Whatsuptodaymyfriend’s Blog

 Hi, how ya doing? Long time no see. It’s been a long time I didn’t write anything. You know, it’s partly cos of my exams at uni and partly because of couple of things needed to be taken care of. Last semester wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be. I’d been told by my friends that I was going to encounter some new stuff, a new atmosphere, a new life and also new sorta relationships between me and my classmates/pros to be and the like. Quite honestly, I could kinda get what they meant, but, since you haven’t experienced something unfamiliar no matter how you’ve been told about that, you should face it yourself so as to be able to find out what exactly it is. Anyhow, I still can’t clearly explain this feeling but at least I’m _to some extent_ familiar with that.

Luckily, I have the feeling that I can learn a lot while attending my classes at uni. There are lotsa materials in each course_ including those I need less effort to pass_ which can be considered as fruitful references. Bear in mind, having a knowledgeable pro and of course eager, enthusiastic students can lead you to a great deal of success. Needless to say, success here means “Learning new stuff and never Back Down”.

If I want to say something about my exams taken last term, the first fact is that I need to try harder and take all my courses more seriously. I mean, for instance, I had at least two courses that I could easily get 20 but I simply couldn’t. One of em was because of one silly mistake I made and the other one I was kinda in a hurry. The exam was unbelievably easy, so when I first took a look at my questionnaire I got astonished in a way that I forgot there could be some wisely-designed questions which seemed to be easy_ in fact they were_ required very careful attention.

All I mentioned above was about normal exams. We also had an exam which was rather tough. I don’t know whether or not I’ve mentioned this before but normally I don’t have any problem with difficult exams. On the other hands, when it comes to taking easy ones my problems start. Anyway, I’m going to mull it over and find out what the problem(s) is/are. I took the toughest exam and felt quite confident. However, I was a bit anxious about the result. When finally the results were announced, turned out I’d gotten the highest grade in my class and if I’m not mistaken the forth between all sophomores. Maybe it’s because of my interest in having challenges. The more difficult a test is, the more satisfied I get. It also could be cos of my haste. Most of the time (in an exam) I can’t wait till the time given is over. I need to try to give up this habit. In this case I’ll have more time to think, to take another look at my answers so that I could correct any mistakes. (If there is any) to sum up, I should consider some rules, some facts in order to be successful and for sure to stay enthusiastic.

For this semester I’ve taken 20 units. I was going to take 22 though. I didn’t do that because I’d taken TOEFL exam and I thought I would meet plenty of problems if I could pass the exam. Thank God, I didn’t take more than that cos I passed the exam after all. Contrary to many students’ beliefs I think we’d better take general units ASAP. When our courses are not that rough or difficult we still have time to pass em or in other words do away with em. That’s why I’ve taken four general units this academic year. Hope I can get what I’ve planned for.

Wish you luck and lotsa joy.

Hi everybody. What have you been up to? Is everything fine? Today Saturday, November 29, 2008 I had “Reading and Comprehension” so I went to uni. I got there at 8:10 am, that is to say, I had some time to have a cup of tea. After having my tea I attended my class waiting for my pro to come. After a while he came and started calling the roll. All in all, the class went well. We got to our business as soon as our pro finished calling the roll. Most of the time was spent on talking. We didn’t work on our book that much. We were told that we were expected to talk, to a have discussion about the lesson and to challenge each other. The eye catching thing which happened today was a nice and subtle point about the differences between being interested to get a degree and being enthusiastic about the major, the field, we’ve chosen. The pro told us that it’s really good to be eager to get a degree (with high grades for sure) but it’s not enough, it’s not everything. For this reason, we’d better be very careful cos if we don’t consider this fact we will probably be facing problems in the future. To put in a nutshell, we should be able to know why we are at uni, why we’ve chosen this field, what our purposes are, and the like. (These are my ideas. I mean this is my conclusion) that’s a piece of advice which we all should consider. If we don’t, in the soon future we’ll lose many things. We won’t be able to continue doing what we used to be interested to. We lose our way. Short and sweet, we should know what we’re doing, that’s the first step. The second move is to go out of our ways. In other words, by knowing our real aim and trying to do the best we can call ourselves students. This means we’re not wasting our time, that we’re doing something useful, and most importantly, we’re making our future, we’re making our dreams come true.

