This quarter I’ve been getting SO MUCH reading and other homework. Like overload. It’s kind of overwhelming and it keeps me from reading on my free time. :/ And I’m reading a great book about North Korea too. I feel like my life consists of homework, video games, and work. Haha, with occasionally hanging out with friends.

I feel like part of it is my fault because I haven’t been making much of an effort to hang out. I’ve had a lot of people telling me I should meet up with them for lunch soon because they miss me and I miss them too. I do see them around campus sometimes on the way to classes. I’m just always worried about homework and stuff… Since this week is chaotic, I promise to see as many people as I can next week. I even have a chart of everyones’ schedules. It may be kind of hard because midterms are coming up… but oh well! I miss Katherine, Sok, Ternessa, Mansour, Lee, Alex, Shiyue, Stefano, Kevin, Corrine, Patrick, Airi… even Connor haha, and all the others. And I need to hang out more with my new friends like Dallas.

I especially miss Mansour though. My homeboy. My Saudi. The best college buddy you could ask for. Someone you know is always hungry and craving coffee. Someone who always has cool stories about their home country. I find myself talking about him all the time, and no it’s not a crush. Even if I did it would just be WAY too complicated because of Saudi traditions and whatnot. I wouldn’t really mind going on a date with him once, but I dunno, he’s more of a cuddly friend that I can talk to. I’m just so happy around the guy, he gives off this radiant aura of fun and… sunshine haha. He can be a drama queen too and kind of arrogant sometimes, but I like that about him. Screw all those Islamophobes, if they ever took the time to meet him they would realize he’s one of the greatest people ever.

So yeah… really missing all my friends. I’m going to make a promise to myself to work as hard as I can to get stuff out of the way so I can hang out with more people. 

That’s right. Me.

Lately I’ve never felt so happy in my life. College is definitely a positive influence on me. I go in expecting it to be dull, tons of homework, and stressful. I got the complete opposite. My professors are hilarious, unique, and accept ALL opinions and even encourage it. I have hardly any homework (at the moment), and I’m so excited when I have class. And my TA? Definitely interesting and just…. yeah. Amazing. Words can’t describe him.

I’ve met some great people that I get to see a lot. They really help make the school feel smaller. There’s this one guy from Saudi Arabia and he was quiet at first and I thought, “What the hell? I’m just going to go talk to him. I need a friend.” So I did, and he has become my closest friend at UW. He’s hilarious and just a big softy and I get to learn so much about his country. He’s almost like an Arab version of my best friend in my hometown. 

But because I commute I still get to see all my good friends at home. I have no regrets about busing. I enjoy the cushy seats, all the different people, and the fact I have 1-2 hours of alone time to read or sleep. You can definitely tell a big difference between the UW buses and my good old Smokey Point buses because where I’m from, there’s tons of poor people, alcoholics, wannabe gangsters, and a bunch of odd people. But I think going to UW made me realize how much I cherish these people. I actually get the chance to talk to them more. Sure, they’re slightly vulgar and do stupid things, but they’re my community. They give me a sense of being home after being on a bus with a bunch of university students.

A couple days ago I did get this odd feeling. I ran into this guy with a Wall-E backpack while waiting to buy a puzzle book at the transportation store. I told him it was adorable and he said thanks, then we just kinda looked at each other. We didn’t say anything after that and I proceeded to pay for my book and go to my bus stop. We ran into each other again while we were going to our own bus stops and we just looked at each other again. Then we both got on our buses and left. Yeah, it sounds like nothing. But I had the strangest feeling inside that was shouting at me that that was a huge chance. Not like a chance for a relationship, but a chance for a new adventure in life. A real adventure. I was so tempted to get off the bus and do I don’t know what. Tag along? But I didn’t since I’m too safe and have college to worry about. It was probably nothing anyway, and it’s not like I won’t have more chances for adventures.

All in all, I’m actually satisfied with my life. I’m losing weight, I’m doing good in school, I’m spending time with my friends, I’m learning about things I want to learn about… I’m enjoying life for once and it feels absolutely amazing. Knowing me, it’ll probably suck after I finish this, but I don’t want to think about that. Right now all I care about is the fact my birthday is the day after tomorrow and I’m content. :)