jediwands

I would be the exact same way in the tram. That's good that you have them around most of the time when you travel.

How far is the walk from the station to home?

Awesome that you will help him. Hopefully that woman gets properly evaluated when next evals come around.

Right! Oh yes, it sucks with roommates too. When that happened, there were two little rooms off the dorms (right down the hall) that people could use to study. I usually got a room if the roommates would be around a lot.

secretk

It's definitely good . I am usually seated and they usually stand aright next to me so they kind of shield me from the people around me. It definitely helps me.

Around 15 minutes.

I need to make him focus on his goal. He is analytical guy so the structure is not a problem for him. He just can't determine how much he should say. For him things are clear. For the others they are not. I have had the same issues in the past. I am just trained to do it better.

My whole 12th year in school I had a math teacher that I would see once per 2 weeks. He would give me homework - a list of 30 math problems to solve. He would always leave me red notes everywhere. It was never about the wrong solution as I had no issues with that. He was university professor so he knew how to structure his lectures. He did the same with me - he would train me how to structure my solutions so that they are easier to understand. He taught me to organize and structure my thoughts.

My literature and writing teacher in 7th grade helped me too. They taught me on how to structure text to prove a point. It takes time but it could be learnt. It just needs practice and the correct teacher and I know how to teach him. He told me that no teacher managed to teach him that. I kind of see this as a challenge .

In the first year I had two roommates - sisters. It was definitely difficult to focus which explains my lower marks in the first year. After that I moved to another room where believe it or not my roommate was Leo, but she was Extreme Extrovert. Still though we had great dynamics and knew how to not annoy each other.

We do not have rooms like that so we had to study in the dorms. However once I moved I was living in the same building as another guy from my group and we got along great for study so we usually were in his room studying and we were alone. With him it was easy to study because we would not bother each other. Plus we understood each other with just one word. We would do reseach on our own and then we would exchange information. We would solve our homework together. We would work on projects together. It was really easy with him.

jediwands

That's wonderful!

Long time... is the area bad?

It sounds like you had some really good teachers who helped you a lot. That is awesome. I know you had some that were nightmares but the good ones you had, they were really, really good.

That's great. Are you still friends with your Leo roommate and the guy from your group you got along great with?

My first year of college I made the mistake of living with someone random instead of living with several of my friends who were attending the same college. The girl I lived with was a psycho who was obsessed with me and I was honestly scared for my safety. Found out later she pulled a knife on someone in that dorm. I moved out three weeks after living with that psycho. I switched dorms (even switched to a different building with dorms) and had a dorm all by myself. However, one of my high school friends didn't really like who she was living with either so she moved out on her and moved in with me around 6 months into the first year. Then I lived with her for another year before I realized I was at the wrong college all along and then transferred to another college close to home.

secretk

Unfortunately in the next two weeks I will be mostly on my own. I will stay longer next week because of the workshop so I doubt that they will wait for me. And then after that they are in vacation. For the most part I am not alone.

No. It's a regular one. Bad things could happen anywhere but for the most part it's safe.

Well those two were private teachers that my parents paid to. So they better have been good . I am one of those students that would easily spot if something is lacking and I need something more. In those cases I would go to my parents and they would find solution - either additional books for me to read or teacher to fill in the gaps. I was perfectionist to the core as a student. Now I am definitely better.

No. Like I said she was extreme Extrovert so not my idea for a friend, but we managed to live together. With the guy we had strictly professional/studying relationship. We have never discussed anything else. It's not surprise that we did not keep contact. I did meet the guy maybe 2 years ago on some technical seminar and we had no issues talk about university and work and stuff like that. We did not discuss personal matters.

Wow!!!! How crazy she was? I am surprised that she was walking free. Seems like she was nutso. Glad that you managed to get away from her without any issues.

Cool that your second rooming experience was better!

jediwands

Sucks you will be alone for the next couple of weeks but good to hear that mostly you are not alone.

You're right, bad things can happen anywhere but thankfully the route is fairly safe.

Oh okay, they were hired, got it, lol. Well, all the credit goes to your parents for realizing this would benefit you. Wonderful that they cared so much they went there.

Is there anyone from college you still talk to?

She was completely insane. I knew immediately she was weird. I had a bad feeling but back then had no idea I could pick up on personalities like that. She would get mad at me when I'd leave to go meet friends. She knew I had a lot of high school friends who were around and it bothered her after like 3 days. It was so weird. She was so crazy. I talked to someone who lived in that building after I left and she said her behavior got even more strange after I left. A little while later I found out she pulled a knife on someone. I don't know what happened to her after that. I was just glad I got away from her.

Yes, all along I should have just lived with that high school friend. Well, I should have never gone to that college in the first place though but the situation was fine once I lived with my friend until I decided to transfer to the other college I was always meant to attend instead.

secretk

Definitely! I lucked out .

Yes .

