It's done!!

And with that the semester is officially over. Grades will be posted on Friday. 

That final went better than I expected it to. At the very least I know I didn't fail it. I answered all the questions completely, so it's a major improvement over the midterm. And I think I did well enough to pass the class. Phew. I guess that's what a week of absolutely nothing but studying does. 

Tomorrow will be spent cleaning and packing. And Wednesday will be spent on planes and in airports. And then I'll be home!!!

Finals and "Holiday" Parties...

So, had my final project presentation for my programming class last night. It went really well. We had to use the skills we learned this semester to retrieve and analyze data. Patrick and I did our project on weekly fantasy football: we gathered the weekly player stats and then tried to make a winning team. It was a lot of fun and turned out great. The presentation went well, and the class and the professor loved it. We were worried our presentation wouldn't be long enough, but we didn't take into account that some people (like the professor) didn't even know what fantasy football was. Now all that's left to do is sit through another week of presentations (we were unlucky? or is that lucky? and got assigned the first week of presentations). And then of course there's the waiting for our grade...

Now only statistics remains...

Today was the "holiday" party for the business school's graduate programs.

Well first there was the text mining workshop. It easily wins best Friday Lab event of the semester. :)

Afterwards a few of us, myself and those who didn't want to brave Friday rush hour traffic in Atlanta, all hung out together, killing time until the party. Amanda had brought a set of poker chips, because Mia wanted to learn how to play. So the three of us, along with Aida and Myanka, played a few rounds. We went up to the party, but it was lame and the promised food hadn't arrived yet. After waiting for a bit, we dragged the rest of our classmates who were there (Chris, Lisa, and Jennifer) back down to our floor and played more poker. It won't surprise any of you from home that I didn't play, choosing instead to be the dealer. After about an hour of Texas Hold Em, we went back up to the party. The food had arrived, but wasn't set out yet. We waited, but it took half an hour for them to get it together. @_@ 

So the official party was a bust, but the "real party" was pretty awesome. Awesome enough for a blog post anyway. ;) I had a great time hanging out with everyone. 

Also: last night's Packers game!!! OMG!!! Down by twenty, then pulling out a win at the very end! 😵 A touchdown run in by Rodgers himself! And that final 61-yard Hail Mary! From Rodgers to Rodgers. I love the poetry of that quarterback-receiver pairing. It's just so fun to say. :) I bet the Lions are ready to kill the guy who caused the penalty that gave the Packers that extra play after time ran out... 

Anyway... Atlanta weather is fabulous! It was 70 degrees here on Black Friday! It's cooled down a little since then, but I'm loving the warmth! And definitely not missing having to bundle up!

Down to three classes left: stats on Monday, programming on Thursday, and then the stats final exam on the 14th. Still managed to have a ton of homework and studying to do though. :/

And then I get to go home for break!

@>#%$@%€!!!!!

So... Got my midterm grades... It's not good...

I got a 92 on the programming midterm. Which is good. Except that the posting of the scores was accompanied by an email from the professor that pretty much implied that we did so well on the exam that he's going to grade our final projects much more strictly. @_@

And then there's stats... Which I'm sure you remember me complaining about last week. (Or at least I think I complained about it, I don't remember if I actually posted that or not.) Anyway here's how awful it was: 

Highest Grade: 89

Class Average: 37

And we're the "elite" program, the top students in the business school. -_-

I got a 55. 

What the fuck. <- There, that's how pissed I am. I'm actually swearing without censoring it. 

We spent the entire class today going over the answers to the exam. Every section of every problem had someone arguing with the professor about it.

I'd go into more detail about how awful it was, but I just want to put it behind me and forget about it. But before I do I will say this, probably redundantly as it's my biggest complaint: I have a math degree with a concentration in statistics, I should not be failing an introductory class because it's too hard. 

😡😰😱😡😤😖😡😨😱😰😱😤😤😤

I'm done now. Good night. 

Here's some more school news!

Programming midterm. Yay. @_@

More specifically: a handwritten exam for a class that's entirely computer based. Wth? 

Also: the start of a major exam is the perfect time to notice that you've let your fingernails get too long to hold a pencil properly. >.< As if I needed something else to make my hand hurt. @_@

Anyway... The exam was easier than I was expecting, but there were a couple "wait I was supposed to be able to write an essay on that concept?" questions.

>:(

Overall I think I did well. But now comes the waiting...

Speaking of waiting: I got an A- in my database class. 

Overall we're a little frustrated with that prof. He hit the grade deadline or something, and gave everyone the exact same grade on the research papers we did. @_@

Got my class schedule for next semester. It's going to be interesting. But right now the priority is passing this semester. Stats midterm on Monday. Yay. @_@

October 13th

Long time no see! Lol. In case you couldn't tell, I got tired of writing "I went to class and did homework". I also haven't eaten anywhere interesting lately. :/ And the Packers are still winning, even if Rodgers lost his no interception streak. ;)

But today is different. Kinda. 

Today was the final exam of my database management class. I finished about forty five minutes before time was up, then hung out in the lounge till everyone else finished. Con to finishing that much ahead of everyone: the professor already had my exam graded. Gah. 😨 I have to wait till Friday for my score like everyone else, but he said that I did good, so at least it's not going to be an awful wait. :/ Except that we also turned in our group research papers today. And McDonald has the rep of being the hardest professor on plagiarism. Not that I would plagiarize, but it's still stressful to think about. 

Signing off now. You'll next hear from me when I get my exam and paper grades. Probably. 

It's been a while... (9/25-29)

...but I'm too tired to even try to remember what's happened the past few days. 😴

Got a B on my midterm. Better than I thought I did, though I did make a couple rather stupid mistakes. @_@

And the Packers won yesterday!