Today I also asked my pro to let me participate one of his classes at uni. Fortunately, he accepted. I’m going to take part in his class on Thursday this week. Unluckily, I don’t remember what the name of the course is. I just want to attend a higher class so that I can see what one of my courses will be and also see how good the students who are studying in the second (or third I don’t really remember what the course was so I can’t be sure about this. However, it doesn’t make any difference) year of the uni are. I’m pretty sure I’ll be having so much fun.

Wish you luck and have fun.

Howdy, how’s everything? You’re fine? I hope so. Yep, that’s right, I came back very soon. Know what I’m absolutely happy. I’ll tell you why. Today I had “Study Skills” at uni. Remember? I told you before how much I love this course. My Gosh, it consists of plenty of information which is completely needed for anybody who wants to learn English. Our pro is strict. He takes it very seriously and I do approve of these kinda pros and (again!) that’s exactly why many of my classmates might think I’m masochist!!! But that’s the way I am (not masochist wise, but liking strict pros!!!!!). I love people who take stuff seriously which are really serious. That’s funny, cos most often many students don’t like that. Know what, they like guys who are easy going, who take everything easy and stuff. I was saying. I went to uni early today cos I had some stuff to do (it’s secret, I’m not going to mention it!). Anyway, I got there at 10:30 in the morning. I did what I wanted to do till it was high time to have my lunch. The lunch was macaroni which is better than other meals. It doesn’t mean it’s good though. There is a funny story. It’s happened to me twice so far. Sometimes we are (I mean guys) told that guys are not given any meal and when we ask what the reason is, there is a guy who replies: it’s exclusively girls’ while having the meal which we’re entitled to have!!!! So I do believe we’re still suffering from sexism (by we I mean guys not girls whatsoever!). Today during the class we were asked a couple of questions which was usual. The most fascinating thing that happened was that we were told we are going to have an exam next week. Having an exam next week, I’m out of my skin. The other interesting event was our pro. He’s really perfect, he’s superb, he’s fabulous, he’s great, he’s… no that’s the end of it. I mean, for instance, he explains the lesson perfectly and after doing it he asks us if we have any other questions. What I’m saying is that he’s approachable, he lets us use his knowledge and that’s a fantastic opportunity for us to gain something. That’s it. I would have probably died!!! If I didn’t write this post today. Take care and have fun.

Oops. I was about to forget something. This Thursday I have TOEFL exam, that is to say, I’m in dire need of your help (mystical ones I mean!). Pray for me. I haven’t done anything so far. Though I haven’t had any free time to do so. Wish you luck.   

Hey, I came back. Long time no see! Oh God, I’ve been tied up with lotsa things recently. That’s why I couldn’t write anything for a week or two. Actually some interesting stuff happened during this time. I start from last Saturday (today is Monday, November 17, 2008).

That day I had reading and comprehension which is a nice course. Remember my last post? I talked about our pro in last post. He had told us that we didn’t have any idea what our course was. Remember? Thank God. Anyway, cos of this reason I decided to be completely prepared this session. So, I attended the class self-confidently. I talked a lot and tried to be active as much as I could. I kept on doing this till our pro asked me not talk any longer and let others have the opportunity to show themselves. I accepted for sure (what else could I do?). That’s all that happened on that day.

The next class I had was Study Skills on Monday. My God, I can’t explain this. Trust me it can’t be explained in any way. Whenever I attend this class I feel absolutely happy. You know what, from my point of view this course is the most difficult (relatively) and also most serious course we’ve taken this semester. I like difficult stuff by nature (university wise). Actually I don’t have any problem with tough points. BUT when it comes to easy ones, LOL, I just get confused and don’t know what to do. Never mind. I was saying. Attending this class lifts my spirit. I try my best to learn something from the book. Our professor asked us some questions about prefixes and suffixes and the way they are used. As usual he asked some students a couple of questions, and as always some of em started stammering as soon as they tried to utter a word. Unfortunately he didn’t ask me any questions. The class was so nice though.

