So I get like ten minutes after food to chill a bit and then work on my quiz that is on thursday so i just thought i would blog a bit and let people know keh what is happening. 

1:- had my first freak out episode yesterday when i thought i was too stupid to do the Writing paper.. really.. i was about to email(blitz as it is known here) the prof that i couldnt do it. Even now i really dont know what i was supposed to write and what i actually wrote but that is another story. i wrote four drafts for this paper and i was sick of it and today i just worked on the draft i had prepared and submitted. that was a bad time, i was thinking that how i was the only one in the class who just couldnt get it and dint deserve to be in the class. then i thought i should go for the easier class and talk to my advisor about switching and drop this class. Yes, i do love it really it is one of the best classes ever but the work was getting on my nerves. But then i talked to a few people adn this is how the convos worked. 

ME:I am in Karens class

Person: Are you dying?

ME:- I am losing my mind.

Person:Then its ok, if you arent going insane then you are going to fail the class. Just hang in there she knows whats it about. 

Me: I have other classes.

Person. Well we all did and we made it, you will too. 

Another convo:-

Person:- Zain, remember two things about this class, first you will never be happy with your paper, second prof Karen will never be happy and thirdly you will never get more than a B plus in this class. 

And then i thought well you know it is an amazing class, i mean the writing program here is awesome and this prof chooses all of her students and she chose me even though i just blitzed her twice about the class. so maybe she sees something (she constantly refers to that btw, how she chose us all and how she knows we wil all pull through). Only one kid has dropped her class ever..and yesterday i was thinking about being the second person, but now i think ill pull through it. needless to say there will be many more tears to come magar if it helps me to be a better writer it is worth it. 

2:- Yea i stopped eating alot. Not because i think Hot chocolate with poppyseed and orange muffins is bad at midnight but because my Dining Balance account (DBA) is crashing fast. My scholarship covers certian expenditure for my food, if i exceed that i pay for it myself. I however would rather not do that since food is obscenely expensive and now I just eat less forced to do so . Today i just had a coffee, soup and tuna sandwhich, the whole freaking day. 

I will miss the Pavillion cookies, God's gift to all of us who made it to Dartmouth. I kid you not, those things are divine.

On that note i end this, yes it has no personal observations but i dont have time, maybe next time. 

Wish me love and pray I live through this class. 

Last night I went out with a few friends to get pizza, and it was pretty interesting how the entire thing worked out in the restaurant. So when you got in they displayed all the pizza and you were supposed to choose slice of what you wanted, ( that is how a lot of things work out here, you pay for what YOU want and not anybody else, I like it). At one end of the display cabinet was the cashier and at the other end a small counter, after placing your order you were supposed to wait at the counter and pick up your pizza. Then, you walked to the cashier at the other end of the room and paid the bill for your pizza.

Interesting arrangement, right? 

A place like this could never survive in Pakistan, ever, people would just walk to the counter pick up the pizza walk to their chairs eat it and not pay. But no one did that, well no one except for one guy who got confused and came back with out paying, but then he went back and paid the bill at the end. 

The level of trust is something that I find really interesting and is something that you see reflected everywhere. The place is pretty popular, has been there for a long time and is obviously doing well because no body stands up and tries to cheat the owners even though there are so many opportunities for them to do so, no body does it. Ofcourse I an not suggesting that no one does that and obviously people break laws over here, but the thing to focus is that when given the option to swindle a majority of them do not. 

This extends to nearly every circles, especially but not limited to Dartmouth. One thing that has been grilled into our heads every day we have been here is the Dartmouth Academic Honor Code which covers topics like plagarism and qouting sources which we have to do no matter what even if we quote a friend in our paper! It is understood that we will always do that and always respect the ownership of any property, intellectual or physical. It is also understood that if we are given a paper we will not cheat, even if the professor leaves the class(which they often do) no body will look at answers or even peek at the book lying just next to him/her. Of course if some one does so, who cares? No body and he will most certainly not get caught becuase no body will tell on anyone as well, but even with that security no body cheats or even thinks about it, because we have all been told that now we have the responsibility that hundreds of thousands have had before, to maintain the policies of Dartmouth and ensure it continues to have its high standing. Dartmouth is immensely proud of the fact that it is a honor school, that a degree from Dartmouth means more than the major you took and instead  is also a reflection of your personality and your integrity. To borrow from the speech we got from an officer with the Honor code department, the class of 2008 has gone places with this degree and now it us the class of 2012 who has to ensure that this piece of paper continues to not just mean what it does but rather much much more. 

That is my thought for today, I have to sleep now since I have to get up early tommorow because I want to be done with all my work before I go to watch Wall E in the evening,

Forgive the spelling errors since I wrote this in the dark and my Mac's screen doesnt even give enough light to illuminate even my keyboard.

And the next post will hopefully also be more coherent. 

BYE..