Other than that it's pretty much been nothing but homework and class and the occasional tv show when I just can't focus anymore. Maybe the mayhem will die down in two weeks once my database class ends. But probably not. >.< Plus it's just going to be chaos until then, so there's really no point in thinking that far ahead. 😔

Good night. Maybe I'll be in a better mood for writing tomorrow. 

September 23-24

Again. @_@ The app just crashed and erased my almost finished draft. @_@ It's especially annoying since today's barely worth writing about to begin with. @_@

Yesterday I did homework. Today I did homework and went to class. I had fun hanging out with my classmates. 

My right hand and wrist have been bothering me for the last two days. I'm hoping it's just strained from the midterm on Tuesday, since I haven't done much writing like that since I broke it. But still when it hurts to use the mouse and all the homework is on the computer, I have to wonder if I might just be making it worse...

That's it. End of chapter. Goodnight.  

September 22

So today I studied for my midterm. And by "studied" I of course mean: I cleaned my room, watched anime, and updated my phone to iOS 9 (and the subsequent playing around with it). 

Clearly I did well on the staying focused front. @_@

The midterm went so-so. Or rather it went as well as it could have when I didn't know the answer to the first question. @_@

Four and a half hour class, two and a half hour midterm, and a short break, that meant we had an hour and a half more of class. Of course a lot of that got wasted because of technical difficulties, but still. I have no clue whether or not I actually retained any of that new information. :/

That's the thing I wanted to write about:

Before he passed out the test, McDonald had us put our cell phones on our desks, then he came around and made sure they were turned off, and we had to leave them in plain sight until we finished the test. That was different. 

Unless you want me to go into detail about the new iOS, I have nothing more to say. But honestly in terms of how I use my phone it's not all that different from iOS 8.whatever. The new version of notes looks like it'll be cool. The updated look for closing apps is going to take some getting used to- everything is on the left instead of the right. And they didn't fix the thing I was hoping they'd fix (but then, when does that ever actually happen?). So the default music app is still stuck in the crappy mode iOS 8.something put it in. Anyone use a third party music app that works with iTunes playlists? (Cuz the couple I've tried so far don't. :/ )

September 21

I'm not sure that anything today is worth writing about. I did homework and went to class. The food at dinner wasn't anything special, and there aren't any anecdotes about my classmates to share. 

Tomorrow I get to do some last minute studying for my database midterm. That'll be interesting. Last time I tried to study (aka yesterday), I ended up watching anime and doing my nails. Ironically in one of those episodes my favorite character is supposed to be studying for a test but ends up doing her nails instead. 

And that's it. Goodnight. 

September 19 and 20

So much for writing about Friday yesterday. *sigh* It's been a long weekend. 

First things first though: GO PACK GO!! That was a tough game to watch. It would've been more satisfying if we'd creamed the Seahawks, but at least we won! And also satisfying: having a Seahawk get ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. *smirk*

Now back to the other things. 

Yesterday was the final day of SAS boot camp. So I was in class all day on a Saturday. :/ After class I did some shopping at the little mall that's just a block from the building. It's where the Old Navy is and I had to exchange the shirt I got for my birthday. That was like fate: they had ONE of that style and color, and it was the size I needed. Yay. :)

I also went to bed bath and beyond and got some stuff for my bedroom, but I'm not done putting those together/up, so no pictures yet. Maybe tomorrow. 

My birthday present to myself came in the mail yesterday. Isn't it awesome?

Now for the awfulness that was Friday: 

Day three of boot camp. I started the day exhausted: the day before I'd been on campus for 14 hours straight. *blech* And to top it all off the only thing in the catered lunch that I could eat was some (in all honesty) rather nasty roasted broccoli. The main entree was chicken pot pie, with the vegetarian entree being veggie pot pie, both very dairy heavy dishes. The other side dish was corn on the cob, which I can't eat because of the wire retainer from when I had braces. It was the perfect storm of everything I can't eat all at once. >.< @_@ 

Normally it wouldn't have been a big deal, as they let us have an hour break for lunch, so I could've gone to one of the fast food places nearby. Except that it was Friday. >.< Which means that we had a guest lecturer during the lunch break. >.< So I couldn't leave, because 1) I didn't want to miss that opportunity and 2) those events are supposedly mandatory for GRAs. Talk about a lose-lose situation. I didn't get to eat hardly anything because of the speaker, but I was so hungry and frustrated that I completely missed everything that was said. 😰😓 I should've just skipped the speaker.

I did finally get food when I got home:

We went out to the Three Dollar Cafe. I had the mushroom and Swiss burger (without the cheese of course). Best burger I've ever had in a restaurant [Dad's are still the best overall of course]. The picture doesn't do it justice but those onion rings: first: they weren't the greatest, but they were definitely far from being the worst (for those who don't know: onion rings are one of my most favorite foods, and I am EXTREMELY picky about them). Second: I'd complain that they only gave me four, but they were each an inch thick and at least four inches in diameter- they were as big as the hamburger bun!

I think I might have gone straight to bed when we got back, but I honestly don't remember. I don't even remember what we learned at boot camp that day. :/

It's after midnight now, and my phone is almost dead, so I better go to bed. Good night!

September 18

I'm too tired to write today. 😴😩😴

I'm too tired to even remember what happened today well enough to write about it. :/ 

It'll be an early night for me. Maybe I'll write about today in tomorrow's post...

September 17

I'm so tired. :/

Today consisted of programming boot camp from 9-4 and class from 7-10. Of course nine am is rush hour, so I left the house at just after seven to get there on time. So I've been awake for quite a long time now. And it's not even that I've been awake, it's that I've been doing stuff that entire time...

