Action Plan, Monologue, Pizza, What Else Could There Be?

So much goes on in one day at Brown. For example, today I decided to sleep in for a bit so that I could rest a bit more. When the time came and I knew if I slept even a little bit more I would be late I woke up. Plus, I had to go to the library to go print out a summary of an interview I had conducted.

I walked all the way to and fro the Rockefeller Library where there are printers. Each black and white copy costs ten cents, not a bad price. The hard part of printing was figuring out how to do it. The librarian, one of the lady's on the front desk, and another nice woman who was printing where of great help. In the end, I was able to print and so I headed for class.

In class, we had discussions concerning our first interview and the assigned reading. Previous to the discussion Kisa, the professor, passed back our journals, which she had looked over and commented.

After our discussions we headed to the the CIT, Center Information Technology, so that we could use the computer for whatever we needed. Some people decided to work on their monologue, others their action plan. At the same time, that we were at the CIT we had to meet with Kisa in regards to our Action Plan.

We spent a great deal of time in the CIT, which was really awesome. They had both PC's and Mac's so that people could use them. When lunch came around we realized it had begun to rain, so we had to cancel our plans to go to the V-Dub and instead we had to go to the Sharpe Refectory. We all got a bit wet, some of us were not wearing the correct shoes or clothes and some of us did not even have an umbrella on us.

Once I went to see Kisa, she really questioned what I am planning to do, which really helped me identify the aspects that I still need to work on.

Class ended so I headed back to the dorms and started a bit of my reading assignment while it came time for our evening activity, which was to go watch "Iron Jawed Angels." The movie was only going to be shown to the Women and Leadership students because the other students in the leadership academy were going to watch their own movie depending on their class. For example, my friend Vanessa, was going to watch "Food Inc." because of her class called Food Fights. I also went to dinner and it was a blast. I even met a girl named Rebecca, or becca as she prefers. She told us all about herself and we introduced ourselves. She apparently will only be here for a week and today was her first day in class.

After dinner we only waited for a bit as 6:20 PM came and it was time to meet in front of Harkness in order to go watch the movie. I really liked the movie and it showed clearly the struggle of women to get the right to vote. In addition it showed the cruelty of peoples' response to this idea, especially that of men. I really disliked how the women were treated in prison and how the police completely abused of their power. They were incorrectly charged because they were not distracting traffic they were expressing their point of view. However, in the end it was great to hear that their efforts and sacrifices were worth it and women could vote.

When, the movie finished we went back to the dorm and as I was beginning to think about doing my reading, Irene came by and asked if I needed to do laundry. I really needed to and even though I was waiting for Vanessa to come back, so I could get my laptop from her room and do my blog, I left. I decided to ask Diana if she could please do me the favor of getting my laptop for me and then I would come and pick it up.

The only dilemma we faced for doing laundry was that the card reading machine was out of order, so we had to use quarters. In the end, we were able to get enough quarters. As we washed I read and had a conversation with Alexa, Irene's little sister.

For now I have to go to sleep so until next time!!

Food, Shopping, Library, Food, Meeting, and Interview

The title of my blog today pretty much sums my day up. I woke up pretty late, so I missed breakfast, on purpose, I really wanted to rest and plus after a week of pasta, potato, and bread you can get full. Now I am both seeing and realizing what Session One Brownies were talking about. Seriously, I am kind of getting tired of the food, but then again I have been eating the same thing everyday for the past seven or so days. It isn't that the food quality diminished it is more like my appetite is the one that is diminishing. I will start eating a more healthy diet instead of all those carbohydrates.

Continuing onto a more pleasant subject, I went to the library today more specifically the Rockefeller Library. It was huge with tons and maybe in reality tons of books. It was amazing and awing to walk through those aisles and see that all around me where books and more books. It was really quiet inside which gave it a much more studious feeling like all library's I have been to. The reason for my trip was not only to check it out, but in order to find some sources for my woman monologue project. The woman that I chose to do this project on is Dolores Huerta, who worked side by side with Cesar Chavez. She is not that well known, even though her contributions to the cause made an immense impact in the lives of agricultural workers today and that of future generations as well. Even though the library was pretty big the online catalog really helped me find the books I needed. The librarians, one of which I asked for help, was really nice and approachable person. She generously directed me towards the location of the book I sought. I spent quiet a long time there. I had initially arrived with Bianchi, but later joined up with Irene, Guadalupe, and Lucero. It took me some time to find the material I sought and some extra time to look over the books. While I was helping Guadalupe look for a book on Hispanics because she was looking for information on Sonia Sotomayor, which there was barely any to be exact Guadalupe only found one book. It is kind of weird because after all she is on the Supreme Court. Moving along at the library I took the time to call my teacher, Teresa Boardman, in order to schedule some time for me to interview her for a class project. She gladly agreed and we scheduled it for tonight. Then we, Lucero, Guadalupe, Irene, and I, headed for dinner at the V-Dub.

