First Day of School!

Butler Library!

The first day of school has begun and it went extremely well! I was very nervous and I did not know what to expect since I had never had the opportunity to go to such a program.  This was the first time I would be experiencing anything like this.  However it was a lot of fun since my professor was really nice and chill.  He is going to give us many articles to read every night, and there is a 4000 word research paper due by the end of the course, but overall it's very nice.  I have two sessions, from 10 AM to 12 PM and from 2 PM to 4 PM.  The first session is used for discussion of articles while the second session is located in the library, where we research.  The libraries are so gorgeous and they have so many resources. No school in the West Coast has such a good selection and databases.  There are not only physical resources but many that can be found online.

I really liked the two session idea where one is all discussion and the other is research.  This is something that I am not familiar with, but I think it is great. A lot of the classes that I have back in the West Coast I don't get to interact very much with the teachers. I am glad that I interact with the professor who has his Ph.D and he is very qualified, more so than many of the West Coast teachers that I have.  I wish that more classes in WCCUSD were interactive and that there was more discussion.  Many times a teacher will try, but for some reason it does not usually work.  I think that more people will learn in a discussion environment rather than a lecture and note taking environment.

Columbia sign! 

Today I also learned more about the IB program, which is actually fairly similar to the AP system, but it has more requirements. They have more rigorous classes and have more tests to take than us. The international students actually have to take very challenging courses, especially if they go to international schools, which many do go to.  A lot of the international students do not have accents, which I was fairly surprised about, since I did expect one. Mrs. L said that this year there are many international students, and I heard that there are about 50% international students.  There are from places like Hong Kong, Turkey, Greece, Russia, France, Dubai, and many other places. They are all so nice and friendly!

I really love the way that my hall mates and I get along. We are all getting very close and I am glad that I am able to branch out. I think without the Ivy League Connection, I would never have been so confident or assured in myself so I am very thankful.  The food here is not the best, but I can make do with it.  The dinner was the best part since we had mac and cheese, turkey, rolls, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.  I hope that I can enjoy the food because I really don't want to spend too much money just on food.  I like how there are so many restaurants near the campus though because there are so many options.

We ended the night with time in the common room. We watched TV and chatted about random things.  I am having such an amazing time and I am loving the dorm I have.  Also, my door is fixed so I really enjoy that. Well today was a good day and I'm hoping that tomorrow will be as well.