But that's not the point. 

Boot camp was long and a little slow. The real-world practice we ended with was interesting though. And it was challenging. But Palin and I managed to solve it!!

They fed us twice today: both lunch and dinner. But what they failed to mention was that by "twice" they meant the same food. @_@ At least it wasn't bad food. Everyone said the Mac and cheese was really good. Too bad that's something I can't eat. >.<

Somehow I ended up at the rowdy table at lunch, but that was fun. The best part was trying not to laugh while Matthew lobbed veggies at our other classmates. 

Programming class was long. But before I start on that: we voted at the beginning of class to not speed up, so that's good for my sanity. 😌 He also extended the deadline for our homework assignment, so I no longer have to worry about getting that done in between the rest of boot camp this weekend. :) Beyond that I basically spent the rest of the class trying to stay awake.

Bedtime now. Goodnight!

September 16th!

Happy birthday to me! Lol. I appreciate all the texts and Facebook messages. 

Today was relatively great. I mean I didn't do anything spectacular, like two years ago when I was in Rome. But I didn't have class and I did barely any homework today. That might come back to haunt me this weekend, but today it felt good just to relax and do nothing. And hey, if I can't do that on my birthday, when can I? ;)

I got a care package from home today: some things I didn't have room to bring with me, and some birthday presents. A cute little picture for the wall that almost made me cry, and an outfit I'm looking forward to wearing this weekend. 

 

Went out for dinner at a little Japanese restaurant called Tanaka. The atmosphere was great, and the food was good. But the service left something to be desired. :/

(I'd have taken more pictures, but the place was so small and crowded that I didn't feel comfortable with that.)

That's all I've got to say. Tomorrow is going to be a really long day, so I'm going to bed early. おやすみ！

September 15

I'm gonna try to keep this short. Tuesdays are really long days. :/

So I started with a group project meeting (we've decided that the best time to meet is the hour or two before the class the project is for). Of course we didn't do much work on the project, as we were more concerned with getting the day's homework assignment done. 

Four+ hour long database management class. The class that we usually spend at least an hour of on random creativity projects. We didn't do that tonight. Tonight was completely lecture-based all the way through to the end. But that's not surprising: our midterm exam is next week. For those who are confused by that: this is a mini-mester class, it's a semester long class crammed into half a semester. So as of next week fall semester will be a quarter of the way done. 

The reflection on the window kinda ruined it, but you still get the idea. ;)

Also: Alex has been giving me crap for writing in colored pens, but not color-coding my notes. But I did tonight. ;) 

Isn't it pretty? *sigh* My hand hurts. I wrote more notes in tonight's class than in the previous three combined. At least I understand the material. Which is good since I'm getting tested on it next week!!!

おやすみ！

September 14

I don't know that there's much worth sharing about today. I had a meeting with my assistantship group. There were tech difficulties once again, and the meeting seemed to drag on forever. That was followed by stats class. Which as it stands could almost be labeled "remedial". @_@ I was so bored that I had trouble staying awake. >.< 

*sigh* I just know that in a couple weeks I'm going to be complaining that this class is too hard. 😞

I got a birthday card in the mail today. That cheered me up for awhile. Then came the realization that because I'm an adult, birthday cards no longer have money in them. *sigh*

At least the weather was nice today. 

September 12-13

I forgot to post yesterday, but today's post will be a little backwards. ;)

Today I did homework and watched football. The Packers beat the Bears! And the Seahawks lost to the Rams! woot! Go Pack Go!!

Now back to yesterday:

This was the first day of SAS bootcamp. (SAS is a programming language.) We're shoving about a semester worth of lessons into four days, with the intent of taking the certification exam when we're done. 

So eight hours of class. It was sooo slow. The instructor adjusted her pace by the questions from the class, and it just ended up dragging on and on. @_@

They fed us lunch, which was good, but there wasn't quite enough. :/

After the class I had a meeting with one of my group project groups. After a lot of discussing, we finally settled on a direction for our project. Yay. 

The weather was perfect, so I walked around a bit after all that was done. 

Went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle. Another little hole-in-the-wall place in the Canton Street area, called Swallow in the Hollow. 

BBQ in the south. The place had great atmosphere, but I was disappointed in the food. The coleslaw was vinegary, the beans were chewy. The sauce on the ribs was spicier than I care for, but the ribs were cooked well. The chocolate chip banana pudding they got for desert was good. Too bad I couldn't eat any of it. :(

I can't think of anything else to say, so goodnight!

September 11

Today was another long day. Yesterday was long and late, and today was long and early. I only got like four hours of sleep. 😓

So I had to go to the downtown campus for a Responsible Conduct in Research training for my assistantship. That wasn't bad, Dr. Lisa made it tolerable. 

We all got an email yesterday that basically said "don't be late!" And guess what, more than 2/3 of the students were late. >.< On the one hand I feel bad for them cuz it means that they have to retake the training in January. But on the other hand: half of the students that were late are in my program, and I'm kinda pissed at them for the effects that them being late will have on our program's reputation. *sigh*

I sat with Aida and Timi, who walked in thirty seconds before the instructor announced the start of training; he was especially relieved once we found out the consequences of being late. It was a discussion based training. And you know it's a quiet group when I'm one of the most vocal participants. *sigh*

They fed us lunch, the catered sandwiches weren't bad, but in order to get done on time we had to work through lunch. But that didn't bother me. 

Some pics of that building (just the interior- the exterior was really plain):

I thought the way the stairs are was really cool. 

