Feeling the stress coming

Just when I thought I had things under control with school, a load of assignments, projects, exams are given to me all at once. I'm completely overwhelm and I don't know what to do at this point. Besides having to find 16 sources for our 2000 words 5-7 page research paper to do, I have a statistics project to do in Stat class, 2 exams next week, 1 quiz next week. I also have to look up classes to register for next year, as well as getting on track with the Dental Hygiene program at ODU. It seems like I complain a lot, but when you have this much to do all at the same time, you don't know what else to do but to complain. The fact there's not enough hours per day makes it even harder. There are times when I wish I could just drop out, but I know that wouldn't solve anything. I only wished that my teachers had given us these huge assignments earlier in the school year so that we'd have a lot of time to work on it rather than struggling the last few weeks of the school year to do them =/

Stressful summer ahead

It's been since 1st grade that I've been to summer school. I've only had to take summer school after 1st grade because of ESL (English as a Second Language). Other than that, I've spent my summers relaxing and having fun. So this summer, I've decided to take summer classes, only to try to get ahead a little bit. The hardest prerequisites that I have to take is Anatomy and Physiology I and II. So I want to get it out of the way this summer, and take it. One thing that's holding me back is that if I do decide to take it here at ODU, it'll be a rough summer for me, because classes are 3 hours long Monday through Friday. Then the labs are 2 hour long. Also, the cost is very expensive, and Financial Aid doesn't cover summer classes. Social life will be gone for me and I will never have time for anything. That's why I'm thinking about taking the classes at TCC, where it's much more relaxing on the classes, and much cheaper. I'm hoping I can, because it'll help me out much more on top of many things I have to do this summer as well. I'm my sister's wedding planner, so I have many wedding things that I have to do for my sister. So while everyone is relaxing and enjoying their summer, I am going to be very stressed out dealing with a lot of things =/

Family image

I was born into a family that cares deeply of their image. When I say image, I mean from our looks to our reputation, and to the entire family's reputation. It really does suck at some level because my parents doesn't care about our happiness, but rather than their image and what their friends think about our family. For example, if I want to do something, like dye my hair, I'm strictly not allowed to because other people might think that I'm wild and that my parents raised me to be a disappointment. So talking about this subject, my sisters and I, being girls, are extremely pressured to look good, and act good. The fact that we are asians, it leaves us a total disadvantage when it comes to our weight because Asians are typically tiny and petite. So the fact that my older sister and I were basically raised here in America, eating American's food, we are a little bigger than the typical asian size. I don't like it when I'm compared to other asian girls, because I feel like this is who I am, and I shouldn't have to change myself and try to be someone else. Thus, because our weight, my parents are ashamed our my sister and I, and feel embarrassed everytime their friends meet us. It saddens me to the point that I feel like I don't know my parents anymore. Sometimes I think they're so selfish into the "family image" and their pride, that they don't see what and how it's affecting both my sister and I.

Homeless moment

While driving back home to Virginia Beach today, I stopped at a stoplight and waited for the color to turn from red to green on the traffic sign. The light seemed to take forever, so I started to glance around my surroundings and noticed an old homeless man digging in a nearby trashcan for food. I immediately felt an emotion running through, because I've never really realized how many homeless people there were in United States. I've only seen so many back home in Vietnam, and that was typical and obvious, especially from an extreme poor country. But United States is considered the wealthiest country in the world, so how can there be so many homeless? It was heartbreaking to see that old man slowly digging through trash one by one looking for food. An old man who's lived half his life already. I thought to myself, why doesn't he better his life and go out there to find a job? There are so many opportunities out there, so why doesn't he take the time to search for some? It's not like he has anything else to do during the day. Seeing this man made me realize how important life is to anyone.

Monarch mentor

Soon I'll become a Monarch Mentor, and I'm a little excited to be one. We'll be doing a lot of training, group trips, and activities that involves a lot of social benefits. This helps my resume, as well my social endurance. I'm a shy quiet person, and so this will definitely help me break out of my shell. I'll be able to meet many different diversity groups, and learn a lot of from them. It'll allow me to open up more to different cultures, as well as to those of my ethnicity. I've worked as being a mentor before back in high school in the Big Brother Big Sister program, so I know what it takes to be a good mentor and how to connect with those that are in need of help. =)

Issue proposal

For my issue proposal on our final papers, I've decided to write about how universities decide on accepting new students. Whether it's based on the grade point average, extracurricular activities, or SATs/ACTs scores, different universities have different ways on making their decisions. When I applied for college, my first choice was VCU. That was the first school I applied to, and I knew for sure I'd get in. I graduated high school with a 3.57 gpa, a lot of volunteer work, and many extracurricular activities. I was in several offices in different clubs, as well as did sports. My only weakness were my test scores. At the very start, I was always terrible at test taking skills. Thus, resulted in having a low SAT score. I figured since my gpa is pretty high and have a lot of points on my resume, my test scores would balance out on the decision of my acceptance. In the end, I was rejected from VCU due to my SAT score. After realizing that it was not a fair decision, I appealed the decision and finally got accepted to VCU. I feel like this is a big issue across the nation for many universities, because by accepting a student depending on their test score does not make the student a well rounded person. Universities should look at the student for that objective rather than a test score that is only based on math and english.

5 royal princesses

My family consists of 5 girls. 5 girls in a row. In America, that may seem a lot, and not that big of a deal. However, back home in Vietnam, having 5 girls in a row is extremely rare, and so they have a saying of "ngu long cong chua". That means 5 royal princesses. When a family has 5 girls in a row, everyone will see the family as a royal family, and they will respect that family as if it was royal. It has it's advantages as well as its disadvantages. Advantages because everyone in the vietnamese community know who you are, and everything about you. The disadvantages are that since everyone knows you, they talk about you. So if you were to do something bad and they see it, the word spreads around the community, and the reputation of the family is ruined. Thus, my family has a lot of pressure to keep a good reputation in order to not be talked about. Being a part of the 5 royal princesses in the vietnamese community is somewhat very different for me. Since I'm the baby of the 5 royal princesses, it's my job to keep the reputation going for my family as well as my older sisters. It's a tendency for the baby one to lose the reputation easily, and so there's more pressure put on me as well. =/