Bi-monthly update!

So I realized I haven’t written for a while (3 weeks oops!) And so I figured it was definitely time to catch everyone up!

Basically, the energy hasn’t decreased since last time I wrote, but I think that I’m getting used to it.  And I’m compensating by napping hard and often.  I mean, with the heat you could probably just call it a siesta.  But the people and classes here are really fun and interesting.

We just finished with mid-quarter testing, so that’s a big load off of our shoulders (although I didn’t have that hard of a time with it), and so this weekend has been relatively relaxed.  I only have to edit one paper by tomorrow and read two books by Tuesday.  But that’s not too bad.

I think I’ve finally settled into a routine of sorts which is helping me portion out my work which is leaving me at a relatively low stress rate.  Every weekday (Sun-Thurs) at 8am I have Foundations of Science, then on Mondays and Wednesdays I have Calculus, on Sunday I have Human Voice writing workshop, Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Voice Seminar, and on Thursdays as well I have Engineering Foundations.  So far we have not really started going to/using the labs because the lab professor was receiving an award in NY one week and the other FoS professors determined that the student body was too stressed and could use a break a.k.a. no lab, and the next week we had mid-terms.  This means that I generally have the entire afternoon and evening to myself, friends and homework.  Which works out!  I usually can parcel out my work so that there isn’t too much at once, which leads to my low stress life.  High energy, low stress.

Well that was until I received my first real writing assignment.  Which was the most stressful moment yet, in the workload sense.  I had to write a sonic essay about well… voice, and the discussion between my interior and exterior voices and based on other readings which we had done.  Basically compared to normal writing prompts which I’ve received in the past, this was the most vague and abstract thing I’ve ever had to do.  It made me unhappy, uncomfortable, and a little stressed, which I later realized is exactly what college writing assignments are supposed to do.  So I’m happy to report that I have successfully learned something, what it is, I’m not sure, but I know how to deal with odd writing prompts now.

So besides that slight bump, life has been good.  Although speaking of bumps, I did catch an elbow to the cheekbone today in flag football practice, but I think the small cut looks pretty awesome so its all good.  Football has been really good fun and really good exercise, and we’re looking for our first NYUAD football win tomorrow night!  The first NYUAD sports victory came this week when our Basketball team won a close game 48-44 over a team of Filipino men, and then our Dragonboat team won their division at the all Abu Dhabi races (which is very impressive) so the football team is looking to keep up the trend.

Oh my!  There is so much to tell!  Now that I’ve finally settled in here (mostly), I am starting to have to come to terms with some of the things that go along with living in this country and society.  Most of them have to deal with labor issues in the country, namely the fact that immigrant labor here borders on indentured servitude in some places and that most people have zero rights.  This may sound surprising considering that most people would think that the religious laws would be most controversial, but considering my lifestyle, I really don’t mind the regulations on alcohol, sex, drugs and public appearance.  But most concerning part for me is how do I live in a building built by people who had no health insurance, fair wages, or societal status.  Its something I’ve been thinking about and I still don’t have an answer but I’ve only been here 6 weeks, I’ll give it more time.

Well, I hope everyone everywhere else is doing great and I will try to write again soon.  I think I’ll have to start delving into the specifics of this place soon, so if you’re really curious about something, leave me a comment (I will check them more often) and you’ll see what I think.  A bientot!