Sushi for dinner at Haiku Sushi and Hibachi:

It was mediocre (that is: I've had better and I've had worse). The sweet potato tempura roll (the smaller one) was good, but it was warm and seafood-less, so it technically wasn't sushi. I debated ordering hibachi, but we went there because I wanted sushi. It ended up being a good thing though, cuz they used a ton of butter on the hibachi stuff. The chef was good, nothing spectacular, but he was nice. 

And that's all. Unless you want to see the creepy escalator from yesterday that I forgot to share:

It was ridiculously long. And steep. Looking at the landing felt like I was looking straight down! It also moved agonizingly slow and creaked the entire time. *shudder*

September 9 and 10

Yesterday was spent on homework. I don't think I even remembered to eat dinner. :/

Today was a looooong day. -_-

First there was the career expo hosted by the college of business. I wish I'd taken pictures: the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Atlanta is gorgeous. The expo itself was ... crowded. There were a total of 95 companies there, and there were enough students there that there were lines at every booth. The lady at check-in was impressed I had my student ID number memorized (really? I know my sister's library card number, that's what I do). Of course the event went downhill from there. :(

I wasn't sure what to expect, so I walked around for twenty minutes just getting a feel for the event. I finally got in line at one of the booths (we got a list of what positions everyone was looking for), and I was in line for about a minute before the panic attack hit. -_- I retreated to the reception area, and it took me half an hour to calm myself down. *sigh* I suppose that's what I get for pushing myself too far out of my comfort zone. I debated going back in, but I was too much of a mess to make a good impression. I bumped into Mari and Lisa on my way out and talked to them a little, that helped a lot, just to be able to tell someone what had happened. 

I went up to the buckhead campus after that, I had homework to do before class and it didn't make sense to go all the way home. Anyway the reason I'm mentioning this: I realized as I was sitting there that what I had experienced earlier wasn't a nasty panic attack- it was a minor panic attack that triggered an asthma attack; it was the combination of the two that was nasty. (I hate asthma attacks- by my calculations it's eight hours later and I'm still feeling the after effects. >_< ) Also talking to my classmates this evening, I no longer feel bad about missing out: those who went said they felt like it was really geared towards the undergrads, and those who didn't go said that our graduation date is still too far out for it to have been worth it. So I figure I got the panic out of my system, so that next time when it actually matters I'll be ok. (In theory anyway, guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.)

I realized at dinner tonight that I forgot to write about dinner on Tuesday. If you recall, last week there were lots of issues with the catering. This week they switched back to the company from the first week. Which is both good and bad news for me. This company labels their food as vegetarian and vegan. Which is fantastic: I can't eat dairy products, and vegan is non-dairy. But it's depressing when it turns out that all you can eat in the line of food is peas and gravy-smothered chicken (I wasn't going anywhere the cauliflower and kale quinoa-like thing). *sigh* :(

Programming class was long. I'm not sure if it was long because I was already exhausted, or if it was because I felt like the material was too easy. Next week will be interesting: I came home to an email from the professor; some of the other students were complaining that he was going too slow, so next week we're going to start class with a vote on whether or not we want him to speed up. I hope we don't. All the other classes we have are hard, I enjoy the more relaxed pace of this class; it's helpful for my sanity. (Yes sanity is overrated, but I'd like to at least have a little of it!)

Tomorrow's gonna be another long day and I've already been up way too long today. Good night!

September 4-8

Let's see, what all happened this weekend?

Well Friday was lab day, so I got to listen to some guest lectures. That was both nice and overwhelming; I didn't get half the stuff they talked about, which I guess is ok, since I'm still at the start of the program, but it was still stressful. :(

I spent the rest of the three day weekend working on homework and watching tv. 

There're two pieces of good news: 

Our final grades from that programming boot camp in August were posted. I got an A. Which wasn't too surprising as I only needed 50% on the final to get a B, but it's nice that that's finally done with. 

The second I believe falls into the category of "overdue nerdiness", as I haven't posted much of that lately. ;)

But I need to set the scene first. ;)

My favorite manga (Japanese comic) series is called D.Gray-Man. [It's also got an anime version that's really good too, so if you're more into watching than reading you can do that. ;) ] For those who don't know, in Japan manga chapters get published in monthly/weekly/etc. magazines and they can run for years. About four years years ago dgm (as Danica and Becky and I abbreviate it when we talk about it) got bumped from every other week to once a month, because of the author's health, and about a year later it went on hiatus for like six-months. I'd compare the feeling to when tv shows stop for the summer, but it's more like having to wait through a six month long commercial break. We were all happy when it started up again, but then in December 2012 it just stopped. In true Japanese fashion, the artist worked herself so hard that she ended up in the hospital, and for awhile there was real concern over whether or not she'd ever be able to draw again. Of course as sad as that is, all we really cared about was the cliffhanger she'd left us with. Anyway, long story short, I've spent the last two years pretending that the story didn't exist in order to not drive myself mad. But this weekend I found the next chapter!!!! It's only going to be published every three months now, which is sad, but it's ongoing again!!! The author has recovered and I'll finally get to find out what happens next!!!! I'm so excited!!! I mean even now, days later, I still get bouncy thinking about it!!!

And now back to more normal stuff. Today I met with my group for a research paper, and we made some progress. Of course we had issues with printing on campus, but why wouldn't that happen. @_@

Database management class tonight felt really long. But then it is a four hour long class. We reviewed last week and got through a bit of this week's lecture. Then after a break, we broke up into our project groups, for an activity. All but mine that is. @_@ The activity required six groups, and we were the seventh, so we got broken up and added to other groups. Anyway this activity, in our database management class: he gave each group a picture and we had fifteen minutes to write a story about the picture. 😑 I'm not complaining, I much prefer creative writing to academic writing, but what the heck does that have to do with computers?!? McDonald said it was something to do with creativity, but I don't really get the connection to database management. Anyway because I'm sure you're wondering: our story was about vampires in a hospital. 

