I can’t believe I finished my novel I picked for class. Beloved was such an amazing book. I honestly am not a big book worm, but this book was definitely a very interesting and mind blowing one. I really enjoyed the historical context within it. Slavery has always been such a difficult topic to bring up and speak about since we all have different opinions and feelings towards it. Reading from the perspective of a slave really gives a reader a sense of what it was like to live through their experiences and it makes a reader feel as if they are living in the book. As if they are a part of it too.

Also, I can’t believe this semester is coming to an end so fast. It is like I just started college yesterday. My experience overall has been great! A bit more work but it is not like I can’t handle it. I really love this class. On top of it being interesting, I learn many new things each and everyday. I look forward to the different reading assignments and discussions we have with one another even though we never met each other in person. I wish I could just take this class for the entire year.

Hey Journal! Not sure what to really write about besides writing about how much work I have. Ughhhhhh. I don’t really like to complain but I guess this is the only place where I can actually pour out my feelings and actually be honest.

But aside from having tons of work, Veterans Day just passed! My uncle served in the military quite some time but he retired and Veterans Day is his day! My uncle came into this country with nothing. He was just a kid who didn’t know anything but how to speak Spanish and do hard labor. He came from Mexico with my grandparents from a small place in Mexico where it is nothing but nature. They were so poor that you can see how worn out their clothing and shoes were. Luckily, my grandparents worked hard to give him and the rest of the family a better life here in the US. My uncle went to school, got the proper education he needed, and decided to serve the country he was given many opportunities from. He now lives in Michigan as a retired veteran but still working for our nation. He is my hero. He went to the war in Iraq for us and we were so blessed to have him return home. Never will I stop being thankful for his bravery and his service.

Wow! First week of November. I can’t believe how fast time is just flying by. It is very scary too. This year’s election was my first ever election. The first time I ever got to vote!! It was such an exciting experience I got to have along with my mom and my grandpa. I was actually very nervous too because there is just so much chaos and hate in the world and I felt that it needed to stop. My vote counted! And I knew my vote was important to me, my family, and future kids. Which is why I voted for Joe Biden! Compared to Trump, he was the better option for our nation. Our nation needs a complete change and a new leader. And I was super super anxious when I didn’t know the results the first few days after the election. I kept shaking and refreshing the page where I saw the total electoral votes for each candidate.

I found out the great news on Saturday right after I came out of my EMS class. I was super duper happy and felt relieved. The whole city was celebrating and for the first time in a while, I felt a heavy weight was lifted off my chest! I will never forget my first election!!

This year’s Halloween was so different. A good different though. Out of all years, Halloween had to land on a Saturday this year. The year that requires masks and social distancing and extra precaution. Yes, we were able to dress up and have fun in different ways, but I was really looking forward to trick or treating even though I’m a college student. Trick or treating is really fun. But, even though it was different, I made the most if it. For the first time in my life, I was able to vote. This was such an exciting experience especially because of the situation we are in now because of our current president. I didn’t vote by myself though, I was able to share this unique experience with my mom and my grandpa!

Another thing I did this Halloween which I usually don’t do on any other Halloweens, was getting my flu shot. It is very important for all of us to be safe and take care of health now due to the circumstances we are in. Many people are still dying because of this deadly pandemic. The only thing we can do is to just take care of those around us and especially ourselves.

Oof, I am a bit late on my journals. But it is never to late to talk to you, journal. There is always so much to say and let out. Anyways, I finally got my first piercing. Well, aside from my two earlobe piercings, I finally was able to make a decision on my own and do something I wanted to do to my body. I guess that’s kind of the good thing about being 18. Right? I had decided to get the industrial piercing on my left ear. This piercing is one the most painful piercings, especially because it’s 2 holes in your cartilage.

