School and Work

First week of school at CSUMB is now over and done with. It was quite a good week actually. Typically I'm not HUGE into the first week of school because it's just syllabi and the like, but this year was actually quite fun. Here's a little break down of my classes:

Psych 200/L: This is a statistical psych class that is the intro to research with data and statistical analysis. This class is going to be FUN. I hate hate hate math with a passion, but my teacher is SUPER awesome and knows that most people don't really like math and she's making it into something fun for us. Our first assignment is to pick something about ourselves that we want to change (lose weight, drink more water, procrastinate less, stop smoking, etc) and for one month we have to track our progress on it. I'm doing a mixture of two different things. I'm tracking how "on track" I stay with my 5k training, and also I have a goal of drinking 64+oz of water every day of the week. We start on Feb 1st, so I'll be letting you guys know what's up with that.

Psych 300: This is "Experimental psych and human assessment". Basically, the goal of the class is to teach us a bit about what psych majors can do after graduation. She is going to help us pick a concentration, tailor the class towards our interests, if we want to go to grad school, if we want to pick a career with only a BA, etc etc etc. Basically this class couldn't have come at a better time for me because only recently have I chosen what I want to focus my studies towards. Special needs children, specifically with autism and anxiety disorders.

SBS 318: This is an online course I'm taking and it's basically a class that is for all SBS (social and behavioral science) majors that teaches you how to use the computer programs that are required for your field. I'm only taking it because I have to as a graduation requirement, I know basically all of the stuff on the syllabus. Whatever.

Span 102: Pretty straightforward, this is the second semester Spanish language class. This class is going to be a BREEZE. I took 2 years of Spanish in middle school and 4 in high school and then 1 semester in college. I am highly proficient in Spanish, and probably should test out of the 102 and 201 courses, but I like the easy A's.

GS 362, Global Literatures: This class is focused on the world, post-colonialism. We will be reading a lot of very global books that are about Vietnam, South Africa, Korea, etc etc. It will be an interesting class, and the books seem like things that I'd like to read but wouldn't have ever found on my own, so that's a plus. If I like reading the book I'll most likely do the work more often! Downfall... a LOT of writing. This is my upper division writing class (my last, thank god) and it's also a graduation requirement, but I think it will be a fun one. Oh, except that she assigned 170 pages of reading over spring break. Not cool, not at all. Guess I'll just have to take my book poolside.

So, those are my classes this semester. I think it will be a decently easy workload, none of them seem too strenuous that I can't do them all, I just need to not procrastinate so much. Always my biggest issue. I am my own worst academic enemy.

Work! Well, this was a very disheartening topic for me until about a week ago. I got a babysitting job with the COOLEST little 6 year old girl, and even though I'll only be watching her 4 days a month (2 days a week, and she spends 2 weeks in Santa Barbara visiting her dad. She's obviously home-schooled), it's still enough money to cover my entire rent. SWEET. Then maybe 3 days ago I got a call from Ken's brother Keith, saying that they're looking for someone part time at his company, Doors Unlimited, and that my mom suggested me because she wasn't able to do it. Excellent! I met up with Keith and the general manager, Dan, yesterday and all seemed to go well! I have another interview next week, but if it works out then that will be something I can do until I graduate and possibly beyond (until I find a solid career, obviously) and they'd be willing to work with my school schedule! Whoaaaa. Hope it works out, fingers crossed!

New Year

Okayyyy, so I kinda sorta really suck at blogging in the last month or so. I can't even use the excuse that I've been busy, because I'd say a solid 60% of the time I've been not busy at all.

So, let's reflect on what's happened...

I came home from Prague. AAAAAAAAAAAND I experienced reverse culture shock. Do you know anything about that? Maybe not. Here's a little clip from the last newsletter that AIFS sent me:

PREPARING YOURSELF FOR RETURN CULTURE SHOCK

Strange as it may seem, returning home means you will have to re-adjust to life in your home country.
Many people experience a sense of alienation known as "return culture shock." It’s the term for what you
experience when you return home and have to readjust to your own country. This is a difficult procedure
for many people and is usually unanticipated. If you find yourself feeling unhappy upon arriving home, keep in mind that this is normal and that it usually does not last. If you have trouble re-adjusting, the first
thing to tell yourself is that this is completely normal. For some it is more difficult to re-adjust than it
was to adapt to a foreign environment.