Then we moved on to another group project, this one with our actual groups. This one was work though. We've been learning a diagramming method, and the project was to do that. It was really complicated, I slightly strained my wrist (the one I broke last year) with all that writing. That was not fun. It still aches a little. We took another break after that, but what was supposed to be ten minutes turned into over half an hour, McDonald can really talk when he gets going, which left us with only ten minutes left of class. So he talked a little more about the lecture, and by that I mean he clicked through the slides really quick and told us we could go. @_@

おやすみ！

September 2-3

I don't have class on Wednesday, so yesterday I did homework and watched tv. 

Most of today was also spent on homework, as my class is late. Dinner was disappointing. Once again they ran out of the entree and only had sides left. @_@ But I sat with friends from my class and we chatted, and that was fun. Jennifer complained about the lack of meat for the entire hour we sat there (not straight of course, she just kept going back to it). And then class was (hey stupid predictive text: stop getting my hopes up with words like 'cancelled'!!)- class was boring. But I can't tell if that was because the professor was going too slow, or because I was tired and couldn't concentrate. :/

That's all there is to say. Ttyl!

August 29 - September 1

I spent the weekend on homework and research, so there's nothing to report there. Except that I kinda sorta broke up with my kinda sorta boyfriend. We'd only been on like six dates, and neither of us has the time for a long distance thing. So we decided that the mature thing to do was end it before it caused problems. On the one hand I'm sad that the relationship has ended, but on the other it's one less thing causing me stress. 

Yesterday (August 31):

I was too tired after everything that happened to do anything other than watch TV until I fell asleep. So here's what all happened:

Weekly meeting for my assistantship at 2. There were tech issues and it started late. Even after all my prep and research over the weekend I still feel really ... I decided today that the proper word is "lost". I just can't figure out how we're going to take this topic, which to be honest I still don't understand, and turn it into a semester-long project. And Dr. Javad keeps talking like it has the potential to last the entire length of our program. *sigh* Part of me wonders if I'd be better off taking to the GRA coordinator and seeing if I can switch projects...

Anyway that ran late, so I had to rush to the meeting with my group for the project for my database class. We talked and searched the Internet and came up with a tentative subject for our research paper. We may change it later, once we know a little more about the project, but for now it's just relieving to have that much done. 

Stats class after that was agonizing. It was so slow that I couldn't tell if the class participation questions were actual questions or rhetorical. @_@ The worst part came when after two and a half hours of the most remedial review, he jumped to a concept that none of us had ever heard of and his method of "explanation" was to repeat what the slides said. @_@ This is going to be an awful class. 

I went up to dinner after class. They switched caterers (or at least it appeared like they did), and they ran out of food. Completely. All that was left was soggy steamed broccoli and hard bread rolls. I, fortunately, was one of the first ones up, which meant I was one of the last people to actually get food. Chicken jambalaya pasta, yeah I know, it was as weird as it sounds. Plus the quality sucked. :/

Today:

Today's events started with a trip to the Apple Store at the mall to get my phone fixed. One of the guys I talked to called me his new bast friend because of the Legend of Zelda t-shirt I was wearing. The hour without my phone while they fixed it was agony. (A different kind of agony from class yesterday.) Unsurprisingly I'm one of those people who can't do anything without their smartphone. But now it's like new. So at least the waiting was worth it. ;) (Yes that's right, a girl alone at the mall, with Dad's credit card, and all I could think about was my lack of smartphone. I've certainly got my priorities straight, huh.)

I walked from the mall to campus, which was only like four blocks, but in the middle of the afternoon it was really hot. Worked on homework for a couple hours, then went up to dinner. Tonight they served us turkey in gravy and mashed potatoes. It was mediocre and really salty. :(

Database class tonight was good. The information was new and complicated, but McDonald went through it at the right pace. I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but while he lectures he walks through the classroom, like between the rows and such, and asks questions of us constantly. It's a little stressful not knowing when you're gonna get called on, but at least I know I'll remember those things. ;)

And I think that's everything, I'm a little exhausted so it's hard to tell. I suppose I can always post anything I may have forgotten tomorrow. 

Good night!

August 28

Today started with a bang: the bang of my iPhone hitting the tiled bathroom floor and the screen shattering. >.< I've had it for almost a year, and I've dropped it almost everyday, so it's kind of amazing that it lasted that long. But on the other hand, I've had iPhones/iPod touches since 2010 and that's the first time I've wrecked the screen on one, so there goes that streak. >.<
I've got an appointment at the Apple store on Tuesday afternoon to get it fixed. Hopefully it won't drive me crazy between now and then. Or break further, I kinda live off my iPhone, I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't use it. I want to share a pic of the busted screen, but seeing as iPhones can't take selfies (haha), that's not gonna happen.

Aside from that the rest of the day was great!

Today's Friday Lab consisted of guest speakers from potential employers. Without going into too much detail, the first talked to us about how the field of Analytics influences the field of Marketing, and the second talked more along the lines of "this is what I do for a living". They were both very interesting to listen to. Next week's lab is more guest speakers, but after that it'll be more tech based: we'll spend a couple weeks learning a programming language we won't learn in any of our classes, and then our first sprint is scheduled for October. [I'll explain what that means then. ;) ]

We had some announcements before the lab, and one of them was that there was a meet up of people involved in data analytics tonight. Laura, our career counselor, really encouraged us to go as a chance to network with people. So a whole bunch of us decided to go, and those with cars offered rides to those without.