Oh yeah my parents were awesome. They never stopped me from going from for what I want when it comes to education. However I was also the type of kid that enjoyed studying and that's rare. I had so much passion for it that they would have felt bad if they could not help me.

Yes. My two best friends. Both the guy and the girl I meat in college .

So so weird. Is it possible that she had some sort of borderline? It seems that she created something in her head (like say you are best friends) and then she reacted bad when the reality showed that it's different.

At least in the end you ended up where you were supposed to!

jediwands

Your parents did good.

Did you meet them right away in college or after a while?

It's very possible. She also was very loose with the guys too. I was told she had a different guy over almost every night. That could add to the theory that she had some sort of psychological disorder too. It all goes together. I don't know what her problem was but it was very obvious and clear. All I knew was that I wasn't sticking around to figure it out.

Definitely!

secretk

Definitely! It's true that I spent a lot of my time in studying, but it was worth it. I do not regret it.

All three of us had failed the physics exam so we had to redo it. This is the first time we paid attention to each other. Then in the second semester of the first year I had German (so 10 classes a week) with the girl. She had classes with the roommate of the guy (both guys were studying the same but were in the different groups). So this is how basically we met each other and started getting along.

And man it's great that you got away fast from her.

So my cousin's daughter starts talking more so my mother would call me and then she would start talking to me. However the moment she hears my voice she starts saying "Momma" . I guess she still confuses me with her mother for some reason. We will see how she will feel when I come home and see her.

jediwands

It's what you wanted to do and your parents allowed you to go there.

For me, it was sports. Sports was what I used to cover up the introversion and shyness.

Got it. I should have failed physics, biology, and chemistry exams but my sister didn't allow it. This was just basic courses, too. LOL To this day, I can't believe she can easily grasp the most complicated sciences out there. It's amazing to me.

Anyway, it's good that you guys found each other, it was meant to be.

Who knows what would have happened had I not.

She's always liked you and you even said you two have a sort of connection. She's intelligent, she remembers. So cute.

secretk

Yeah. I consider myself lucky having parents like that. When I was 6th grade we studied basic cell organells at school. Well I told my mother that I want to dig into this more because the study material at school was not enough for me and she bought me a series of books that are basically classifcation of all sort of cells for all plants and animals with comparison. Well there were three books on the topic. I wanted those and she bought them for me without complaints. She never told me but why do you need this? Every school year I would buy 4 different books for literature analysis on the books that we would read and I would read all of them. She never told me why do you need 4. Every year I would buy 4/5 different math books with problems to solve and she never told me why do you need 4 or 5. Most parents would tell me to focus on one book and forget about the rest. Not my parents. Whatever I wanted, I would have had it. When I started studying organic chemistry I found out that I love it so I bought additional books on that. Again no questions. The moment I would ask for it, I would have the money to buy it.

And your parents suppored you in this fully! We are lucky to have parents like that! Now Kris does the same with Anna and Sara and this is truly awesome.

I failed physics because I had terrible teacher in school. As a result I hated physics except the area about lenses as I was interested in this because of my issues. I am the type of person that could learn anything I want unless I hate it. And I hated physics because of my terrible teacher. And studying physics in German and at that time I already had issues with my roomates was not easy. On top of that I had issues with being away from my parents as I had never done this before. Overall I went through depression the first year in college and this has impact on my grades. I had people in the group that helped me though and explained to me and I managed to pass the exam on second time and even pass the second part of physics.

Remember the guy that I mentioned about the studying sessions? This is how our sessions started. We had homework in physics every week and next week the teacher would ask someone of us to solve the problems on the board. I could not understand what the teacher was talking about. He had terrible German . I knew that this guy knows physics so I asked him for help. He was used to people copying his homework, but I did not want that. I wanted him to explain to me. He is not good in explaining stuff. He skips a lots of steps and most people are like lost. However I would grasp it without issues. He was impressed with me and he told me so. And this is how our studying budding experience started. I was like translator for him. He was quite smart, but he had no idea how to explain to people what he knew and I was able to understand him and explain it to others. We were great team.

Definitely . Actually our German teacher would mix us. She would always call her with my name and she wondered why. It really was meant for us to meet each other.

Nothing good for sure!

It is so cute. She likes my Lego in my room. It's Lego for adults as it's part of the Architecture theme. She likes it so much that she had to show it to her mother, to her grandparents and she would always tell them that it's mine. She plays now with my childhood construction blocks and my mother told her that I would build her a house once I go home so now every time she comes home she mentions how she waits for me to build her the house .

I will give her a Duplo Lego with set of animals and we will play a bit with that. I also have some Lego minifgures that I will give her to play - a grandmother and two children. I think that we could start with her to play a scene. My mother already told her that they are building grandmother's garden. I would just add the people and set up the scene for her.

jediwands

Absolutely. We are/were very lucky to have parents like this and it trickles on down too since like you said Kris is like this with Anna and Sara. It's not a coincidence two subject areas Anna and Sara are the strongest in are... math and science. I think part of it is genetics but the other part is Kris making both subject areas fun to learn even if for some, they can be either difficult or boring. Kris made it fun though because she has a passion for both and found a way to pass it down to her children.

