After an exciting summer of interning and catching up with all my friends from back home, I had a yearning for my home away from home. I missed all the late night chats with friends, spontaneous adventures to get random food at places I’ve never heard of, rallying for the Trojans on gameday, etc, etc, etc…
This year, I’m living in the village with a couple good friends that I met last year. We were able to get a 6 Person suite in Ilium, and although it can be messy at times, we really enjoy each other’s company. Freshman dorms don’t have kitchens, so last year I wasn’t able to hone my culinary skills. But now that my suite has a kitchen, I can finally get together to cook meals and have family style dinner with friends! My favorite dinner we’ve made so far was Tri-Tip steak with sauteed vegetables and Trader Joe’s bread (the TJ’s and Target in the village definitely comes in clutch). I will admit, we aren’t really taking anyone to flavortown with our exquisite culinary techniques, so we still go to DTLA and Ktown for a nice night out.
This semester, I’m taking AME 201 and AME 310, which is Statics and Engineering Thermodynamics. These classes are very theoretical, and I see them as extensions of Physics Mechanics and Chemistry. I’m also taking CSCI 103 and EE 109, which is Introduction to Programming and Introduction to Embedded Systems. I enjoy 103 because it’s helping me get familiar with C++ syntax and sharpen my coding skills. EE 109 is a bit of a challenge for me since EE and MechE and very distant disciplines, but learning about circuits, embedding C code, state machines, and computer engineering principles is fascinating to me. It is most definitely a great compliment to my MechE education.
I have a very engineering oriented schedule this semester, but my GE class is doing a fantastic job at widening the spectrum of material I am learning. AMST 301, formally known as “America, the Frontier, and the New West” is a class taught by the eccentric and passionate Professor Thomas Gustafson and discusses many topics pertaining to the West as a whole. The class has gone in depth about the colonization of the Americas and the genocide that came with it, the history of the rapid expansion and cultural changes of the city of Los Angeles, and the history of USC! The first major assignment for this class was a huge scavenger hunt where I had to run around campus and find facts about USC’s history. I learned so much about the history of USC’s founding, significant alumni, scandals regarding the school’s past administration, and how USC was affected during the 1992 LA riots. My next assignment will require me to interview LA natives from and ask them about their experiences living in the city, so I am excited about how that paper will go!
My semester has been incredibly busy on top of my classes It’s been hard to manage being involved with my student orgs, my class work, and catching up with my friends after not seeing them for an entire summer. But I missed the grind that came with college. Being busy and interacting with so many people is a fulfilling feeling that I missed!