But before that we had a couple hours to kill. Ben, Amanda, Myanka, and myself decided to walk the three blocks down the street to the Mexican restaurant. Less than two minutes after we were seated another group of students from our program came in, so we played musical chairs and all sat together. Matthew (one of the second year students), Jigar (the guy in my GRA project whose name I couldn't remember), Shijie, and Ashwin (I think- there are three Indian guys who all match the same general description (height, build, glasses, etc.), and I'm still working on which one is which). Kishin (the other second year guy) joined us after we'd ordered drinks, but not before we'd ordered. So the nine of us had lunch together, and that was just awesome.

After lunch, we went our separate ways: Amanda went home, and Ben, Myanka, and I went back to the classroom and hung out until it was time to leave for the meet up. We got stuck in traffic and had to do a couple of u-turns, but we made it. We were told there was going to be a speaker and were worried about being late, but after we got there we learned there wasn't one, so it didn't matter that we were nearly an hour late. There was pizza and coke, and about fifty people, including more than half of our program. I tried to network, but I was exhausted from being social earlier and from walking in heels all day. So I found a chair and sat down and took off my shoes. Because I wasn't putting any effort into being social I expected it to be a quiet evening (relatively- it was really loud in the room from all the talking), but that didn't stop people from walking up to me. ;( I spent half  an hour talking to a guy from AT&T, and met half a dozen other professionals in the field. They all seemed really impressed that there were so many of us from our program there after only a couple weeks of class.

 I'm too tired to label these, but here are the pictures I took of the building where the meet up was held:

Good night!

August 27

Class today was really easy. And not just because it was the first day. ;)

Thursday is Data Programming in Python with Arash (he's a computer science professor, he comes up to Buckhead from the main campus once a week just to teach this class for our program). It's also the class we have with Susan and Kishin and Matthew- the three second-year students. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Class starts at seven, but the building gets locked at six, so I had a bit of an adventure getting inside. Basically I found another student locked out and she banged on the door until security let us in. Our access cards are supposed to let us in, but they're not working properly. @_@ I guess for now I'll be going in early on Thursdays. 

Class started, we did introductions and the syllabus. That took all of twenty minutes and then Arash launched into his lecture. Compared to the boot camp we just finished it was really really easy. And based on the course outline it's going to stay easy for a couple weeks. Which is a big relief as the other two classes I have look like they're going to be HARD. 

Tomorrow is our first Friday lab. I'm both excited and nervous about that. The hardest part will be that it's at noon and I'm used to my classes being at night. 

And that's it. Good night!

August 26

I wasn't feeling well last night, so I went to bed early and forgot to post. 

No class on Wednesdays, so not much happened. I did have "orientation" for my research assistantship though. It was kinda boring. I did get to learn a little about the project I'll be working on, and I "met" the faculty member in charge and the other GRA's. "Met" is really the wrong word though, as the faculty adviser is Dr. Javad, and all the other GRA's are from my program; I'll be working with Timi, who is from Nigeria, and one of the guys from India- his name escapes me at the moment. :/ 

After Dr. Javad was done talking about the project, he left. And the three of us talked for a bit and reached the consensus that we're all at interested enough in the project to be able to work on it, but it was not what we were expecting. It seems like it's going to be research heavy, while we all were hoping for more practical application. But ... the Indian guy seems confident that we'll be able to push the project more in the direction we want it to go. 

After the meeting was over, I went upstairs for dinner. The lounge was completely empty. It was a drastic change from the previous days when there was no free seating at all. But I wasn't alone for long, one of the other GRA's came up once her group was done talking. So I had Korean noodles and sushi (which was only ok- it reminds me of what gets served at the Mukogawa farewell dinners) with Aida. She's from Honduras. We've talked a few times before, she's one of the dozen-ish students, like me, who are always at class half an hour early. In fact before the GRA meeting she, Harini, and I got a chance to talk with Susan (one of the three second year students). 

And that's all that happened yesterday. I'll try to remember to post tonight, but I'm not making any promises. ;)

August 25

So today I got to go to the main campus downtown and file hiring paperwork with HR. That was ... obnoxious. Rickety elevator to the third floor to get to the HR office. Only to learn that they're doing the hiring packets for graduate students at the urban life center. The receptionist gave crappy directions (though to be fair I am unfamiliar with the downtown campus and "turn at building x and it's across from building y" meant absolutely nothing to me), but someone else visiting was able to give me good street name directions. So back to the lobby in the motion sickness inducing elevator. Then walk the five blocks down to the urban life center. Which is also the law building. Only it's only labeled as the law building. Fortunately the guy giving me directions knew that, so I didn't get lost. Another old elevator- why can't I find the stairs in any of these buildings?!? Tangent: I dislike elevators. It's got nothing to do with motion sickness (though I do sometimes have that problem), and everything to do with a fear of it breaking down while I'm in it. As a general rule I'll only take an elevator if I have to go more than four flights of stairs or if I have luggage with me. Only none of the school buildings I've been in so far have findable stairways!!!

Back to the story: I make it to the room where they're processing hiring packets. It takes them an hour to get to me, but less than five minutes to process my paperwork. @_@

So I go back to the awful elevator to get back downstairs; they were doing construction on one of the other elevators in the block- I did not need to see that. 

Here're a couple pics of the maze that is the Five Points Marta station:

A train had just left, that's why it's empty in the photo. Also it's called "Five Points" because it's the station where all five train lines intersect. 