The next class I had was on Tuesday. As I told you before it’s the day I get killed! I mean, on this day I had two classes at uni which takes 8 hours on the whole. That’s not the point; the point is that after uni I gotta go to the institute in which I’m learning English. It’s tough. No doubt about it whatsoever. But I crazily love English and even though it’s absolutely energy consuming (and time consuming, for sure not for now, cos it’s gonna be way tougher next  coming years I’ll understand what time consuming means then. However I welcome that with open arms). I was saying, I went to uni BUT for the second time one of our professors hadn’t come, that is to say, we had to wait for almost 5 hours till our next class started. So what I did was to go to my faculty and ask my other professor (with whom I had a class next time) if I could attend his earlier class (which was ongoing and for sure mixed!!! (Don’t get so excited I’m just kidding, not about being mixed but about my purpose!)). Anyway, I found his class and said: “excuse me sir may I have a word? He replied: “sure.” When I said I had to wait about 5 hours till his class he didn’t let talk and said: “ok, if you want to go, you can go. So I left the uni happily ever after!!!

And about today. Let’s go right to the point. Ok? Today’s Saturday, November 22, 2008. I had a great day at uni. Thank God. I feel very good. You know what, something very interesting happened to me today. The class was fine (as always). I was prepared (as always) so when I was asked some questions I could easily answer all of em. But the eye catching thing which happened was that my professor mentioned my blog, that he had read it. I didn’t expect it. Cos it was kinda difficult to believe that a uni pro has time to read his student’s blog. What I’m trying to say is that there were some strong reasons which made me kinda sure that he wasn’t going to read it. I think the first one is a lack of time (I do understand that). The second one is that my pro has a PhD, that is, he doesn’t get anything while reading my blog (I mean sb at my level, I’m his student). For these reasons, I really appreciate what he did. In fact, he did me a big favor. He provoked me to keep on going. So THANK YOU SIR, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Hey everybody, hope you’re not tired, cos I’m worn out. Today I just had one class at uni but it took me lotsa energy. My God, the book we’re being taught is called “Interactions 1”. That’s good stuff but I worked on “Interactions 2” last year which means it doesn’t have much to gain. Anyway, what I’m trying to do in the class is to listen to the professor and see if there is something worthwhile to learn and try not to fall behind with the book. You know what it consists of lotsa info and if you don’t study it on time you’ll be facing plenty of problems at the exam time. Ok, let’s start talking about the things that happened today.

I woke up at 6:40 in the morning and left the house at 7:10am. Went to the place where a friend of mine gives me a ride every day. He picked me up at 7:38 am and we went to uni. The most interesting (and shocking for sure) thing that happened today was our professor. He’s a great person who I really admire. I like the way he behaves towards students, the way he explains the lesson, the way he explains a word (sometimes he illustrates on the board which is artistic) and the like. Anyway, we were in the class sitting in the first row listening to professor who was explaining the new chapter and was about to ask somebody to answer the first section.

 But there was something wrong (from my point of view) as soon as he stepped into the class I figured something out. What was the issue? I’ll tell you. I had a feeling about our professor. He didn’t look good; in fact, he was a little bit anxious or probably angry. The way he asked the first guy to start the lesson was completely different from the way he used to ask. We’re lotsa students in the class so that it’s kinda impossible for the professor to cover the whole class. There is no doubt about it. There are some guys want to show themselves up. Until here there is nothing wrong with that. Everybody’s entitled to seize the every single opportunity to be able to gain what they want to. What I’m trying to say is that, if you want to learn something you have to do this, right? But the problem is that when you want to talk (when you’re asked to so that it’s your turn to talk) you’re interrupted many times by other guys. However, it’s their instinct to behave so.

We were minding our own business that all of a sudden our professor told us that we didn’t have the faintest idea about the course, that whenever he asked us a question we replied as if the subject was about something totally weird. When he mentioned this first feeling I had was “shocking”. I didn’t expect this. Honest to goodness, what he said was kinda right, but, it’s not the entire story. It’s doubtless that most students in the class are weak but it doesn’t mean all of them are at the same level. It caused me to leave the class (we were given a break) with a heavy heart. While being on the campus I thought about it. I just wanted to prove (only and only to myself) that it’s not true. Prove that I’m at uni to learn something, to know what I’m doing there, to be reassured I’m not wasting my time and the like. So, what I did in the class after break was to volunteer for every single question, to talk as much as I can. Honestly, it worked.

