Hi everyone, sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. Working two jobs is not  fun at all and I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone.  But I am also blessed to have my job because many people in the country are fighting to get hired.

In addition to working two jobs this summer, I am also taking a summer course at Dillard University. So my days are steamy, hot and stuffed to capacity. Contrary to my prior beliefs, taking summer classes are awesome. Although the walk to class is exhausting and sticky, it’s worth it because it feels good to know that I am getting my Elementary Spanish II course out of the way.

My first semester at Dillard University (DU) I took my Elementary Spanish I course and it was treacherous. It was highly difficult to keep up with my other five classes, the piles of Spanish homework, and a part-time job. Unfortunately, I barely passed with a D+, but I learned from that experience and I decided to take Spanish II in the summer. Choosing to take a foreign language in the summer makes a ton sense. You get the opportunity to pour yourself into your assignments. My Spanish class begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advising anyone to take an 8 a.m. class, actually that was a bit silly on my part, but you should definitely consider taking your foreign languages during the summer.

Summer classes are very intense, so you’re not going to get bored and you won’t have time to slack or fall behind, I am quite sure of that. They are rigorous because you have to cram about three months of work into about a month, but it’s worth it because you’ll definitely learn and get your money’s worth. Learning a foreign language isn’t a simple task, but taking the course in the summer will allow you to quickly to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. Before you register for a foreign language during the fall or spring, you should definitely consider taking those classes during the summer.

Best wishes!!! Enjoy the remainder of the summer!!!

Well, 1/8 of my college experience and (knock on wood) I’m very happy with where I’m at.  In my last post, I discussed how it took a few people to go out of their way and really become friends with me.  These are some great kids, and I have surely managed to have a great time at Oxy up until now.   As one of my friends and I were reflecting on the past semester though, we came to the conclusion we really didn’t DO as much in L.A. as we thought we would.  Occidental makes a very good case that the whole of Los Angeles is an integral part of the experience.  As my friend and I discussed, though, we realized that the times we had attempted to leave campus by ourselves (neither of us have a car) using the public transportation, that you can be very lucky or very unlucky in terms of how much you wait.  As a matter of fact, a few of us decided we wanted to see Hollywood on a Saturday night.  Thirty minutes on the bus and we were standing wide eyed on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in the shadow of that building that looks like a stack of records.   Later on though, we waited almost 2 hours for a return bus with maybe 15 Angelenos and didn’t return to the dorm until around 3:00.  Not to mention all the arrests we witnessed in our short stroll along the Boulevard, it was a pretty nerve-racking experience.

This semester though I really do plan to visit some of Los Angeles’s most important cultural attractions, museums, and maybe the beach a couple of times.   It truly appears to be a great city, but I think it might be wise for us to much better understand the transit system.  Very few of my peers have cars on campus, and of the few that do, a minority are from out of town and willing to “explore” the city.  I’m sure that this will be easy to overcome though.  My only fear is that increasing my focus on seeing the sights will detract from my studies. My class lineup this semester seems to be far too interesting for that though. (Michelangelo, Intro to Urban & Environmental policy, The Russian Experience, and Spanish) all cater to very specific interests of mine.

Alas though it will likely be a struggle against the ease of hedonistic pursuits to again truly learn this semester, but there is no reason why overcoming such distractions shouldn’t be easy.