And here's one of the Buckhead station, the one I'm actually familiar with:

This one's a little vague as I'm on the walkway over the freeway looking back towards the station- the Buckhead station is in between the northbound and southbound lanes of the freeway. It makes sense as a place to put the train lines when they have to be above ground, but it's still odd. 

I was early to class, so I hung around in the lounge. Then Jennifer arrived, looking for someone to go up to dinner with, and as she and I were leaving, Ben arrived and he joined us. Today's spaghetti and meatballs was a major improvement over yesterday. There was nowhere to sit so the three of us stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. But the best part was that by the time we were done we had been joined by like ten other students from our program. 

Tuesday's class is Fundamentals of Database Management with Dr. McDonald. That was a weird class. And at 5:30 to 10:00 it was also a long class. He went over the syllabus and lectured a little. There was a lot of class participation. 

We picked our groups for the group project: I'm with Amanda (big surprise, I'm sure), Peiling (who I've talked to occasionally), and Ying/Michelle (who was alone and we needed a fourth; she's Chinese, she picked an American name like Chinese girls like to do, so I am trying to make sure I remember both of them). So in a class that's mostly Indian, the one white girl ended up with three Chinese girls: it's not exactly ironic but it is pretty weird. 

And we had our first project as a group:

I had to take a picture because I knew you wouldn't believe me. ;) We worked together pretty well, and it ended up being nice that they all spoke Chinese, even if I did feel a little left out. [To clarify: Amanda is American of Chinese descent. She speaks Chinese, but she can't read or write it. And the Chinese spoken in the aforementioned project was just enough to help the other two, for whom English is a second language, understand what we were talking about. (PS: this graduate level program is intense in my native language, I can't imagine how much harder it would have to be for those like Peiling and Michelle.)] 

Dr. McDonald also played hangman with one of the students. On the whiteboard. In the middle of the lecture. The photo I took didn't turn out though, so you'll just have to believe that that one happened. ;)

Home at ten thirty and then an hour to write this post. I'm going to crash now. Ttfn!

August 24

So I've started a new naming system. As you might have noticed I haven't posted in a few days. That would be because nothing happened on those days: watching TV all day and eating in didn't seem worth writing about. So now I'm going to date the posts, that way I can just skip over the boring days- though with today being the first day of classes I don't know how many more of those there will be. ;)

Now on to today's business:

The first day of classes. Though I suppose I should just say "class" as I only have one a day. Monday is "Statistical Foundations for Analytics". Taught by Dr. Javad, who just completed his doctorate this summer. I've talked to him outside of class a few times, he's a nice guy. The class had an entirely different dynamic from the programming boot camp, but to be fair this class is just us MSA students and for some unknown/unexpected reason we all just clicked together right from the start. Anyway first day of graduate class was basically the same as a first day of undergraduate class: we went over the syllabus and expected outcomes and then had an introductory lecture. Today's boiled down to "this is what statistics is and what you can do with it".

Now here's the "cool" part (though I think I've told you this before): because we're a cohort program and we have evening classes, we have access to the lounge on the twelfth floor where they provide us with catered dinners.

Monday is bbq'd chicken and potato salad. It wasn't the best, but it was good. There's quite a lack of seating though. I sat with Amanda and a couple other girls (we all went upstairs together after class ended). And then when the crowd thinned out we went over and joined the loud group from our class, which not surprisingly included Mari, Taj, Jennifer, and Myanka- the four most talkative students in our group. We talked and laughed for quite some time and made tentative plans to go out together over the weekend. 

That's all there is to report today so I'll finish with a picture of the view from the twelfth floor:

(Coming from the mountainous Washington, that flat horizon is a little strange.)

Day 22

Until classes start Monday, I'm free to do what I want. So I watched tv and did some shopping for necessities. 

We went out to PF Changs for dinner. It wasn't the best Chinese food I've ever head, but it was pretty good. The coconut drink I ordered was ridiculously sweet  and would've been a lot better with a shot of vodka in it. The best part of the night: the kitchen screwed up and sent me sweet and sour chicken instead of sweet and sour pork. (The waiter caught it: something about the peppers being different colors.) So I ended up with two entrées for the price of one. Which means plenty of leftovers for tomorrow!!

"Creativity will soon become your greatest strength." A little unnerving as everyone in my business program (that I've talked to about it anyway) thinks that my art degree is a great thing. 

おやすみ！ (Good night!)

Day 21

It may be after midnight, but it is still technically today. ;)

Spent the day working on my final project, barely managing to get it done by the midnight deadline. But now that that's over and done with, I can relax a little while I prep for the official start of classes on Monday. 

Day Twenty

For the most part today went like yesterday: homework and tv. But this evening was the welcome dinner for my program. 

That was just amazing. They decked out the third floor lounge and brought in catering. Because of the unreliable traffic in Atlanta I got there half an hour early, and it's a good thing I did: less than fifteen minutes later it started raining. Amanda was also there early, so we chatted until the photographer arrived: part of the event was "free" professional head shots. I don't have them yet (obviously) but here's a selfie:

By the time Amanda and I had finished our photos others had arrived, and I managed to be social until the event started. :) The catering staff came around with appetizers while we talked. That was new for me, I'd never been to a party that fancy before. 

The event started late: the pouring rain stranded a bunch of people at the train station a couple blocks away. A couple of the students gathered up a collection of umbrellas and went and rescued them. The guest list included: this year's students, last year's three students, the faculty (ie: all our professors and the support staff), and a couple other guests of honor (for lack of a better phrase).