You can prepare yourself somewhat by considering the following factors. Family and friends may show less interest in your stories and experiences than you expect. This may make you feel lonely, misunderstood, or unappreciated. If you are unhappy about your return home you may try to withdraw from or delay from reestablishing good relations with family and friends. You will no longer stand out in your surroundings. When you were a foreigner you may have attracted more interest and developed new friendships. Once you are home your friends will not find you so unusual. Being at home is not challenging and exciting in the way that life is in a foreign country where you have to struggle to make a success of everything from food habits to behavior, dress codes and language. There is a sense of achievement in having to stretch yourself to meet challenges in a foreign country. A sense of achievement or personal growth is not the same at home where you do not face so many challenges.

You may miss foreign friends as well as the culture, the climate, the food and the language. Your hometown may not seem as glamorous, interesting or exciting as the cities or towns you visited or lived in while you were abroad. Many students experience return culture shock without realizing what is happening to them. Not being aware of what you are suffering just adds to your feeling of anxiety or depression. Family o rfriends may not understand why you feel unhappy, depressed or even homesick for the country and friends you left behind. In fact, they may not realize what you are going through. The good news is that eventually most people do get used to being home. They stop longing to go back to where they were. They start focusing on the future at home. With the passage of time they develop a more balanced view of the pro sand cons of both home and abroad and put their study abroad experience in a more realistic perspective. Once this happens, feelings of depression, dissatisfaction or stress tend to subside. However, study abroad is not something you need to “get over”. The experience remains with you and your outlook on life.

Positive aspects of study abroad will always remain with you. You will have a wider outlook, appreciation
and understanding of the world. You will have knowledge of and sensitivity to another culture and people
from another country that may increase your sensitivity and awareness of the differences between
Americans and many other people around the world. You will have acquired another language that will in-
crease your appreciation of the literature, culture and people who speak that language. This may also pro-
vide you with skills that enhance your career prospects and make you a more attractive candidate to po-
tential employers. You will be more independent, flexible and able to cope with new or difficult experi-
ences. You may have a new set of friends with whom you will stay in touch. You will see your own culture
more objectively than you did before. Living abroad is worth the effort and brings untold and indefinable
rewards. As you struggle to re-adjust to your home environment, remind yourself that the rewards make
it all worthwhile.

So that totally sucked. Nothing too overwhelmingly terrible, just a few days of feeling down and blue about it. Then, I decided I didn't want to be sad anymore. So, I stopped sitting home on the couch being upset and went to work at my mom's office so I didn't have to be alone all the time. Plus, a little moolah never hurt anyone! Especially since the job hunting front isn't going too well. No one's really hiring, but I'm ever hopeful I'll get something!

The biggest thing that I brought back to Europe was a smaller pants size (pun totally not intended, but now that it's there I like it!). I lost 1 pants size in Europe, however now that I'm home I can feel that I've started gaining it back and that's just not okay with me. It felt so good to lose the weight, and I don't want to put it back on. SO! I've been hiking at like 4x a week with Toby (about 3 miles roundtrip), and tonight I started the "Couch to 5k" running plan with my mom! We're going to run a 5k in March, and I couldn't be more excited about it! I'm just hoping that having a goal is going to help me stay motivated to do it. I also have a pilates DVD that I LOVE so I'll be doing that a few times a week. I figure that as long as a change it up so I don't get bored, it can be fun! And I happen to love elliptical machines, so I'm hoping to get a gym membership soon (when the job happens and the moolah starts flowing =/ ).

Christmas was at Bear and my new apartment! It was soo much fun! My Grandma Connie came up and spent about 10 days with us (staying at my Mom's though) and my brother was here for a night so we all got to get together and have a big dinner in my new place! It wasn't totally unpacked and what not yet, but it was just what we needed =]

New Years Eve was awesome. I had a party at my house and totally irritated my neighbor (who I come to find out has nothing better to do than complain since he's a retired Marine and all). The irritating my neighbor thing wasn't exactly the highlight of the night, but there was good friends, good music, loads of fun, and obviously some alcohol involved. Everyone who drank either stayed the night or has a sober driver though, no worries there.

All in all, it's been a good month. Still searching for a job, and school starts in 11 days.... ahhh reality is finally kicking in. Guess I'm not on vacation anymore, Toto.