Edinburgh

Classes ended Wednesday, and I went to Edinburgh, Scotland for a 4 day trip.

On Thursday morning I set off on an eight hour bus ride to Scotland. After arriving at the University of Edinburgh's Polluck Halls, I settled down before going out to dinner. Walking through Edinburgh, I could feel myself walking through the years of the bubonic plague, William Wallace, and more. A group of friends and I ended up grabbing some fish and chips with a bottle of beer. With our tummies filled, we headed over to the local tavern for some drinks (after passing the statue of David Hume and Adam Smith). Exhausted and satisfied, we walked half an hour back to our rooms. Once back, played 3 hours of Mafia in one of our rooms.

After a filling breakfast Friday morning, we headed out to Edinburgh to explore the city. After stops by the Parliament House, Edinburgh Castle, an awesome sandwich shop near the Castle, and Rosyln Chapel (of Da Vinci Code fame), we rested and waited for the 4th of July part the teaching assistants were going to host. When it was time, we went back into town and enjoyed a buffet given by the hosts and a plethora of drinks from the bar (screw drivers, rum and coke, shots of bacardi, etc), and hit the dance floor. After an exciting evening on the dance floor, we treaded back to our rooms exhausted.

Saturday was another packed day, starting with a 2 hour bus ride to the Trossachs. Hiking through mud, trees, and rocks, we made our way up the Trossachs and through the Valley of the Goblins. It really felt like we were the fellowship of the ring with the sole purpose of reaching Mordor at the top. After hours of hiking, we reached the top to witness one of the most beautiful sights in the world (in my opinion). Of course we were in Scotland, so it started to rain once we reached the top. A couple of hours later, we reached the bus and headed back for our last night in Edinburgh. After eating in the grassmarket for some Italian food, we visited the Elephant House (where J.K. Rowling wrote some parts of Harry Potter), the Frankenstein club, a crazy Irish pub, and ended up at the Espionage club. The last club was 4 floors of constant dancing and hundreds of people trying to make way through the club. Instead of a calm night in the town, I danced the night away in my sweat-drenched sweater. Seriously, Edinburgh looked like Gotham city with the old-fashioned cars, misty buildings, and people in costumes (some locals said it was sexy theme night). I somehow made it back to the room at a reasonable hour and fell asleep.

Our last day was spent in the bus back to Cambridge, with a stop at Fountains Abbey. I forgot to take my sd card, but I will put some pictures up later from the trip (by using some of my friends' photos).

I need to wash my shoes, so ciao!

Wednesday - Week 1

As promised, I have posted some more pictures.
The museum building marks where to turn left into my street and you can see me standing at my cute little apartment place. That's right, Charles Darwin lived in the apartment across from mine. Gnarly huh?

So, once again I went running in the morning and found a cool path that connects all of the University of Cambridge colleges....really awesome. I went on a Cambridge city tour with some friends and found a grocery store, stationary store, cafe, and post office I'm going to visit soon. During the afternoon before class, I went to go rowing with some friends down at a river 30 minutes away. Rowing is much harder than it looks. After 15 minutes of failing to row properly, I finally mastered the technique and plan on going back soon. Who knows, I may join UCLA's crew team next year :)
After a class discussing prevent value functions and interest rates, a group of classmates and I went to the Cow for happy hour. The pizza deal was 2 for 1, so we had crumbly duck pizza and BBQ chicken. To top it off we had some rasberry mohitos (which was pretty strong). Since we're going to Edinbergh, Scotland this weekend, I bought some cookies from Sansbury's to eat on the 10 hour bus ride.

I probably won't be updating this during my 4 day trip, so until then...ciao!

Cambridge Arrival

As I stepped out of the airport and saw cars driving on the left side of the street, it finally hit me. I'm in England. 4 hours later, I was dropped off at Cambridge with a few fellow King's students and proceeded to roll our luggage across the park.
It's been a couple of days so I'm going to fly through them quickly and I will try my best to keep a daily blog from now on.

So, arrival day. As I walked through the gateway of King's College I was met with an intimidating view of King's Chapel (picture on left). Then I received my Cambridge student I.D. card and packet of information with my class schedule, house keys, and computer codes. After walking to my cute cottage house (I will post pictures in my next blog), I went to eat dinner in the formal hall. Damn. It was so amazing. We entered a reception with drinks galore (I found that I prefer red wine to white), and a buffet of English food (I'll talk about that in another post...). A group of us went to The Bath House (a pub) to celebrate two students turning 21. After a few drinks, we went back to our respective housing and went to sleep.

First official day.
Went running in the morning around Cambridge. The city was amazing. With a farmer's market as the center of town, mom and pop shops are glittered every where. Traffic is a bit confusing because of the left side thing, but I got used to it. I haven't taken too many pictures, but they are coming...I promise. Purchased my cell phone at Car Phone Warehouse, shampoo at Boots, water at Marks and Spencer's, and food from the street vendors. Went on a tour of Pembroke College and then finally got to unpack my luggage during the afternoon. That night was a formal dining experience with the students all dressed up and sharing glasses of wine around the lawn. We then were guided to the formal hall to a 3 course menu of salmon, rib eye steak, and a series of desserts. After a good evening, we went to the Bath House again for some socializing.