Dinner was nice, but my dairy-less entree was not nearly as nice as everyone else's. :/ My chocolate-cherry brownie/fudge thing was way better than their fruit custards though. ;)

There were a few speakers throughout the evening. Starting with the dean of the college. That's right the dean of the entire college of business came to our welcome dinner. ;) We also heard from the men that designed our research lab (which is the best in the country), and one of last year's students (they graduate at the end of the semester). And I forget the guy's name (David-something), but he's like the head analyst for the company that owns holiday inn, so we got to hear from someone who actually works in the field we're going into. That was pretty great. 

It was still raining at nine when the event ended. It looked really pretty. Here's some pics:

And that's it. Goodnight all!

Days Eighteen and Nineteen

I forgot to post yesterday, but today and yesterday were pretty much the same, so I'm not going to bother making separate posts. I alternated between working on my final and watching tv. This final project is a pain in the @ss; every time I think I've figured something out the professor posts a q and a on the website and I end up spending just as long fixing things as I did doing them in the first place. @_@

Day Seventeen

Today I went shopping with Aunt Sarah. We went to two different malls and I didn't manage to find a single thing to buy. :/ To be fair though I mostly shop at two stores and neither of them were in either mall. The best I get is this:

It's "coming soon." @_@ Now if I can just figure out where the heck Maurice's is I'll be good...

According to the pedometer in my iPhone I walked five and a half miles. So at least I got some exercise in. 

Spent the rest of the evening napping and watching tv. I just couldn't motivate myself to start the final from my class. Hopefully tomorrow's focus will be better. 

Day Sixteen

Today was a long day. Class was slow, then we discussed the final project. But the data we're supposed to analyze hadn't been assembled yet (actually I think "created" is a better word: Dr. Bauer did say he was going to make it up), so he extended the deadline by thirty six hours, since we won't actually be able to start it until tomorrow. 

After class I had some things to do on the main campus downtown, so I hopped on Marta and went exploring. Only the buildings I had to go to required scanning an ID card to access, and I don't have that yet (they took our photos at orientation for it, but haven't gotten them to us @_@). So I didn't get any of the things I needed to do completed and it ended up being a big waste of time. 

So my opinion of the main campus: let's start with how glad I am that I'm on the campus up in Buckhead. The main campus is in the heart of downtown Atlanta, I don't know what you all picture in your heads when I say "downtown Atlanta", but it looks exactly like I picture it: tall buildings that aren't in the greatest condition, graffiti, stores I'd be too scared to go into alone, people everywhere. The like four square blocks of the campus are nice, but the walk from the Marta station to the campus was ... I don't know what the right word is, but fortunately I have a lot of practice with it from my travels in Europe. 

That Marta station is the station where the four train lines intersect. Here's a comparison only a few of you will get: it reminded me of that metro station by our hotel in Rome, the one below the central train station. 

Got back up to Roswell, where I went on another expedition- this time to find a grocery store that carries soy cheese. And when that was completed we made homemade pizza. There's a grocery store chain down here called Publix, and in their deli section they carry fresh made pizza dough. It turned out really good. 

Then we watched a couple movies. 

The Lake House was cute, but it was only ok; I don't think I'd choose to watch it again. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel was different. Sarah and I decided the best word to describe it is "strange". It was definitely not what I was expecting. 

Until tomorrow!

Day Fifteen

Two weeks in Atlanta have come and gone. It's been crazy. 

Today was the usual class and homework. Lunch at Costco, that's the same everywhere. I also got dragged around to several different stores to help Uncle Nick buy a printer. It was exhausting, but at least there's now a printer in the house. 

Well tomorrow is the final day of programming boot camp. I'm ready for it to be over.  

Day Fourteen

Big day today, what with orientation and all.

So class this morning started with an hour long review of the material from the day before. Then there was a half hour long discussion on the best places to eat in downtown Atlanta. A tangent started by the professor no less. Which left us with only an hour and a half to go over the entire day's lecture.

Then the MSA half of the class went to orientation.

It was long, but it was nice to officially meet everyone. There are 34 students in my program: 65% are international (and most of those are from India), it's about 50-50 male to female, the average age is 27, and (apparently) we're the top students in the business department. And from our bios we all like to travel; someone joked that we should all take a trip together to celebrate graduation. I chatted a little with Amanda, she's a Chinese-American from the Atlanta area. (Which reminds me, because people keep asking: Ben is from North Carolina, Alex is originally from Russia but has been in the US since junior high.) Aside from meeting the other students, we got talked to about all the other important start of school type stuff: the technology available to us, financial aid, etc. Here's one of the awesome things: on nights when we have class, we have access to the catering lounge where we can eat for free (well relatively free, considering the cost of the program).

We got our access cards to the building; they give us 24-hour access to the building, access to the study rooms, and access to the sixth floor lounge where the vending machine type snacks and drinks are free. We also got out textbooks:

(The lipstick tube is there to illustrate how thick those books are, though at the angle of the photo you still can't really tell '~'.) 

I left at the same time as some of the other girls and we walked to the train station together (which is only like two blocks from the building). Mari was headed the same direction as me, so we sat together and talked the whole way. She's from Brasilia, Brazil and is one of those people who is really easy to talk to. We talked about where we're from and the transit systems in various places we'd been. It was nice to have someone to talk to on the ride.

Aunt Sarah picked me up at the station and we went to dinner. It was a little Thai place called Rice, located on Canton Street, which is something along the lines of downtown historic Roswell. It's just a couple block stretch of artsy shops and "hole in the wall"-esqe restaurants in old storefronts and remodeled houses.

(That's Rice in the pic.) The atmosphere was great; we sat outside, the weather was great: 87 degrees with just enough of a breeze to keep the air moving. The food was really good, best Pad Thai I've ever had. And it looked amazing too:

Got home around eight thirty. Started and finished my homework. And now that this is done I'm off to bed. Good night!