At the V-Dub we met up with Lydia, Vanessa, Diana, and Bianchi. Our dinner conversation was quiet entertaining and fun. However, then someone noticed that it was 6:45 PM and we had a meeting with our RA at 7:00 PM. We, Vanessa, Diana, Lucero, and I, bolted out the dining hall towards our dorm. We seriously hurried and fortunately got to our respective floors on time, which was 6:57 PM. That was really close timing. My meeting started late though because we had a three people come late and we needed everyone present.

Once at the meeting we all discussed our week, through the game Roses and Thorns. As can be assumed roses symbolize the pluses of the week and thorns the negatives. After, everyone got their turn we answered six questions which also pertained to our week. We answered the questions anonymously and then we read someone else's paper without knowing whose it was. Our RA, Priya listened carefully and asked questions and comments concerning the responses. She emphasized, due to the fact that some people reported feeling little support during free time, the need for us to be inclusive. From what people wrote and talked about they really are looking forward to having fun, like I am too. I am also thinking about my Action Plan which is due this week! After, the meeting Priya handed me an envelope and inside was an invitation for an event for the students that like I are here because of some program. The Ivy League Connection was actually listed as one of the programs, which is so cool. The event is to take place this Tuesday, so now I have plans for Tuesday too. I said "too" because on Wednesday we are to meet with Mercedes.

After, the meeting Lydia, Vanessa, Diana, Biachi, and I, went outside on the front lawn to study and hang out for a bit before curfew came. We ended up a bit worried because Vanessa got a bit sick, but luckily she got checked and everything was apparently well.

I then returned to my room to call my teacher back in Richmond, California for the interview. Before we actually got to it we talked a bit and it was terrific. It was great to hear her and it was a great experience to interview her. The interview concerned her perspective on women and leadership and I loved her answers.

Well for now I am of to sleep!!

No Furniture So Charming as Books...

...is what Sydney Smith said about the library, where I spent most of my day today. It's not exactly the most fun one can do on a hot, sunny Sunday, but it was something I knew I had to do.

I had a nice full night's rest, something that has been hard to do during the weekend. The day was nice, so I headed out with my roommate, Kristi, to CVS to stock up on necessities. I'm very glad that stores are within walking distance on Thayer Street, which looks a lot like Telegraph Avenue by the UC Berkeley campus back home in California.

College life is becoming much easier to accustom myself to. Although I am not experiencing the entire college adventure just yet, I'm sampling a taste of it. I can't say that I'm not anxious to go to college, I really am, but at the same time, it's a bit frightening. Although you have the liberty to do as you please and go wherever you want, there are always consequences. The friends you meet, the places you go, the amount of work that you do are all all based on your own decisions. I guess it's just a matter of making the right choices; nobody wants to end up regretting something they did.

After lunch, Irene, Selene, Bianchi (our friend from New Orleans) and I headed to the Rockefeller library, as I mentioned in my earlier blog. The library was big and also very modern, unlike the dorms which are old and plain-looking. But hey who's complaining? People do not come to Brown for the dorms, but rather for its education.

One of the rooms in the library 

Looking around... 

Studying 

One of the many rows and rows of books. 

Reading is fun. 

It was rather rather difficult to find books on Sonia Sotomayor, something extremely surprising to me, seeing as it is an Ivy League library and yet, they don't contain a biography on a very prestigious woman. I even asked for help at the counter and no luck still. The only thing I found was a book about baseball and law. Sotomayor was involved with several situations in America's pastime sport, so at least one book was found. 

Gathering from my experience at the library, I can definitely say that research will be difficult to do once I am in college, especially if it means looking for something that is not well-known or rare to find. I hope I can learn how to effectively do research, especially if there are people willing to help me along in this transition of high school-level work to university-level work. Of course, it'll be my duty to look for these resources to utilize. 

On another note, I learned that I cannot use the extension cable Don gave us. I received a notification that extension cords are not allowed in residence halls by the health and safety inspector. There was no big issue, I just had to remove it immediately. I do not want to know what happens if I leave it connected. 

Another day, another night at Brown University.