I really wish it was over.

April is the worst month ever.

As all of you know (mostly because I’ve announced it so many times), I’m participating in PCN, the Pilipino Cultural Night. There are over a 100 Berkeley students participating with me, and we’ve been working HELLA hard for the past two months. The producers and writers have even been working since last semester and last SUMMER even. We’re putting our all into this show, and I hope you guys can make it out to watch the show. It’s a really powerful showcase of Filipino and Filipino American culture and the issues that affect our community. The program will include spoken word, four vignettes (or skits), singing, and dance—traditional Filipino, jazz, hip hop, and swing. I’m SOOOO EXCITED but also SOOOOO STRESSED OUT. We’re rehearsing five days this week for five hours each. And then the big show is on Sunday. AAHHHH!!!!

Anyway, since I’ve done my part and publicized that… yeah, this past week in ASAM R2A world was kinda ridiculous. I feel like the workload, while we are in college and should be able to handle it, was a little too much. An exam, a paper, and a short response due all in one week? Yet, there seem to be other weeks where we don’t have anything due. In addition, we were misinformed about our exam, especially in regards to the historical part. I thought I remember the instructors saying that all of that wasn’t going to be on the exam, so I didn’t study it as well as I would have liked to. I just feel like the assignments could have been spread out a little more, considering we are taking other classes. Oh, well … can’t do anything about it now.

In addition to writing two papers and rehearsing from 9am to 3pm on Saturday AND Sunday, it was bridges SENIOR WEEKEND!! just as Precious and I had mentioned in our past entries. I was so excited to meet all the different kids who were accepted into Berkeley. I hosted a girl from around the same area I live and she was the sweetest thing ever. It seems as though a lot of the seniors are debating between UCLA and Cal, and she was no exception. After staying for a few days and getting a feel of the school, she said she really, really liked it up here, but she still wanted to check LA out just in case. I hope she comes, though! I was really impressed by some of the other kids who came up. On Friday, I left our class early because I was facilitating a workshop for the Gabriela Network, a network fighting for women’s rights and against domestic violence and human trafficking. During the workshop, we broke out into discussion with the seniors. I definitely underestimated their knowledge about the subject, and I knew that from what they were saying and the topics we touched, they were made to come here.

I forget that it was only a year ago that I was in their position, trying to figure out what school I was to go to. And now, here I am, almost finished with my first year, and I can’t believe how much I’ve grown and learned. CRAZYYYYYY!

Fortunately and unfortunately, it’s not over yet.

Laurie Bailon