Day Three

Wednesday, June 26, 2013; day three of class. Today went by just like both yesterday and Monday. I feel a routine coming on. I texted Jackee (class friend) in the morning and we met for breakfast. We both decided to get coffee to help us from becoming too sleepy during lecture, it didn't work out quite as well as we had planned; I did't fall asleep but I was sleepy. Once we finished breakfast we headed off for class. The lecture today was interesting but we were not as hands on with Excel as we were yesterday. Jackee and I then went to lunch in the dining hall after class. 

The International Affairs Building-where my morning lecture is held

Today's Lunch; the chocolate frozen yogurt is not visible.

I've been trying really hard to eat healthy; it can be a little difficult. There is always a salad bar section in the dining hall so I will always get either salad or fruit. Also except for the rare and occasional lemonade, I've only been drinking water. Although, there is a flaw in my plan to eat healthy, I love chocolate and they almost always offer a chocolaty desert. There will be cookies or brownies or frozen yogurt or cake. Hopefully my self-control will kick in eventually and I wont pick up a cookie.

After eating we both decided, with the help of my dad who I had called and offered the suggestion, to take a nap. The decision was to either go to the library, work, and be tired during the seminar, or take a nap and feel so much more awake and rejuvenated. Luckily I was able to fall asleep and nap for about 30 minutes or more. This was the most amazing nap ever. I felt so much more awake and able to participate afterward. Maybe I'll take a nap everyday depending on how much work I have to do.

Seminar today was interesting, though not as interesting as yesterday. We talked about economics in general and about the stock market. One of the principles we discussed is how nothing is essentially free. The phrase 'time is money' from an economic standpoint is completely true. For example if you win free tickets to a concert that you would not have normally gone to, it is not actually free. The time you spend standing in line  to get the tickets and then to watch the concert is time that could have been spent working. With everything that you do you pay with time, time that you will never get back.

After seminar I met with Mrs. L and my cohorts and we had a brief discussion about our days. Mrs.L asked us all to compare the stress levels we faced at a normal day of school back home compared to a day of classes here at Columbia. (This is on a 1-10 scale, 1 being stress free and 10 being crushed under the pressure of stress.) Every member of the cohort had a different range. Some of us are more stressed now and others are less stressed. I, thankfully, am less stressed but I think this is largely in part to the fact that I am focussing myself on one class/subject and I don't have any extracurriculars to worry about.

After meeting with everyone I met with Jackee in the library to work on our homework. We worked for about an hour and then met Brian at the dining hall for dinner. We got lost trying to get out of the library.

The Hot Walk of Doom to the Laundry Room

After eating we headed back to the library to finish our work. I finished and left around eight, I wanted to have time to do laundry. The laundry room for my building, and most buildings, is in the basement. It is extremely creepy and hot down there. Since this was my first time doing laundry somewhere other than my home, this was a learning experience. Each machine costs $1.25 in quarters so I had to make a couple trips to the vending machines (I didn't buy anything, I just inserted and ejected the money.). I almost didn't make curfew because of my laundry! I had to run down there and grab the clothes five minutes early and made it up the my dorm at about 10:57. The lesson of this story is to start your laundry earlier that about 8:30 and to be ready with many quarters.