Pain

I thought that when I go back home I'll relax and rest my body and mind after a long long period of pressure, but I exhausted my body more and more ~_~! Working on different directions at the same time could be restless and this has nothing to do with your multitasking skill ^_~ since this type of work requires you to attend different and far sites physically. Today, I will take care of some documents that I need to waive certain classes that I have already taken in my undergraduate study and I hope these documents would convince my academic adviser; otherwise, my efforts would go in vain ~

Enjoying fasting in KSA

Last Wednesday, I finished my summer class, and on the the next day, I got back to my sweet home country ^^. Obviously, it's better to fast Ramadan in KSA as long as you don't have classes or things you have to do in the States because you fast and others in the US don't, so it is gonna be hard to keep up with things over there. No need to mention other activities such as music and parties at least until the sunset. This time, I'm gonna experience the Eid with my family, cousins, and friends for the first time since I have been studying abroad. My flight to the US is on September 5th which means that I will skip the first week of the next semester, but I believe that I can catch up what I would miss in a short period of time since CSU semesters are too long ~

Living in Memories

Yesterday, my dear and amazing teacher Lindsey Pilgreen has announced that she is gonna resign from USC Language Academy since she accepted a full-time job offer in Pasadena City College. It was a great honor to be one of her students for delivering an astonishing style of teaching, creating a warm and funny atmosphere for studying, and making remarkable efforts to help students achieve their goals. All I can say now is that I wish her the best and good luck in her new academic adventure ^^. She is the best there is and the best there ever will be ~

Collapsing

I'm so eager to finish my current summer class and go back home. I'm really sick of many things around. No friends, no good classes, no good teachers, and no good life. Besides, I need time to relax and refresh myself. My body is going to collapse if I don't get some rest and clear my mind ~

Priscilla Caraveo

Before start writing about someone, you should have a contact or an experience with him/her to be able to deliver at least a clear view for readers about him/her, and also to make readers believe in your words in addition to your credibility. I don’t think there is any profession or job in the world has a deep contact with teachers more than students (a non paid job ^^), so according to this notion, I wrote previous posts about my teachers, and now, I am writing about another teacher and a wonderful human being, Priscilla Caraveo.

One of greatness signs of a person is keep obtaining the same personality no matter how many obstacles he/she faces, and this is what I noticed in Priscilla. She was my Grammar teacher in Spring semester 2010 and my Oral Skills in Fall semester. She was pregnant when she gave us Grammar lessons, and before Fall semester, she gave birth to her first wonderful boy. Her personality has never changed, and I bet if I meet her after 20 years, she is going to be the same person from 2010. Her unique personality, which is full of fun, is likeable, and it pushes you to show what all you have; beside, she always advises students about how to do their works. “Use this word instead of this.”, “I think if you switch between these two points, your speech will be reasonable.”, and “Your supporting points needs to strong evidences and examples to convince others.” These are examples of her advice, and they are really numerous.

In addition to the stability of personality, the other sign of greatness is memorizing his/her words after passing a long time. I memorized Priscilla’s instructions in the Grammar class after taking subsequent Grammar classes in Summer and Fall semester, and that helped me a lot to receive information faster than other students, and I am sure that a few teachers have this ability. It means that her style of teaching is insightful and remarkable. Moreover, her honesty with students about their progress drives them to block flaws in their performance. She directed me to how to deal with my weaknesses, empower my points, and improve my performance, and the result was really superb. I really proud of my work under her supervision, and without her, I don’t think I’d make an A.

Finally, people come and go, but memories don’t. Memories stick with us until we day. After 20 years, I’ll remember those hours that I spent with my beloved and precious people, and Priscilla is definitely one of them. “Who doesn’t give a credit to who deserves is ignorant” this is what I believe in. I’ll still remember her words in the last Oral Skills class. After doing our speeches, she told us about our next challenge and how to deal with it. She encouraged us and insisted that we can do great even greater than native speakers, and being international students doesn’t mean that we can't surpass natives. These golden words relieved us and made us believe in ourselves more than before. However, I was sad when she was speaking because it was my last time to be in her class ~_~!. I wish her a wonderful and healthy life. 

Cleveland ... It isn't better than what I thought

I arrived in Cleveland on January 9th, 2011 at 10:45 p.m. One of my friend, who studies in Cleveland, met in the airport and he was my guide for the first two days over there. Frankly, I didn't like the city from the first moment. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can judge on things from the first look (I don't flatter myself ^^). After leaving the airport, we went to a place called Tower City. It is like a square that consists of some buildings and a huge mall, but what was depressing is two things: all stores close after 6 p.m. and no people in streets. I don't like to compare between Cleveland and Los Angeles because I'll look stupid when I do it, but my brain does it every day, every minute, and every second.

Although that I love to live alone or, to be specific, I love to be independant and devote myself to achieve my dreams through hard work and avoiding parties and everything would make me out of the picture, I like to live in an enjoyable and delightful place because I want to go to fun sites when I finish my study and that is almost impossible in Cleveland.

I hope that my teacher Sonja would not retribute me for this post ^_~! but you know that it is hard to control your emotions when you found a huge gap between reality and your expectations.

Lindsey Pilgreen

If someone asked me about one of my characterstics, I'll say that I am not easy to be convinced, but that characterstic wasn't an obstacle when it comes to Lindsey Pilgreen. She doesn't have special powers to convince or persuade people ^^, but she has faith in her words. When she speaks and gives opinions, she doesn't lie or pretend, and in my opinion, this part of her personality, faith, is super effective. However, that isn't what Lindsey has been known for. She is well known for her great skills, talents, and efforts which made her classes so popular.

Lindsey Pilgreen was my teacher in Spring and Summer semesters in TOEFL (Listening & Speaking) and Idioms classes. Getting in her classes was like a dream for several reasons. First, her classes are unique and contain a lot of knowledge that come from the environment we live in. Second, Lindsey's class = fun, and no one can refute this formula. Also, pushing students to do their best and compete to know who is the best in the class is Lindsey's way to improve us. Well, there are no specific reasons that lead students to consider Lindsey's classes among their favorites, but what I mentioned before are noticable.

Learning from a great, make you a great. If there is something went wrong, it is your responsibility not your master ^^. Masters don't pass just knowledge to their disciplines, but also values and morals. In other words, they pass the torch to next generations, and that is exactly what Lindsey does. Through her merciful, helpful, and wonderful personality, her words and advice easily penetrate into my heart, and my mind aknowledged them directly. I read that when we believe in something, we believe in it by our hearts first not minds. Furthermore, even though Lindsey is still young, she is so wise, and her wisdom surpass many people who have more experience in life than her.

Lindsey once said to us in TOEFL class, "Don't be shy or afraid of contacting me when you have questions. Wherever you go or wherever you are in any part of the world I'll still consider you as my students." That kind of commitments is not easy to find or to be committed, but Lindsey gave it to us without hesitation. Besides, she treates us equally and respectfully, and I admit that she treated me kindly and advised me with a good behavior.

For having lovely spirit, Lindsey Pilgreen is a great person to talk to who is able to solve problems or at least provide solutions to keep you on the right track. I am so sad for not being able to generate any further words about her because that makes me feel I am not qualified enough to write about her, but I wish what I wrote won't be deleted from the world wide web. Thanks Lindsey I will be in your debt forever.