Week 9: Final Famous Last Words

I have completed all of the assignments for this class and it has been a great time. I feel that I have been able to learn different ways to express myself through my writing and I learned so much about the different types of mythology across the world. I feel that I can now go and have interesting facts of knowledge that relates to ancient myths. I really liked being able to see all of the creativity from other students in this class. I feel like this class has done a fantastic job in allowing all of us to express ourselves in our own way and our grades weren't based on a biased opinion in what should have been the "right" way to tell a story.

(Neurobiology at 1am)

As far as my other classes are going it has been interesting. I have my neurobiology test this week on Tuesday, and next week I have a Spanish literature and cell biology exam on Tuesday and Thursday. In other words I have the most exciting and nerve-wracking two weeks of my life now. This Thursday I have my first medical school interview with OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and next week I have an interview with Rocky Vista College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This weekend was great. I was able to volunteer with the first Mr. Hispanic OU at his Vive Mas 5K focused on promoting preventative medicine in Hispanic populations. By the way, that white blog is my brother in the morning as we drove to volunteering.

(Volunteer shenanigans)

As for what is happening on campus this weekend. I would like to invite everyone to this year's Day of the Dead festival. It will be on Sunday, November 4 from 4-10:30pm and it is free entry! There will be rides, food, and some great entertainment. Hopefully you will come out and experience a wonderful part of the Hispanic culture.

Week 6: Famous Last Words

This post is really made for last week! Last week I focused on the Japanese tales. This reading was extremely run and I really enjoyed all of the tales. There were plenty of tales that contained mythical beasts and brave heroes. The tales of Yamato were extremely interesting and I decided to challenge myself and write my storytelling based upon the psychiatric break of Mr. Yamato. I was extremely proud of the story that I created from this myth and I think people will really think differently about tales of great heroes when they read this tale.

Now we can talk about my other classes. Honestly, I feel like this post is my weekly rant about school and helps me unwind. My physics 1 and physics 2 labs were so dreadfully long this week. We watched ice melt and hit a hockey puck from 7:30pm to 9:00pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I was not very excited. I then had to work on my Spanish literature class, which seems like I am reading old English. My beer class is by far my favorite class this semester and it ends in two weeks! My biology capstone is my second favorite course. We have finally decided on a direction to take our semester project and will be working as a team to develop a “product.” Neurobiology is by far one of my most interesting classes and I have learned so much about a neuron it is not even funny. Finally, the moment I have been dreading has come this week. I had my first cell biology exam this Friday and it was intense. There were 4 questions with sub-parts and it was all free response. However, everything seemed to work out wonderfully and now I must work to conquer my Spanish literature exam the next week.

(Cell bio was life)

Week 5: Famous Last Words

This week I read the Japanese tales and I won't lie. It was a hard week to read all of the tales, but when I got to the tale of Yamato it captured my attention. While reading this tale it really got me thinking about the type of tale I would write. This tale inspired me to do my best writing of the week. For this week I focused on this tale and wrote it as if the story was all the hallucination of a patient. I believe that this was a good way to throw in a major plot twist to an ancient tale. I hope to be able to use creative writing techniques like this again in the future depending on the story that I decide to use.

As far as the rest of my classes are concerned it is starting to get intense. My physics labs are a ton of busy work and I was so excited to measure how long it took to melt ice this week. We then had to record observations fifty times and put it in a graph on excel. Neurobiology is really intriguing, but there are some graphs and they are crazy weird. We have our first quiz next week! Cell biology is weird because my teacher seems to jump around through his notes, but it should be fine. Our first exam is next Friday, so wish me luck! Spanish literature surprised me this week with a pop quiz and let me tell you that I was definitely not ready for that! My beer class is absolutely fantastic. We get to learn about all different types of beers and how all of these beers are made. I have an extremely busy week coming up with my exam and tons of meetings! I am just ready to get this week over with.

(Lets Get Started!)