At the end I feel I need to explain something. What I just said today, was not criticizing anybody. All I want to do is to provide a blog so that I can record some of my memories happening at uni. It’ll be a great source in the future in any ways. I can see how much progress I’ve made. How many mistakes I’ve made and also what kinda days I’ve had. Above all, I love writing. That’s all. Hope you all have fun.

Hey dudes, how is it going? Hope everything’s just fine. Today (Tuesday, October 28) I should have had a very busy day. But it wasn’t what I expected. My first class was English grammar which is boring and nothing especial happens during the class. (for sure it seems boring only to me because I already know most of the grammar points) There are some students who behave towards anybody, our professor included, as though they’re still in high school. They jerk around, make fool of anybody they like and stuff.

The book we’re being taught is “Using and Understanding English Grammar” which is a remarkable one. I got two other grammar books but I think this one is far better than the other two. For sure it’s needed to consider that when you want to compare some things with some other things you’d better know that what the purpose of this comparison is. What I’m saying is that the other grammar books I got (English grammar in use, Practical English usage) are designed for something else. They are not any good for teaching at university; however, they can be used as self study books. To be honest they are really helpful. (I’ve used them both, not completely though)

Anyway, I went to university (happily!!!, that’s what I’m always saying when I’m kidding my friends but it doesn’t mean I’m not happy) and saw a couple of my classmates standing around a very small square called “Flowers Square” situated in front of our faculty. They were talking and laughing at I don’t know what. Anyway, I joined them and started talking. We had some time to kill till our class started. After a while I asked my friends to leave there and go to the class because we wanted to take a seat in the first row. Know what it’s got some reasons that we have a seat there. In this particular class there are plenty of guys who are absolutely rebellious. They cannot be controlled in any way. When you are sitting next to them or even near them you will be considered one of them and it’s not any good. Cos the professor might think you are one of them, while, in fact, you are not. At the exam time you will see the result, a disastrous one. The other reason is that by sitting in the last rows you won’t be able to hear anything cos there is lots of noise there.

We went to the class waiting for the professor to come. After an hour some guys came to the class and informed us that our professor wasn’t going to come. It was 9:20 am and we had to wait till 12:50 pm to go to our next class. I joined some friends of mine who were going to have a cup of tea. After having it a friend of mine and I left them .We were on the campus sitting on a bench talking about things and stuff. The weather was getting colder and colder and we didn’t know what to do or where to go. We were both bored and didn’t have anything more to talk about or do so that we decided to go home. That’s it! It is all things that happened today.

Hi, this is Ahmad. I’m a freshman. I’m majoring in English literature. I chose this major because I’ve been into literature since I was 10. I’ve always been interested to read and read. I can vividly remember what the first story that I read was. I was in the fifth year of primary school; I went to a book shop because I wanted to buy my textbooks.

While waiting for the seller to come I happened to see a book placed in the window. The book was “Call of the Wild” by “Jack London” the American writer. I read the book and fell in love with reading! As easy as a pie! Anyway, when the seller finally came I bought both my textbooks and that novel. That’s it!

From that time on I became a bookworm! At first it wasn’t that serious! But as the time passed I found it more and more interesting so that I couldn’t (and in fact I still can’t) to spend a day without reading something. I think that’s fair enough for now. So let’s go and talk about the kind of stuff I’m going to write about. So here we go.     

 I’m going to write about my classes, classmates, professors, and the atmosphere at university and orally whatever which happens there that catches my attention or seems interesting to me. How did I come to this idea? That’s simple. I was sitting in my room thinking about what happened today to me (I had just arrived home from university) that all of a sudden I came to this nice and helpful (writing wise) idea.

My subjects can be about the ways guys and girls (though the word guy can be used for both girls and boys nowadays) behave towards together, a new point I learn in my classes, a challenging matter that can be interesting enough to provoke others to take part in an argument or even my own feelings about things I see at university. So as you can see it consists of many things that is, I don’t want to confine myself. That’s all I wanted to say for the introduction.

Finally I think I should mention my principles (one of them, at least for now) that I’m going to obey. I don’t want to annoy anybody; all I want to do is to write something in English so as to be able to improve this important ability. I believe the best way to learn something is to find a way that gives you more pleasure than the other ones; in this case you will be able to keep on going. Even when you get tired this tiredness gives you pleasure because you’ve done something that you love. I also welcome with open arms any ideas which can help me improve this blog. I hope I can keep doing it and make it as good as it’s possible.