Humble Beginnings

Today has felt like a whole week wrapped into one.

The day got off to a great note when my professor handed back the graded assignment from a few days ago. Since everyone had to find their own papers in the stack, I was able to see some of the other grade people earned in the class too. I saw some sevens, eights, and some tens, and when I spotted mine, I was happy to see a ten out of ten on the page! I think the reason why I was a little shocked was because of the people I am up against in the class; some students are from elite private schools, boarding schools, and other places that hold a lot higher academic standards than where I come from, so seeing that I can still earn a good grade in comparison to them really made me feel as if Ivy League schools weren't so out of my reach.

Another awesome part of my day was my discussion class. To understand market equilibrium (when the supply and demand functions are equal) we did an activity where we would list the maximum price we would buy one person's labor for, and the minimum we would sell our labor for. The preface of the activity was that everyone had the same skill set and everyone was only selling/buying one hour of labor. Everyone was then instructed to go around the room and try to sell and buy labor by interacting with everyone in the class and seeing what their pricing was. I really liked that this activity was a very hands on way of teaching this concept. In addition, I was able to talk to some other classmates I usually would not have gotten the chance to!

After class I went out to dinner with a few of my dorm-mates. We went to this local sushi place near campus that all the RAs were raving about! Our experience with the customer service was not so great. First off, they didn't let us split the bill. When I asked if she could just ring up our orders separately, she said that was not possible. Then, she spent the next five minutes at our table with a calculator, trying to divide up the bill by dish. It was so inconvenient because half of us only had debit cards and the other half only had cash. To top this whole situation off, she had the nerve to remind us to leave a tip! Now, I work in the food industry too, and never will you hear me remind a customer to leave a tip. I went bananas when she told us that! We left the restaurant full, yet hungry for answers as to why our server thought it was okay to practically demand a tip!

The first week of this program is already over. At the beginning of the week, it passed by like a snail, but now, I feel like it's almost over! I know I still have two weeks, but knowing theres an end to the part of my summer I have treasured the most is a very saddening thought. I know that I will not take these next two weeks for granted; I will spend them learning, exploring, and laughing.