Well, I have great news! I am finally done with the first summer session here at UCSB! So far, I think I did pretty well this session. My statistics final went better than I thought. Hopefully I can pull off an A, if not an A-. The class was fun. I probably would have guaranteed my A in the class, but the homeworks kept brining my grade down. In my opinion is was harshly graded. You either got it right or you got it wrong. But it is hard to give partial credit when questions are only first 0.25 points. Overall, the professor was very good. She taught clearly and she answered any and all questions that was thrown at her. Even the few stupid ones such as “Where did you get that number at?” eventhough all the numbers one of the students asked was in a one sentence question. All he had to do was read. But inspite of all his “not paying attention” questions, she answered them with a smile. So that was my PSTAT class.

I also just turned my Asian American Studies 5 paper (taught by Professor Lee) a few hours ago. I hope I did well in this class. Besides the large amount of reading, it was quite an enjoyable class. I considered all the readings we had as “summer reading” and not so much work. Out of the five novels we read, I enjoyed on three of them. I enjoyed The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, No-No Boy by John Okada, and Southland by Nina Revoyr. But the one that I will remember the most is probably The Namesake since I can relate to it the most because my name that was given to me by my father has an important significance to it. This novel made me not only appreciate my name, but also my parents who work hard to raise me and be generous to teach me their Chinese and Mexican customs. Overall, I really enjoyed this class. This is my second Asian American Studies class (previously took Asian American Studies 2 with Professor Park).

I am also going to take another Asian American Studies course. This time it is AS AM 4 with Professor Shimizu. I hope that this will be an interesting course. I am also taking Comparative Literature 31 that focuses on Asian Literature too. Wow, I can’t believe I’m taking all these ethnicity-type classes. I am also taking Chicano Studies 1A in the fall quarter too. Seems like I am getting to know my heritage a little bit more. These next few months should be an interesting experience to learn about my racial past.

Here’s to learning!

Cheers!
- Julian