my life, my experience, and my journey..

[chief-christine]

T H E   L A S T   W E E K .

// these past few weeks have been stressful. it is understood that this is the first year that start sooner has taken place but that is no excuse for leaving the students in the program clueless on what is happening. no set schedule was given prior and no details on what was going to happen throughout the program. since my program was steered towards the pre-calculus and trigonometry course, the results are great. from the beginning of the course to the end, a change on how the instructor taught was hoping to change. it did not.

the pre-calculus and trigonometry instructor would release the notebook and homework before we even learned it or go over the material in class. thinking that maybe it was because of my absence during the study session however it was not. the office hours during the course did not help at all. whenever the instructor explained things, nothing was answered. any time a question was asked about something that was wrong, the answer would contradict and be shot down. this was pretty frustrating at this point. it honestly feels like the main goal this instructor has is to damage our grade point average. not trying to be ruse because this is not the instructor’s intentions.. just maybe everyone in the class is just to dumb for this course. my love for math is dead at this point.

the introduction to university experience has been going pretty well lately. since the big conflict in the group presentation/project was resolved.. things have been going much better. the only thing that has really made me irky this week was coming home after work yesterday to a twenty galloon fish tank on my desk. this goes into a rant about my roommate on how she does not understand how a dorm works? one set of things within the room is hers while the other set in the room is mine. she does not abide by this however.. it seems pretty believable that she does not respect my time or space. this was what caused our separation/friendship during the first two weeks; her failure to respect me as a person. whenever my return back to the dorms occurred, something new of hers is always placed on top of my desk taking over my space within the room. from this experience, my departure on the fifth will be much appreciated in her favor as well as mine.

[chief-christine]

M Y   F I R S T   M A T H   E X A M.

// so my first exam was today. not quite sure on how confident my beliefs are for my skills in this class. it just seems like the world is against me. sometimes, it really feels like no matter how much my mind goes through and how much my body is exerted.. there is no outcome for it. all the mathematics knowledge that is retained within my brain quickly dims and vanishes like a pokémon minutes later.

that dream of a perfect grade point average is gone now. no faith. hopefully, the fall term goes much better than these four weeks. time management in the fall term will for sure be so much easier. the whole start sooner program where you are required to live in dorms is quite inconvenient in my case. understanding that this is the first year this program has launched does not let me shoe mercy on their side. not set schedule, late minute changed, and very late notifications for what is going on. an honest opinion of the program so far is probably a so-so on a scale to horrible and amazing.

during the fall term, my only time campus would be on tuesday and thursday. this would result in me saving money on gas and time. no curfew of midnight each night or requiring to check-in every time. this really affects my work schedule. not quite sure if the directors understand that my request for a schedule was a month prior to the program starting. for this request for a schedule, the words of ‘dropping from the program’ came up when the request was not met.

my entire purpose for obtaining a degree in my dream profession is to further my career. my school schedule is made to work around that profession. not like this program where we have class everyday and are required to attend a study session at the end of the day, everyday. the frustration of driving back and forth from the city to norman is a waste of my time and gas. hopefully this upcoming week and finals week has a better outcome and changes my views on the program.

[chief-christine]

// so far the second week of being in norman on a daily basis has bene a pretty good experience so far. pretty excited about colligate life at this point. did a lot of self-thinking and came to conclusion on what my goals were for the future. for one of my first assignments in class was an ‘about me’ presentation. was pretty proud of my presentation. everyone actually listened to mine surprisingly. comparing my observation to other presentations, maybe thirty seconds in, anyone on any electronics either put their cellular device down or closed their laptops. thinking everyone finds me most interesting as of now. which is not a bad thing. probably levels out to being one of the better things for a successful colligate career.

[chief-christine]

C A M P   C R I M S O N .

// to start off the day, my start sooner program still ran on where we had to sit through our math course and head straight over to the dorms for the first day of camp crimson. the entire environment was much like basic. looking back at basic, no regrets were made. a saying was passed around to ‘drop your cool’. by doing so, it was great motivation for me to remember why camp crimson was going to be a part of my sooner experience.

remembering why becoming a sooner was so important in my life was pretty amazing. all of the history and heritage at the university makes me feel so alive. no other words can explain except for finding the love that everyone else found while on campus. the university is truly a beautiful and amazing place to be. could not have asked to start off my freshman colligate experience any where else than the university of oklahoma. the presentations given were truly eye-opening. it changed my perspective in many ways and made me look at the university with a deeper meaning and feeling similar to when the university was first built. this really made camp crimson something to remember for it being just the first day.

continuing on.. activities were going back to back like no other. so much walking but even more so was so much sweat. the walking was not a problem at all. however, the humidity and the sun basically killed my soul. trying not to mind it as much a possible, the strides across campus built up my endurance for the next few days of upcoming camp. many amazing people and much amazing things. nothing is better than reliving a oasc basic moment. finding out more details about each camper was probably a good ice breaker for my social bubble that was built up since basic.

so far, everything has been good. hopefully through the rest of this camp experience, the outcome will also be much like basic. all that is needed now is the chant of the century.. ‘we are fred, jones.. one for the art and one for the show. we are fred, jones.. we are the coolest campers you now. we are shu-, mate.. reppin’ crimson and cream cream cream. reppin’ crimson and cream cream cream. stadium boomin’ crimson and cream!’

[chief-christine]

F I R S T   O F F I C I A L   D A Y .

