sweetness

Time is passing way, way too fast. How do we get it to slow down? Does it accept bribes?

Eid mubarak everyone, enjoy the time you spend with your friends and family.

My Eid is going to be quite the nonevent inshaAllah, but I don’t really mind. It’ll be nice to just relax and do nothing in particular. Just chill with my family.

I have a 10 day vacation which is lovely. I haven’t got a lot of work to do over the break, but it’s enough to give me something useful to do.

Registration is over. Well, mostly over, that is. There were many ups and downs, but eventually, things worked out perfectly alhamdullilah. I got pretty much all the courses I wanted, at the times I wanted, with the professors I wanted. Now that it’s all settled I can’t wait to begin!

Writing, biology, statistics, international studies, psychology, and history of photography. Life is sweet.

Sunshine is pouring through my window, I wish I could somehow share this perfect moment with the world.

When this holiday is over, there’ll be only 2 weeks of classes until final exams begin- then a few days of those, followed by a 3 week vacation. 3 whole weeks. I need to do something incredible in those weeks, mustn’t let them go to waste.

Every time I step outside I giggle. I can’t help myself, the weather is just that beautiful. Multicolored sunsets with fluffy clouds in the sky. Bright blue skies in the early morning, a breeze that is the perfect temperature. Sunshine. Birds singing and fluttering about. Alhamdullilah for the seasons.

Tell me.

Alhamdullilah, a million times over

I have been tagged by the wonderful sister realistic bird, and I want to thank her for giving me the opportunity to take a moment to reflect on life. Things have been going so fast lately, that I’ve kind of been just floating around from place to place, not really thinking about where I’m headed.

I tag sister Nadia and the Digital Niqabi duo.

Write 10 things you are grateful for.

1- Alhamdullilah that I can not think of a single thing to be ungrateful for. I don’t know if it’s because my life has been great so far, or because Allah has blessed me with a cheery and optimistic nature- or both- but either way, Alhamdullilah for both of those things.

2- Alhamdullilah that most of the time, I can tell right from wrong. My own personal weakness may cause me to fall into something wrong, but at least I know it for what it is- that way, I can strive towards the correct path. To know right from wrong really is a blessing.

3- Alhamdullilah for being born a Muslim. I honestly don’t think I would have had it in me to go against such the great tides of today’s society and find my way to Islam- which is why I admire reverts that have so much. I would have been too lazy and hedonistic to worry about anything but the immediate future.

4- Alhamdullilah for my family. Not only my parents, but my brothers, my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. Each and every one of them. They have shown me more unconditional love than I could have ever imagined, and they are always there for me when I need them.

5- Alhamdullilah for being born as one of the luckiest people alive, in every aspect of my life. My circumstances are better than many of those of people all over the world- I have clean water to drink, I am healthy, I have plenty of food, I am getting an education, I am safe.

6- Alhamdullilah for having been raised by reasonable parents in such varying environments. My life experiences have taught me to be open minded and accepting of other people as human beings, and to always see the best in them. I can see situations from many different points of view and come to a reasonable conclusion in the end.

7- Alhamdullilah for the talents and skills Allah has blessed me with, and for the time and ability He has given me to cultivate them, without which they would have gone to waste.

8- Alhamdullilah that I can read and write. We so often take this for granted, the written word as a form of communication; life would be unbearable without it. No books to explore other universes with, no ability to put your thoughts down in letters. It is a privilege that is usually unnoticed.

9- Alhamdullilah for all the beautiful things in this world that make life worth living. Yes, this dunya is only a test and we shouldn’t make it out permanent home, but Allah was kind enough to make our time here pleasant. There is so much beauty, love, and perfection in this world, and we should try to enjoy them while we’re here.

and finally

10- Alhamdullilah for shawrma, falafel, and hamburgers- the best foods ever known to man.

i Am

loving those peaceful teddies on fire. honestly.

woots And woes of registration

So I had this beautiful, incredible, perfect class schedule worked out for next semester. I can’t even begin to describe just how amazing it was.

Then, on a whim, I decided to reread the description of the courses I wanted to take. I was shocked to find out that 2 of them have prerequisites that I haven’t met yet. How on earth could I have missed something like that? I’ve been plotting and planning all this time without even realizing that I wouldn’t be able to take them anyway!