Week 4: Famous Last Words

This week I read both the Egyptian and Persian tales. The Egyptian tales were extremely interesting, but the Persian tales often had me confused. There was one story where I did not even know what the story really was talking about called The City of Nothing-In-The-World. There was something about a little girl who scraped her knee and in the end she was in a town inside of a watermelon looking for a knife.

As far as my other classes are concerned it has been an interesting two weeks. Neurobiology is definitely something I have to work with constantly. I feel like cell biology has been review so far, which is fantastic. My beer class is fantastic and I am learning so many interesting things about beer! My physics labs are just a lot of busy work, and Spanish literature is using all kinds of funky words that even my fluent friend is confused by. All in all it's going well. Every Monday through Wednesday, I am on campus from 8:30am until 9:00pm which is very tiring. Tons of meetings, work, and homework keeps me in a state of constant motion. However, I can honestly say that I prefer to have things to do than to be sitting around and doing nothing. I like to feel productive.

Announcements:

This Wednesday the Hispanic American Student Association is having their first general meeting Wednesday, September 9. This is a cookout with free hamburgers and hotdogs for all people who attend and we will also be having a water balloon fight, so dress accordingly. We also want to extend an invitation to every student interested in being a part to join. You do not have to be Hispanic to be a part of this great organization. We offer many opportunities to be active on campus, such as our Latino Flavor event in which we bring different aspects of Latino culture to OU like food, dance, and music!

Hope to see you there!

(Created by HASA OU)

Famous Last Words Week 3

This week I have read a large amount of myths and tales and it has been fantastic! I really enjoyed learning about these mythological gods and goddesses and their tales. They have been so great that I have decided to do extra readings about them. I know for sure that my best writing for this week would have to be my tale about Pyro the horse. I feel like it must be decent, because I have had over two hundred views on that page. Which I never would have imagined was possible.

            As far as my other classes are concerned that’s an interesting tale. I am currently enrolled in neurobiology and we have to do equizzes throughout the semester. We are allowed to have unlimited tries, he takes our highest score, but the catch is that it is timed for five minutes and there are ten questions. So, I attempted this quiz and it contained quite a bit of physics questions, which was never my strong point. Needless to say, sixteen attempts later I finally received the score that I wanted because there were some graphs and I had to learn how to interpret them during the quiz. We have not even begun to talk about these graphs. I also began reading a story for my Spanish literature class and the class itself seems like it won’t be super exciting, but the stories are hilarious.

            Outside of the classroom, I have had many meetings this week, which has been interesting. I also have to give a presentation tomorrow for new action center tutors and will be giving a presentation to the Integrity Council members about hearing panels. My weekend may have technically started today, but I don’t think that I will be getting much rest. Hopefully week 2 will be much smoother!

Screenshot of this weeks struggles

Week 1 & 2 Famous Last Words

           I feel that I have been extremely productive the week before orientation week. In the week before classes started I have been able to finish two weeks worth of coursework and it has not felt like a lot of work. It is interesting to read these stories and then rewrite my favorite one into my own words. I have always loved Greek and Roman mythology, probably because I was required to take a course over it in sixth grade. 

            The thing that stuck out most to me through these readings is the emotions that the gods often feel. You would think that beings that can control the world would not succumb to lustful thoughts and feel jealousy since they will be there for all eternity, yet they always do! I feel that my best writing this week was for my week 2 assignments in which I retold the story of Phaethon and the Sun in the perspective of the horse Pyro. I am a science-based type of guy and I have not written anything fictional in a long time, but this story really helped me think outside of the box and with my imagination. I have also never written anything in the perspective of an animal, but I feel that this could be a way for me to tell stories in another context that could provide an interesting twist on classical tales.

            As far as my other classes are concerned I have not started them yet, but I certainly am nervous for tomorrow. I have seen the syllabus for my neurobiology and cell biology classes and luckily the exam dates do not overlap or fall on the same week! Now I just have to wait and see what my other courses have in store for me. All I need now is a planner to make sure I can keep it all in check.

       However, the highlight of my week was being able to attend one of my best friend's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and I had a fantastic time!

(Wedding Photo taken by friend)