// today was my first official day as an ou student. waking up around eight was a pretty late start for me however, it happened. got up, got ready, and went downstairs. so what was my first task of the day? catching pokémon of course!

as my size five and a half feet began walking north heading to the physical science center, so many rare pokémons appeared. continuing on to find where my first class was, an encounterment of another soon-to-be pokémon master was quietly sitting in room two-two-four. of course finding a seat where the view of the professor would be clear was not a challenge since nobody else was there as early. approximately fifteen minutes later, everyone started showing up. the professor soon entered the room and introduced herself. class then begun.

thinking to myself, ‘what is even going on right now?’, was probably the main question floating around in my head. the professor seemed nice but she was so in love with math. so many things she said just went into one ear and out the other. trying my best to pay attention led me to ponder upon how hard this class would be. the teacher’s assistants seems enthusiastic and full of energy. was not quite sure if all of that could be taken in on the first day.

my first class ended and lunch followed. having a thirty minute window was not an ideal lunch for the first day, let alone the next three weeks. a stop to starbucks was much needed. all the math students probably ordered the meals and got ten seconds of rest before we all headed to our next class. this was the introduction to university experience. the instructor was much better and seemed more easy going than the math instructor from the morning. a lot of stress was relieved as we rested for our first day. probably the highlight of my day to be honest.

the start sooner guides set-up a dinner with the dean of the college of arts and sciences. rumored to have barbecues and homemade goodies circled the announcements. sadly to say that my work schedule did not agree with the barbecue at the dean’s house. this ended my day on campus. leaving at around three thirty-five, my career was awaiting my arrival.

[chief-christine]

M O V E - I N   D A Y .

// today was it. today was move-in day. after a long wait for my boyfriend to arrive at my house, our departure to norman was soon to come. the drive there was the usual forty minutes. the same sight haunted me as the realization of doing this for the next five years was drawn up in my mind. crazy drivers, the local hipsters, and the best of the all.. pokémon masters. there was no better feeling than pulling up to the university’s residential stay and catching a few rare pokémons.

upon waiting for my boyfriend’s arrival, a check-in was necessary. the two ladies at the front desk had me fill out some medical forms and a waiver. they then proceeded to assisted me with the check-in process. a surprise was noticed when the start sooner shirts were nike shirts. how amazing was that? everyone would have thought the typical tee or a mass production print would have been handed out. nobody would have thought that they would use the legend tees from nike. after my excitement from the start sooner tees, we proceeded to the window to get my dorm key. this was the next step of making my colligate experience a reality.

now walking back to my car to grab my things, we failed in a successful transport. making our way up the elevator, we landed on the wrong floor. round two of the elevator game led us up to the tenth floor. my struggle continued as the hassle to get my soonerid out to gain access to the hallway was delayed. a few minutes later, the walk continued to room ten-zero-seven. this was going to be my dorm for the next three weeks. probably the only time any type of dorming would take action during my collegiate years. entering the room to find a note on my bed was my first trace of having a dorm-mate. she had already unpacked all of her things and left to grab a bite. continuing on by placing everything in the closet and putting things in the drawers, we began the official move-in process.

approximately twenty minutes later, we went downstairs to venture around. you see, my boyfriend had recently graduated two semesters before. this was all a visit back home for him. as for me, the newbie or rookie of the university was just beginning to make this place home.

[chief-christine]

// woke up at around five fifteen just to make sure everything was ready for enrollment. this was it. today was the day, today is the official first step towards becoming a sooner. eight o’clock soon arrived as more students showed up. sitting through a twenty minute presentation to listen to a lady brag on about herself and her kids was just the beginning.

all of her exaggeration on colligate life did not give me a good impression on what my colligate life would be like. as all of my concentration was focused on what courses my advisor had in mind, the lady kept giving me awkward looks. a reason for this could be because majority of all the other students who who were there had brought their parents with them; meanwhile one of the few students who did not have a parent was none other than myself.

aside from that, the presentation continue. my appointment time with my advisor was ten o’clock. everything on my checklist was done; my sooner identification card, my food&housing exemption form, and my ales math placement test. there was nothing left for me to accomplished. the presentation ended and request to move my appointment time to nine o’clock was brought up. the lady declined my request and told me to sit and wait for an hour and half. that was not going to happen. about ten minutes later, the university’s bookstore opened. a quick browse would not do any harm right? so, no one other than myself was browsing the bookstore. a purchase was eventually made as my short legs sprinted as fast as they could across campus to make it back in time for the enrollment appointment.

there, this fellow sooner encountered another fellow sooner who suffered the international baccalaureate programme. this fellow sooner was from palestine. we talked for about half an hour non-stop about life as an ib major. topics about ee’s, ia’s, and tok was brought up alongside with the crazy professors who taught us and extracurricular activities we had to do for cas experience. we were now pros in the ib world.

we talked until my advisor finally showed up. here, he walked me to where my experience would begin as a sooner. his name was jon. we discussed how things worked and how the classes would flow. this was extremely helpful. everything went as plan in my perspective. we finally finished with the talk about what was what and how things were gonna go for my schedule. he walked me out where an escort was waiting to take me to enroll into my classes. this was beginning to get too real. somehow, amazingly, my schedule worked out where my classes would fall on only tuesdays and thursdays. how crazy was that? a freshman in college with classes on only two days? my excitement grew as my drive home approached. today was the last day in the month of may and this was going to be one of the most memorable days in my sooner career.

my current status: one step closer to becoming a collage graduate.