Second Day.
Went running in the morning again. Had breakfast at Pembroke (not that good), and then went to the library to do some reading for my supervision. During class we were lectured on corporate bonds, stocks, and option trading. Went to McDonals to get a Bic Mac. Come on, I had to. It was around 4 pounds which is like 8 bucks. Then server didn't understand that I wanted a combo, until I finally realized that the combo was called a "meal." After enjoying my meal, I got lost in Cambridge and finally found Sainsbury, which will be my life line in the next couple months. I think of the store like the UK version of a Ralphs/Costco because it is huge and cheaper than that darn Mark and Spencers. Had dinner and then went to play soccer with some students. One of the students was a Phd candidate at Trinity, but was from Portland, Oregon. Totally fooled me because he had an accent. Who knows, I might come home with a little accent as well. So, I was able to do some reading on reciprocal relationships, and the paradox of give and take. Time to shower and maybe go out again, so I'll update you tomorrow with pictures of my new home. I'm going rowing tomorrow! yayy

ok so I just came back from another evening at a pub (the eagle's...this is where it's at..dont worry i just had a diet coke). met up with my buddy nikhil and 3 other guys (one from alabama, cal, and yale) and just had some good conversation with some kids from spain, lithuania, and some other place...hahah foreign perspectives on the united states are definitely entertaining.
so weve decided to go to paris at some point during this trip, stonehenge, and go punting (maybe tomorrow). i have to say it's pretty weird here because the sun comes out at 4am and sets at like 10 or 10:30.. :)
anyways,
i've got to sleep now in order to run in the morning. peace!

Back at home

As you can see from my room, I haven't taken the initiative to organize everything I brought back home.

I ate brunch with a couple of my old friends (one is now my roommate), and had the opportunity to catch up on what's going on in our lives.

And as you can see, Henry is still smiling.

Being home is relaxing. Too relaxing. I feel lethargic all the time, falling victim to DVDs and naps.

How I Chose to be an Economics Major

I know many high school seniors, college students, and even college seniors have the question of how to choose a major. Well, here's my path to ultimately becoming an economics student.

I entered UCLA as a biology major, but knew before going to orientation that I would not major in the sciences. The reason? If I chose to major in the sciences, I would be living the way I had been programmed to for countless years...go pre-med, major in biology, become a medical practitioner. In high school, my greatest strengths had been in the social sciences; thus, I started college with the intention to major in history or political science. If you don't know already, UCLA has a vast plethora of majors available to students. So I progressed through the year contemplating among the fields of geology, microbiology, sociology, international development studies, art, and more. Through my labor and social justice cluster series, I was exposed to the complex framework behind decisions, assumptions, and eventually precedents. I fell in love.

Beginning my second year of college, I took an introductory microeconomic course (macro was taken care of by the AP class...I am so happy I took it in high school). After taking the class, I was intrigued by the material but dissuaded by the type of people I encountered in the class who said they were economic majors. I was worried that I was becoming just the typical economic student. So, I went to one of my favorite professors and vented for an hour about how I don't know whether or not to pursue economics. I loved the material, but a lot of my peers' characteristics had turned me away. My professor told me that I can form and become my own type of economics student. Basically, I should not be so easily influenced by others characteristics or actions; rather, use the dissuasion as persuasion to pour my own personality over my study. He advised me a lot more in depth than I have written, but I want the focus to be on my own path so I won't continue on my venting session with him.

As you can probably tell, I continued with my economics classes. Next up was Econ 11, notoriously known to be the "weeder" class (If you don't know what that means, you'll probably find out sometime during college). I remember coasting through the first half of the course, sparingly doing homework or even paying attention in class. Since the quarter goes by so quickly, midterms came up sooner than I realized. Panicking, I felt more stress than I have ever endured for any test. Here the first test for a weeder class was upon me, and I had no idea what I was doing. After the test, I felt unsure about how I did and left the room with little confidence. The next week, I heard some classmates talking about their scores and I remember feeling very apprehensive and nervous. Before looking at my score, I prayed to God telling him that if I did not do well on this test, I would take it as a sign to part my way with economics (The prayer may sound vain, but my intentions were pure!) After looking at the score, I let out a yelp of shock and a smile filled my face. I had received the score that the professor had said was the highest score! What affirmation! Euphoric and very thankful, I dedicated myself to a field that I have grown to love and create as my own.

I am not studying economics out of practicality or to enter business, however vague that is (But I am developing a better systems approach to many ideas). I am not studying economics because I consider it more challenging and harder than other social sciences (I respect those papers that countless North Campus students have to write). I am not studying economics because I have to.
I am studying economics because I love how I am developing as a systems thinker and can utilize economic tools in my everyday life (scare resources, synergetic relationships, etc etc). But most importantly, I am studying economics because I made my own choice.

The beautiful Lagrange multiplier :)

Walking through a day at UCLA

Through the following pictures, I will be showing a snapshot of my day at UCLA. (Day of my econ 41 final)

Lakers-Game 2 NBA Finals

After watching a miserable third quarter while biking at the John Wooden Center, I could not take it anymore. The lack of confidence, desire, and will to win.
Preparation is key, but preparation without following through means nothing.
Following the pre-Finals adulation poured upon the Lakers, I feel as if the Lakers need to realize once again that they are not entitled to anything.

So applying this to my life...

I must constantly be reminded that I am not entitled to anything. My classes, my job, my friends, my family, food, showers, toilets, bible, mentors, and soooo much more. Whatever I have was given to me...
1Corinthians 4:7 - "For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"

All glory to God, and not to the finite things of this world.