Buy a stranger a "COKE"

As an assignment, we were meant to buy a stranger a "coke" or something like candy, lunch or drink. I was confused when Professor Clarke mentioned this. Nothing happened during the week as I could not find anyone. Luckily, I happened to be standing behind a girl in the Museum of Art Cafe. She was counting every penny and note in her wallet. She even turned around and asked if I had $0.10. I did and gave it to her. Then, we ordered and went to the counter. While the lady was making her bill, I said " Please add my meal to her bill also." The girl turned around shocked and speechless! It was the best moment as her expression was priceless. I then explained that I was going to pay. She just stood there stunned and confused.
After getting my food, I went and sat down. 5 minutes later, the girl comes up to my table and asks me why I bought her food. She thought I was crazy! I then explained that it was an assignment. She laughed and thanked me. Her name is Jillian. We sat there for about a half an hour talking about school. Also, we decided to do lunch again someday. It was a amazing-feel-good experience! Not to forget to mention, I was also able to make a new friend!

Smart people or easy courses?

I don't know how many people feel the same way but does any wonder how SO MANY people are getting 4.0s?! Out of every ten people i talk to at least 3 have 4.0 and the rest are 3.7 and above.. I am not sure what classes these people are taking but I really want to know. All my classes are so competitive and hard. Literally, if I do not put 3 hours of work for ever class, I will maybe get a B in the exam. It is crazy! If I get a B in any exam I will be happy! There are some characters that when they get a 93 they are sad that they didn't get a 100. If I got such a high grade in some of the demanding classes I would throw a party! But this doesn't mean that all the students here are like that. There are some who are even below 2.0.

This is also influenced a lot by the programs as they require students to get all As or GPAs from about 3.6 to 4.0. This just makes the students stressed and sometimes this leads to an end to their social life!

Stress!

Unbelievably, it has already been almost one month since school started. As we all know, this just means that it’s time for exams; the day every college student wish never came. Exams just lead to stress, panic and sickness. The only good thing is that BYU gives students the freedom of time. This helps as the student is not stressed out about the timings. Also, time pressure leads to stress which will make the student panic and maybe even mess up the exam.

This week, I have 3 midterms: (1) Accounting 310, (2) MCom 320 and (3) Physics 101. This is going to be one of my worst weeks. All these subjects have lots of material that I need to learn. This only gets harder because everyone in BYU is so smart. The average always ends up being so high making me feel that I should do better to make sure I am above average.

Good luck to everyone for the midterms!

Friends

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are."Friends are a very important part of everyone’s life. This is something that came into my mind as we were celebrating a birthday of a close friend. We all made her dinner and baked an awesome cake. She was surprised; she said “I was really missing my family but I just realized you all are also my family so I am not missing out on anything.” Home is far away for most of us and we spend all our time with our friends. Spending so much time with them makes them a second family. I think that one should have lots of friends but have a few that are the closest and the most precious to them. These will be the ones that you share you good and bad days with. Also, these will be the ones to help during hard times and always be there for you.

some experiences

My experience here in America was one of the most life changing experiences. Coming from Kenya,my home town, where people are the kind where they mind their own business and are not too friendly. Here in BYU I have met with people who are very warm, kind and loving. They have made me feel at home and comfortable. Making friends has been one of the best experiences. People come out of their comfort zone and talk to people. I have now learned to do so this has helped me become more social and improve my networking to a great extent.
In Kenya, having family around never made me realize the responsibilities I have. Two weeks ago, I moved into an apartment with 6 other girls. I had to learn to cook, do laundry and clean but the biggest responsibility was dishwashing. Never in my life have I washed dishes. I had to ask my friends to help me learn. It has taught me to be more responsible. I also learnt to be independent and not always have my mum around. I think that American families that make their children move out from home at the age of 20 are only doing so to help the children. They all learn to be more independent in life. This is one experience I think that Indian families and people from other cultures should learn so as to help children become more independent and know their responsibilities in the real world.

My experiences are plenty but these were the two I felt like talking about. I have learnt a lot and hope to keep learning more everyday.

Choices. Meditation. Faith.

Many times, one is faced with difficult choices in life. Not long ago, I was a high school student faced with some tough choices in my education. I had to choose some universities to apply to - in the United Kingdom (UK) or in the United States of America (USA). At age 17, I was sad and very stressed out that I would have to leave my family and friends behind, and go abroad for studies for four or five years. My mom, who is very spiritual, had given me this advice from the Bhagavad Gita, the holiest of the holy texts of ancient India: "Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is the surrender of attachment to results to the divine, because there follows immediate peace," this made it easier for me to come to BYU and also made me realize that once you leave everything up to God, He will take care of you in every way. I was reminded of this as I have been sick for the past few days. I rest my whole faith on Him, hoping to get better soon. Faith is necessary in everyone's life.

Finals week!! :(

AHHHHH!!! less than a week before finals begin!!!!
Finals week is the week we all dread and never want.... It causes excessive amounts of stress, lack of sleep and bad food eating habits.. :) Finals are the worst invention ever.. (not really but its too much work and stress)
My finals are biology, french and accounting... Student development's final is hiking the Y and a take home paper while for book of Mormon it is an essay..
Firstly, everyday I spend every hour working on the Book of Mormon essay..
Then everyday I will spend 5 hours on accounts.. (1/4 of the time is distractions, setting up and people passing by)..
For biology, I will study everyday for two hours... During this time I will go through the notes and look at the slides on black board. Also, will look at all the homework given it.. I will keep two hour each day for TA consultancy or research on the Internet..
Student development's take home exam I am planning to do it on Saturday... I want to sit and finish it all in order to hopefully get the 2 credit points..
French is a subject that requires a lot of work as we have to learn the vocabulary and also understand the rules. French will take me the rest of my time..... excluding eating time which is about 3 hours and also socializing which is required so as to take a break while blowing off steam... Socializing will be about 2 hours...
The most important thing is that I get 6 to 7 hours of sleep everyday so that I am not too exhausted to study the next day... This might just lead to me feeling tired and lazy on my final day which will be harmful...
This is my schedule for the next week til Thursday night....
Then I have french at 7am on Friday the 16Th.... followed by biology at 11am... Then will spend Saturday afternoon hiking the Y... therefore Sunday and Monday will be studying accounting... lastly will take the accounting exam on Tuesday and hand in the book of Mormon essay on Wednesday...
I really hope to get as much work done as I can before the finals... Being a procrastinator might just cause me the stress the night before the exam... That is why I am trying real hard to study from now on... Hopefully I will be able to do so and attain the best grades in my finals...

GOODLUCK TO EVERYONE!!!! :)