On the way to my piercer, I was shaking and anxious. But my cousin was there to try to calm me down and convince me to just do the piercing. Once we got to the piercing place, I was asked to sit down and my piercer just explained the process of the piercing and the steps I should take after I am pierced to take care go my ear and my new earring. I wasn’t really able to focus because I was just so scared of having a needle go through my cartilage. My piercer told me to not tense myself up, so I tried to relax and he didn’t even count down before inserting the needle. But it did’t hurt like I imagined it would. However, the second hole hurt a bit more. But it was all over so quickly and I was so happy with how my piercing looked. The only thing I am terrified about is having my ear get infected because this piercing gets infected easily and quickly.

This week I was very swamped. I had so many readings to reread for one of my classes and on top of that I needed to do an essay for that class. I felt so stressed and drowned with the pile of work I had to finish before the due date. Fortunately, I was able to finish on time and I was extremely proud of my work. Even though it was my fault for not starting early and not properly managing my time, I honestly was impressed by how detailed and interesting my essay was. Answering the question was a bit tough because it was a how question, which required lots of details, at the end I was confident with my hard work.

I can’t wait to start on my character profile for this class! The story I picked interested me so much and I know I will be invested in this assignment. Investigating and diagnosing a character based on evidence given within the story is very fascinating and doing more research about their disorder will teach me something new. I know I will be proud of my work for this assignment as well!

I really enjoyed reading the stories The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges and A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. These two stories gave out something different compared to the rest of the stories that we have read in class. In my opinion, these stories were more engaging and interesting. I loved how these stories had included magic in them. I find magic to be very interesting and mind-blowing even though it might not be real. It grabs the reader’s attention more easily. While I read the stories, I thought some magical power or spell would be introduced to help the main characters throughout the situations they were in. Aside from these stories, I started to read the book I chose. I chose Beloved by Toni Morrison. I decided to pick this book because it talks about slavery and the history which I find extremely interesting even though I believe was unacceptable to treat human beings poorly because of their skin color.

I kind of forgot what I did for this week but I remember a few things! On September 27, I went to visit my grandpa to celebrate his birthday with him! His 65th birthday! Hmmmm…aside from that I don’t quite remember much. On the following Saturday, I went back to Fort Totten Park where my emt classes take place. I remember we had to take 2 quizzes and I was so worried of not doing well on one. But, I ended up being one of the top 6 students! I was so proud of myself! After taking the quizzes, my instructor made the whole class do PT (physical training) which was not easy at all. After PT I felt so exhausted and sore. I felt so beat for a whole 2 days. But at the end of the day, I know it will be all worth it!!

Wow, last week was just a great week. Aside from my academic/educational life, I have so much to say about my personal life. On Saturday (9/26), I turned 18. The age that every child or teen can’t wait to be because it’s when you are considered an adult. The age where you believe you are on your own, you can do anything, you can leave home, and your parents can’t say anything about it. Yet, as a child or adolescent, you don’t think about reality. As you get older, you have more responsibilities and yes, you are on your own and are able to make your own decisions but you have to smart about the choices you make. Anyways, I really enjoyed celebrating my birthday. To start off, I began my EMS classes to, hopefully, become a future EMT!! It was just an orientation since it was the first day, but it was really interesting. We met our instructors, walked around the base/academy, and had our first lecture. After my classes, I went straight home because my family were throwing me a small birthday party. This pandemic didn’t stop me from enjoying my day. It was different but still beautiful and really fun because I celebrated with the people who I love!

I have really been enjoying this class for the past couple of weeks. I find the different short stories super interesting and at some point in the story, I feel that I can relate to a character in some way. The personal narrative we are writing now is extremely fun! We got to read the work of our peers and I got to learn something new about my partner and about her life. I really connected to her and her experiences because she spoke about changes in her life and brought up an important topic that we all connect to, which was the global pandemic. I find this narrative as a way to express something not many people know about you. While I was writing my draft, I felt some type of emotion and I reminded myself of all the bad situations I had been through. But then as I poured out my feelings to this piece of paper, I felt as if I let go a heavy weight. For a long time I wanted to talk about my pain and my thoughts and my experiences and through this assignment I was able to do that and it made me feel free. I feel so relieved and I felt super comfortable talking about horrific moments of my life with my peers and professor. I honestly find this class full of respectful, kind, and trustworthy people!