Summer at UC Berkeley Part 2
Written By: Gen Nguyen | Read full profile
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In 2015, I went back to Berkeley, or like I said before the scare-the-shit-out-of-my-16-now-17-year-old-a** city, to continue the chemistry series and take ochem 1. This time I was determined to do better than last year. I know I say that each semester/year but this time I really meant it.
My brother moved to a different apartment. Still small and dingy, but the area seemed a little safer… or at least it was close to the main road where there were more witnesses to see my a murder happen. The previous year, I at least had Chris to walk with me to and from class and be the scapegoat. But this time I, a small, defenseless girl, was alone.
A BENZENE RING OF FE ATOMS
Joke of the blog: What do chemists call a benzene ring of iron atoms?
This year wasn’t as eventful as my first year since I was more focused on studying and getting that A. Gotta make the Asian parents (and brother) happy, am I right? But we did what any normal, socially distant college student would do: stay inside and study, watch Netflix, play video games, or go out late at night for food.
During the weekdays, I’d go to class, come home, and probably take a nap (who knows, that’s what I did in high school). Afterwards, I worked on ochem practice problems and studied for the SAT and ACT until bedtime, 2am. That’s probably what you think I did since I said I was gonna try harder this year. And it’s also what my mom wants to hear. And I’m not gonna lie, I probably did that. Probably because I don’t remember much of that summer. Maybe I was too pumped with adrenaline and fear. But most of the time I think I watched Running Man and White Collar.
Not as boring as I made it seem right? I gained some skills: learned how to cook more than just ramen and spam because honestly if Okra or I didn’t cook, I think we would’ve starved cause big bro says he knows flavors and how to cook but c’mon, when was the last time he stepped foot into the kitchen to cook. This was when I learned to cook 5 star pasta. It was either cook or die… unless it was the occasional In N Out, sushi, kbbq, or GOOD Chinese food crave. Then we’d go out and eat… only on the days we worked to haul furniture though. Else I think we’d be even more broke. Read about his furniture flipping hustle here to see what I mean.
Okra’s from California, Sacramento to be exact, so we’d go visit her family once in a while… I think every 2 weeks to do laundry at her place. But every time we visited, her mom always fed us well. Asian moms don’t fill the heart with love. They fill the stomach with food. One week, the week before the 4th of July, we went up to Sacramento to… honestly I don’t remember if it was because of laundry or what but we hung out with her family and ate Korean bbq at Oz. Oz is AYCE. And knowing that I’d go back to my brother’s apartment hungry, you bet I’m gonna eat to my heart’s content and my Okra’s mom’s money’s worth (it was about $19/adult for lunch and about $25/adult for dinner).
You know AYCE places: if you order too much food and can’t finish (aka leave waste), they charge you extra. Remember when I said Okra’s mom fed us well? She (and Nick) went kinda overboard on ordering food. Okra’s siblings were young and as small as her so they couldn’t eat much. And I didn’t like to waste food nor pay an extra fee for waste, so I did what anyone (if you are considered a trash can) would do: unzip my pants and scarf everything down. Don’t get me wrong. I was very happy to be fed. But later that night, for dinner, Okra’s mom made a ton of authentic Chinese food. Sadly, my pants couldn’t expand anymore and I was only able to eat a small bowl of JUST rice. The same thing happened a week later for July 4th, and I died once more from this double dinner situation.
Wow. As I’m trying to remember what I did back in Berkeley ‘15, I realize that most of my exciting adventures involved food: grocery shopping at Safeway at 11pm to buy ingredients for a rootbeer float, compromising my safety and going to Shooting Star Cafe in Oakland for a late night meal (Oakland is scary too), waiting until 11pm for Kansai’s happy hour, etc. No wonder my family called me fat when I came back home...
There was more to my summer, but a big chunk of it was studying which, by the way, paid off too. I got an A! Maybe the moral of this summer story is that you can still have fun and study at the same time as long as you prioritize. Or maybe it was just a documentary so I don’t forget what I did. I’m getting old and senile.
Answer: A Ferrous wheel!
Organic chemistry is difficult. Those who study it have alkynes of trouble.