Interesting to say the least. My past week has been interesting and hectic. I just wish I could be much more efficient. But anyhow, heres how it went:
Came back from spring break, to have a MATLAB exam, and that was not bad for once. I’m really really hoping things went well there. Also, after freaking out about the Japan crisis, I finally decide to take somewhat of a stand. I’ve joined FIRMC, a pretty big organization on campus, and in it we’re doing a relatively small project for Japan Disaster Relief. Right now it’s still at work, but we’re trying to pick up the pace and do small events as well as bigger ones (can’t say anything yet, my lips are sealed). So, that’s going well.
This week was also the Belly Dancing Hafla, and it was amazing fun to perform in front of friends. I loved it. It was an empowering event as they talked about the actual origin of belly dancing which was supposed to celebrate fertility, which not many people know. So, it was great making people aware and having fun at the same time.
Then I also joined as a volunteer for Tedx at Rutgers, which is basically a smaller setting of the large TED talks, where speakers from all over the world come to talk about some change either in technology, society, or in any way possible that they have been a part of. Or just music, art, dance, anything for that matter, which is important to the public. They post these videos online on TED.com, so the Tedx at Rutgers, is our own version of this talk where important speakers will be coming to Rutgers to speak about what they have done. I’m really excited for this event, really hope it goes well because its just the 2nd year its going to be held.
And then the rest of the weekend was spent procrastinating, probably not the best thing to do. So, hence I’m now trying to decide how to even out my studying plan for the week without panicking. Along, with that was my friend Elisa’s birthday, and we celebrated in Katzenbach’s basement, which was exciting to say the least. We played twister, Mystery date (haha… that was a fail), and our own tiny rave. Fun weekend. Haha.
Yesterday, we had a discussion in my Women’s Leadership course about the labels put on Muslim women after 9/11. We had a speaker come over to talk to us. It was interesting to hear her side of the story and the outrageous things that have happened to her and her family in terms of discrimination. Some of which were disturbing to say the least, and having that whole discussion with the class made it easier to understand the impact. I was around 10 at the time that 9/11 occurred and honestly it had not affected me much until I came here, because up until I was 15 I was in Singapore.. Much far away from USA and all these political issues. It was kind of like living in a very nice secluded bubble, but which i’m glad to be out of in this sense. So, it was an insightful discussion.
Also, I was supposed to interview a woman in the STEM field for my interview project for Women’s Leadership. I finally interviewed Professor Fabris, who is an assistant professor in the Material Sciences department for the same class, and it was a great interview, she was amazing to chat with. I was extremely nervous, because I’ve never interviewed anyone before, but things turned out great as she told me stories of her past and how she has been a leader in her field. So, now that the whole interview is recorded, I have to get down to transcribing it. Phew. Work. The best part about the interview was seeing how motivated she was, and how supportive her family was of her actions. She’s a really strong figure and I think I feel more assured that I can do engineering. I always doubt myself, but her words of encouragement will always stay with me, and motivate me to do better. I think the best thing I’ve done is join Douglass on campus here. I mean all my classes are 80% men anyway, but living with these women and learning so much from them is inspiring.
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