Why were you depressed your first year in college?

You guys were a wonderful team. Sometimes in the least expected ways, chemistry/dynamics/groups can form. This is what happened for you.

That's cool!

Nope. I'd hate to think about where she is now.

Sooooooooooo cute! When will you see her next?

secretk

So awesome that she made math and science fun for Anna and Sara! What was her approach?

I had never been without my parents for long. I had not even spent one night without them before that. On top of that I did not expect it to be that difficult to study everything in German. I had no experince with studying material in foreign language. I did not get along with my roomates and only their computer had Internet. I was left without Internet, isolated and alone. I struggled with everything and I am perfectionist so I was mad at myself for having troubles and issues and this caused depression.

Luckily I had classmates in college that helped me with my studies. Then I moved to different dorm and that helped a lot as well. I got used to German and got better with studying in foreign language. However it was slow process for me. I needed the whole first year to get used to this.

Yeah. We were the driving force in our study group. We expanded the group but we were the ones to do research and come up with ideas to transfer to the others. So we will do stuff just the two of us and then we would meet with the rest of the group. I was also the one that was supplying the lectures and he was the one doing additional research online aside the books we had. We were great team. We were the epitome of team work actually. We were more in sync than with now my team at work.

Hopefully she has not hurt anyone.

I will go home for the holidays so I hope to see her then. Not sure about the date, but I hope that we will have some time to spend together. She definitely wants it. She loves to come to our house and she has to check my room every time even though she knows that I am not there and she had never seen me there. It's like she feels better if she goes there. She now even sends me kisses over my mother's phone. She is so cute.

jediwands

Honestly, I have no idea. I was never around when it happened. All I know is they both love those two subjects. I joked with my sister one time saying she manipulated her children and she laughed and said she found a way to make it fun for them along the way. Anna is going to be a Forensic Scientist for a reason.

Makes sense. I was just like you, too. Terribly homesick that first year. I wanted to leave that first night. I even called up my mom and told her as much. Throw in the psycho roommate and it just was hell on earth for a while. Plus, deep down I knew I made the wrong choice and I think that played the largest part in why I was so unsettled.

Must have been tough with the German thing. I couldn't even imagine.

That's so great! Was everyone going into computer science?

I hope not either.

Awe, that is so cute! How old is she now?

secretk

. Genetics might have played a role, but I am sure that they also saw Kris' passion for science.

True that . It is pretty similar experience!

I basically had said to my mother that after the first year is over I will take exams again and apply in another college that has no German involved . Obviously I did not do it. At some point I realized that it was not easy for anyone. Some were great with German, but not good with math and computer programming. Otherws were the other way around. It was not easy.

Our educational system is a bit different. We apply for specific area (say your major) in 12th grade and basically whatever you chose is what your major would be. You could change it, but this means applying again for another major for the same or another univeristy. Our major was computer systems and technologies so we were all supposed to be Computer Engineers.

Now if you ask me if everyone is Software Developer now, no. But at least 70 % of the people are in the IT area in some way.

We have the same in high school. We apply for schools and specific majors. Mine was computers, math and English which meant that after the 5 years I would have get regular education in all other areas, but advanced in math, computers and English. The most advanced was in math. We never cared about the regular material that people studied. We had like 8/10 math classes a week and we would solve more difficult stuff. In the last year we basically solved the official university exams.

Technically I had also advanced classes in chemistry because I was attending schools competitions in chemistry. That's how you say it, but I was in a very elite school so most of the stuff I studied (and adding the support of my parents) were actually advanced level compared to regular students in the country. It's no wonder I can read molecular biology books in English without issues. I have read about some of that stuff in school in the books I aksed my parents to buy for me.

She is 2 years and almost 4 months. She is now starting to talk more. Still not a lot, but there is progress for sure.

jediwands

Yes, definitely. It had to play a part for sure. Science is difficult so I feel like you have to have a combination of passion and intelligence (in this area) in order to succeed. They have it. Both Anna and Sara have been in every honors science course offered in high school. Many people have trouble with basic science courses and they're doing honors courses getting top grades. It's definitely their calling. My cousin who has a post-Doctorate degree in several areas of science has talked about how she teaches a General Biology College course that nursing students need to pass and it's a General Biology course specified for "Non-Majors" of Biology too which means it's much easier than a student taking General Biology for a major in Science in college. She said it's the most difficult class to teach because these nursing students either hate the course or have difficulty passing it. They need it for the nursing program so she has to spend tons of hours out of class getting them to pass. This isn't even a biology course structured for people like my sister and cousin for majors in specific science degrees. It makes me all the more impressed with my sister, cousin, and now my nieces who are certainly following in their footsteps.

Did you have to take German?

Got it. It definitely is very different.

So cute! She'll probably start talking to you first.