Summer is officially over tomorrow, with the first day of fall classes at the University of Texas. Pat and I moved out of Duren last Tuesday morning. I moved into my new dorm at Moore-Hill on Sunday. These past two days have been hectic as hell, according to an official UT document, with the “masses coming in.” And yeah, campus is alive now. Summer was really mellow, not that many people, but now upperclassmen are here, the fall freshmen are here, people I haven’t seen in years are here.

My last final was calculus on Monday night, August 18th. Pat and I decided to move out the next morning at 8. When I finished my final, we started packing up and we were thinking, “What if we left Austin right now?” It was 10 pm when we got the crazy idea. We finished packing the car around 1:30, and did a final sweep and left Duren around 1:50 am. I was hyped for driving, getting the most out of my official summer break. On the way down the elevator, coming up to the second floor where we lived we saw Gee-Wey! We hadn’t seen him since CYC 05, and a couple reunions after that! It was surreal, 2 am and of all the people coming up the elevator was Gee-Wey! we drove and got to Houston around 4:30 am, Pat ended up getting home around 5 am. The week went by way too fast, just catching up with old friends. I also hit up Westheimer with Jonathan Saturday night before the Sunday I move back to Austin.

The last Saturday night before school started, everyone showed out, but cops were smart about it and swooped in early. They kicked everyone out of the parking lot, and of course we just went to another parking lot but they kept following us. Everyone was at the Burlington Coat Factory on Highway 6, and two cop cars actually blocked off Westheimer so people could get out of the parking lot. People just trying to go home from a night on the town were blocked up. It was funny, video coming soon, as soon as Jonathan figures out how to “rip” the video. Yeah, I purposely used quotation marks there.

I had an engineering meeting for the people who fulfilled the summer contract on Monday, and it was exciting. I looked at my degree plans and wow I am so glad I took summer because I only have to take 14 hours this semester instead of 16. Every semester I will be taking 16, but I’m already a step ahead because I took calc and chem in the summer. In the fall, I’ll be taking intro to aerospace engineering, intro to comp sci for engineering, intro to philosophy, calc II, and physics for engineering. Should be a nice workload. I’ve mulled it over while I was showering in the Moore-Hill community baths, and I’ve decided I really want to work hard in college. I always hear from people that I had so much potential in high school, and I could have been top 10 if I tried. And you know what, these next four years, I’m gonna try.

I’ve seen some people walking around with Cockrell Engineering shirts on, and they look like the top 10 type from Bellaire; where are the ladies? I want to meet people who aren’t just all about studying and know to have some fun. That’s my biggest worry, but everyone who went through the summer contract is totally cool, they all better stay in engineering.

I got my grades from summer, C in chemistry, B in calculus, and A in American studies, that puts my GPA up to 3.0. But American studies doesn’t count towards my engineering degree, if only I had known, I would have taken mythology over the summer. My social studies credit has been fulfilled through the American History AP, I just need to do Texas history before I graduate. I’m optimistic about the fall semester, with 400 people classes, I’m sure there will be someone who can help me with physics. I’m going to have to learn to love physics because I will be taking many more semesters of it.

Today I did an interview with Longhorn Confidential, which is the UT blogging program. They interviewed me about my interests and personal life. Blogging for UT will be a fun experience, but the only down side is that I don’t get to design my own page. We’ll see what the masta can whip up ;). The blogs get to be featured on the front page of the UT website, so I guess that’s kind of special. I just need to be more active around campus, and we’ll see what happens.

It’s been blistering in Austin these past couple days, mixed with rain. I walked a bit today for the interview and to catch lunch with some old friends, I was drenched in sweat. I look out my window and I see a light drizzle. Strange. Good luck with school, everyone!

As summer draws to a close, summer freshmen here at the University of Texas at Austin begin slowing down and preparing for the upcoming finals. It’s everywhere you go. Besides the occassional Michael Phelps discussion, it’s all studies. These finals are important to semester averages, and ultimately, GPA. Of course, the people already doing poorly in a course are dropping classes, but for summer session, the drop deadline is much later than in fall and spring.

Like everyone else, I’ve calculated the grade I need on each of my finals to get a good grade. I need an 85 on the calculus final to maintain the A average (which is good, considering I took calculus AB in high school). The only downside is that the final is not cumulative and covers the hardest part of the semester, the part most people didn’t learn in high school. There is an optional final this Thursday, but it doesn’t need to be turned in, if it’s too hard, you can always wait till the real thing which is on Monday evening. In chemistry, the fourth exam is Thursday and the final is on Saturday. I’m most worried about this course because I need to get two A’s on both to scrape by with a B-. The final exam can be counted up to 50%, up from 30%, if I do well on the final. The lowest exam grade is also dropped, so if I get over an 80 on the exam tomorrow I should be set. It’s just sad that the numbers are against me. As for American studies, liberal arts classes never give out too many A’s. It seems like everyone in the class has a mid to high B. The final on Thursday is all short answer paragraphs. It’s just the fact that I’ve got to study important people and facts and events and themes in the Gilded Age all tonight. I’ll need an A on that final to get an A in the class.

It’s not too bad, sometimes I get a little pessimistic. I mean, getting a C in a class isn’t too bad. Some say it’s not worth it, that you should just drop. But for me, I need at least 8 hours of credit in the summer to maintain the engineering contract, and I’m enrolled in 10 right now. Even if I drop one class, that sets me at 7 hours, which isn’t enough to fulfill the requirements. It’s time to buckle down tonight. I’ve got my work cut out: thermodynamics, integrals, and the Gilded Age. I’ll be packing the Red Bull tomorrow morning…

It’s August 13th today. It’s hard to imagine that high school was only a little over two months ago. I’m jealous of everyone kicking it at home, having a good time before they all leave for college. The summer of senior year is supposed to be the most fun, no summer school or homework, no worries. In a flash, the fall semester begins in two weeks. I’m moving out of here Monday evening, going back to Houston for about a week. I can’t wait for the fall semester to start because then everyone I know will be here. And all the freshmen won’t know anything, like where certain buildings are. On the flip side, once fall starts, there goes my summer. Then it’ll be back to the day-to-day drill of school.

Hope everyone out there is enjoying summer, watching the Olympics, and having a good time.