I woke up to the strangest noise today. It sounded as if there were rocks being thrown at our window and so I abandoned a most thrilling dream (I had been driving the getaway car down the newly built freeway in the Grand Canyon) for something that turned out to be entirely mundane—it was just Nancy trying to break the venetian blinds. (FYI: she accomplished her goal.) Then she yelled at me—she usually doesn’t do that, but it turned out that she was testing her hearing. As for the blinds, they were the victims of her frustration at being “sick." Whatever. Anyone who can get well within a few hours just had a little mind problem. Yet, she was convinced that she was on the verge of collapse. Luckily for her, I have a sister who has had every ear infection know to man, and some which they’ve just been able to discover because of her, so I was able to diagnose Nancy with a congested ear canal. Of course, Nancy goes to the nurse later and gets some pills, but really all she needs is to take vitamins!

Well, like I said, she is fine now, so the trauma of her stress-induced deafness has been resolved and our living quarters have ceased their function as a hospital. I now live in a dorm again and I can relax.

Yay, Friday!! I always have mixed feelings about Fridays. It is beginning-of-the weekend day, but it is also laundry day. Of course, work comes before laundry. I work in the ITS department on campus (Information Technology Services). My main duties are to assist Tony, one of the service technicians. However, seeing as how I still don’t know how to terminate phone lines, I feel I may be more correctly described as “gofer" and “raconteur." One day we had a big job—we had to pull cable through Bell Center. This required the assistance of another student worker, Raul and the other technician, Reggie. While the three of them were occupied with the 12’ ladder, I, as usual, began to entertain myself. I guess my pirouettes had not gone unnoticed. The three of them were staring at me, so I ran off to retrieve something unnecessary from the golf cart. So yes, thank God it’s Friday—now Nancy and I can go forth and enjoy a lovely dinner because Friday is also eat-out-and-forget-your-homework day.

Posted by Bianca at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good Morning! I look over at the alarm clock and it is 6:59. Fantastic. I am up before Alarm number one and 30 minutes before Alarm number 2. 7:00am rolls by and all I hear is a soft buzzing. Bianca snoring? No. The alarm clock that should have woken me up has become a low murmur. Hmmm…I seem to have lost some of my hearing… I panic and roll out of bed. I was not congested nor was I suffering from any allergies. Of course, in an hour I would be debating in front of my political science class. How do I rebut if I can’t hear??!! I tried all sorts of methods to equalize the pressure in my head. I squeeze my temples and puff up my cheeks. If Bianca wakes up now she would think I was trying to scare her so instead I try to ignore the numbing pain in my ears. I got ready and woke Bianca up (like I do every morning).

“Bianca I can’t hear…"

“Whaaaa….??"

Ok. I heard that slightly. My hearing is bound to improve. So I go to class and hope for the best. My ears hurt but I can hear a little better so I hear my opposing team is trash talking right before we start. Well, that fired me up to stamp down their arguments. Yay me! As soon as I got out I went to the nurse’s office. I was taken in by the kind Nurse Jackie who took my temperature and talked to me LOUDLY and ssslllooooowwwwlllly. She told me I had Eustachian tube congestion. Good news, not permanent hearing loss. Bad news, Eustachian tube congestion?? I was prescribed some medicine and sent back to the dorm with promises from the nurse that they would call me and check up on me. Awww.

Bianca, now awake and alert makes sure I am comfy and makes Karigane tea and crumpets for me. I love you!! She drives to Walgreens to purchase some Airborne for me. Since it was my first time taking Airborne I was a little suspicious. 1000 mg of Vitamin C??? That is 10x the recommended daily dose. However, I was assured that under stress and illness it was alright to take more than the recommended dose. Ok….it was yummy. So, now I feel better and am able to write this blog. It is very nice when people are concerned about you. My roommate takes care of me and I take care of her (when I can…she is really healthy and strong). So, thank you Bianca. Without you I would never have finished the Gene Lab Report for Genetics.

Posted by Nancy at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello, my name is Bianca. (I apologize, I know this is supposed to be less formal but I know no other way to introduce myself. Must be those manners—they stuck to me after all.) I had not planned to come to Trinity University, but I knew I wanted to leave El Paso. After visiting the campus, I fell in love. My mother and I were blown away by the organization of the 360˚ program and the students and faculty we met. Honestly, I just remember thinking: these people seem so happy, so smart. Who doesn’t want that out of their college experience? Everyone seemed so willing to focus on helping you meet your goals—and they are. I came here with the conviction that I would become a doctor. Believe me, in high school I was driven by nothing else. Unfortunately, my high school chemistry education was nothing compared to the work involved in Organic Chemistry (2nd semester). I also noticed during my constant struggle to comprehend and keep up with the material that I really did not enjoy chemistry. Nothing about it excited me; not the formulas, the theory, my grades…

I talked with my advisor, I talked to my parents, I had endless rants with Nancy and over the summer I decided that I would pursue a major in Spanish, my most favorite subject in the world. This is a language that has surrounded me all my life, but never touched me until I took my first class in high school. From then, perhaps owing to my heritage, I have continued studying this language. It grew from a reluctant fascination and a feeling of obligation to an actual appreciation (and hopefully) some degree of proficiency.

And that is my story. There are bound to be more unexpected turns in the future (like what am I to do with such a major?), but I know that being here and feeling safe enough to explore my options will lead in me in the right direction. I mean, where else can I participate in so much?

Posted by Bianca at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Naturally since this is the first post, I want to make a good impression. I could make up fantastical lies about myself and wow you with my excellent and exciting college career. However, I don’t know how long I can keep that up for. So, I am just ordinary me. My name appears as Huynh Nga. I know what you are thinking, is she international? Not really. How do you even pronounce that? Don’t worry. Just call me Nancy. I was born in Vietnam and I immigrated with my family when I was five. I speak Vietnamese fluently and my fabulous roommate is trying to teach me Spanish. (A mi, parece dificil a aprender esta idioma). I am majoring in Biology and minoring in Art History. Trinity offers amazing sciences as well as art courses (because it is Liberal Arts) so I get a really good deal. No, they didn’t pay me to say that. I really took a gamble when I applied to Trinity and only Trinity because I said to myself that if I didn’t get in, I would not go to college. Thank goodness I got in. Trinity is not only close to my house (15 minutes) it is also a really great school for people who are still trying to figure out what they want to do. So, I was really excited about an offer to showcase Trinity through some blog posts. My roommate and I entered because we want to share our experiences and get more involved at Trinity. I found my niche here and I hope you come to find yours as well!

Posted by Nancy at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)