Tuesday, June 24, 2014

First Day of Class and The Veneration of Krugman

I woke up a nice time that I have been meaning to do in so long, a glorious 10:45 AM EST. I was surprised at myself that I reverted back to my old habits where I generally keep sleeping until I decide that I get tired of wanting to sleep and to be lazy. The time difference didn't really seem to be much of a problem but when I didn't get much sleep the night before, the jet lag came back like my dad expected. I am actually feeling really lively today after a lovely nap that I was able to experience. I regretted not getting up earlier at the same time as I believed that I should've have been able to enjoy the experience while I am here and I promise to get more out of it through activities and social interactions with others!

After waking up, I was all ready to go except that I couldn't find one crucial thing, the Brown ID card! This was especially hectic where I eventually gave up to proceed to class anyways (I later somehow found it in my wallet.) I walked briskly to Smith-Buonanno Hall to my class and I arrived a bit early while conversing and chatting with other students. We all shared where we were from when doing the exercise and later on the TA, Simon, and Instructor Byanova came in and set up while asking us about our interest and/or experience in economics. It was incredible to truly be in a global environment and to really understand where others have came from around the world but I am unsure if the socioeconomic diversity is as high. In the class, we covered the basics of the curriculum from basic costs and benefits, efficiency and feasibility on a graph, incentives, basic graphing, production and consumption via specialized trade, and many more topics. It really wasn't too complex but it was covered at an exhilarated, yet fun pace-nothing like in school!

I later headed to my room so I may be able to make more progress on finding the ID card since the card centre was closed already. I gave up and later headed to the science library to read some books in the building which supposedly has been voted the most ugly by Rhode Island's citizens but the resources available as well as the study rooms were intriguing! I read about the chemistry to ginseng to topics in PCR tests with engineering applications. The most fascinating part was reading up on nuclear and theoretical physics (specifically on the mathematics behind the detection of dark matter). The view was incredibly panoramic, where I was able to take in the windmills at the delta of the city to Downtown Providence down the hill! I couldn't find my ID card at the time so I was later forced to go to Thayer after being persuaded my by growling stomach to eat something. Chiptole has actually been a restaurant I have never tried before back in The Golden State so I tried a barbeque beef burrito with an Izze. The burrito was surprisingly better than I thought but the flavours didn't seem to combine well or to be very pronounced, leading me to miss the ubiquitous amounts of taquerias in the Bay Area with a quality and sophistication I miss already. Guess Haitian or Puerto Rican food is the solution!

I later went back to the dorm where we actually walked back to the Alumni House so that we can have a rendezvous of much game playing. I chilled first with a friend from Oakland and Scotland where they were very interesting and accomodating but felt that they scorned activities that were less than theirs or are perceived as non-superior and "unpreppy." One example was when they used the phrase, "If you were trying to impress a girl, what would you say about your hobbies?" I responded that of many different components which make me unique and they made fun of me slightly about my volunteer work and my internships but said my sports are fine. The guy from Scotland claimed he plays on the national level across the pond but I find that hard to believe as he is studying profusely for exams even beyond the A-Levels. Who knows? The evening rolled around better with Cards Against Humanity and Taboo! where I played with students that were just so interesting and had many different perspectives and views to state! I made many new friends from UAE, Bangladesh and Sweden where we later stuck in a cluster to meet up with even more people to hang out! It was honestly one of these moments which are rally hard to come by, even if others try to acquaint themselves in a way which is lightly suggestive, but again that is the college life that one should savour and experience!

I later checked-in and had a long talk about societal affairs with the roommates which dropped by. Since these views are personal and that one may be able to track these people down ( they wish not to publicize this), I will not share the contents of the conversation. Nevertheless, the conversation went on and on and it all felt like a blur and this feeling was rare and insinuating for me to experience. Hope it continues like this as all the politics and economics was so interesting to talk about as well as particular interests and topics that we were passionate about like how certain colleges and universities are better for certain programs as well as aviation and the affluence of towns. The student population was also a topic as well. Now, I feel I am settling in so hopefully that sense of comfort will exponentially increase!

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