.

I am still overwhelmed by the sheer size of this campus. It's HUGE. I'm lucky, however, because my classes are no more than a 3 minute walk from one another, which is nice. I think I'm going to throw my backpack on here in a minute and go take in the city around the campus before I had back to Sac.

The bus was also unexpectedly pleasant. I catch it at West Capitol and Enterprise, and I was little afraid at the thought of it being filled with homeless and thugs. Almost everyone on the bus turned out to be students (since about 20 of us got off at MU [Memorial Union]) so it really wasn't so bad. I might even be brave enough to take my bike one of these days. :-)

I think that's it. I'm going to take a walk, then go to the transfer student event at 1:30. I don't plan on being there long, and then I'll head home around 3. Wish me luck, everyone, and thanks for reading.