There is still a possibility of my having a great schedule next semester, but the chances are much slimmer. Why? Well, because since I’m still a freshman, I get the lowest priority when it comes to registration. So basically, everyone else at uni gets to register the courses they want first. Then after they’re all done, I am left with the reject courses. Please please please let those rejects be the ones I want.

One thing I am incredibly over the moon about- I’ll be taking  a photography course! There are two profs that teach it; one is sweet, fun, and gives easy marks. The second is mean, demanding, moody, and difficult. I’m taking it with the latter. He sounds absolutely awesome, like those psychotic creative geniuses you hear about in films. Plus, I already know most of what they’ll be teaching us, I want to be challenged!

Which reminds me- I developed my first photo the other day! I was with a friend who’s doing the photography course this semester, and she let me take some photos with her film camera, and then showed me how to develop and print them in the dark room. It was magical, I’m falling in love with photography all over again. I was so excited at the photo, I carried it around all day with me, like a little child with a new toy.

 

The quality kind of sucks because of the scanner, it looks so much better in person, but this is it!

Which also reminds me- there’s a photography lecture and workshop at university tomorrow. The person giving it has studied under really famous National Geographic photographers! I am so excited. Plus taking my camera to university is always fun, I usually can’t be bothered because it’s so heavy, but something like this compels me to bring it.

I’m not very random today, strangely. More randomness to come later, inshaAllah.

 

act like Summer, walk like Rain

I haven’t blogged in a while, and the only reason I am doing so now is because I have an essay that I need to be writing. All it takes is some work needing to be avoided to get me into the blogging mood!

The essay is about the causes for the obsession with brand names among people of today’s society. After some research, I’ve found that the main cause is the need to belong to a group, the need to fit in with all the other people wearing Nike shoes or in a Hollister t-shirt.

My weekends have been fun alhamdullilah, been catching up with a close friend of mine- we take road trips around the city. Being lost in downtown Dubai for 3 hours, with an imbecile GPS, really creates great bonding opportunities. It also is a great trigger for insanity.

I’m choosing my courses for next semester, so excited about them! Writing, biology, psychology, world cultures, sociology, english lit… All so incredible! There’s a downside, though. I also need to do… Statistics. I think I’m ready to die now, thanks. I did it in school, found it confusing, and hated it. I hear at uni it’s ridiculously tough. Gulp.

I can’t believe this semester is nearly over, our final exams are just around the corner! 1/8 of my university education is almost over! What?! Slow down, life!

The weather nowadays is absolutely magical. There’s a constant beautiful breeze, sunshine, bright blue skies, fluffy clouds, pastel colored sunsets and sunrises. I really hope it stays like this for a while.

There’s a new Tim Burton remake of “Alice in Wonderland”, I literally squealed in delight when I heard about it. The cast is brilliant, I’m so excited to see it!

rest in Peace

My headscarves are usually colorful. This morning;

Friend- Weird- your hijab is black today. Why?

Me- I’m mourning.

Friend- Mourning what?

Me- The premature death of my social life.

Hello, university work.

beat, beat, beat

On the way out of class today, some random conversation. P said, jokingly “I hate you”. I replied that I was unhateable. K is like “How can you hate her, she’s always so happy!”. P decided he was right- about the happy part, anyway. I’ve been getting that from a lot of people lately- that I’m always happy. Alhamdullilah- but is it that obvious? Do I walk around with a constant grin plastered to my face or something? I’m pretty sure I don’t. That would hurt my face.

The next 2 weeks are full packed with work. Long hard endless work. I can’t wait to begin! Or actually, more like continue, since I never really stopped.

One thing I love about uni is meeting people, constantly, everywhere. You can’t walk for 5 minutes without bumping into someone you know. It is tiring at times, but fun for the most part. Smile and wave.

And times you don’t really feel like socializing though, and it is because of that there exists the “pretend you didn’t see the person and hope they don’t see you” technique. It’s very effective- tested and tried.

At lunch the other day:

‘I think I’m so cool’ dude- I’m planning on going to grad school in the US after I’m done with my bachelor’s, hopefully Miami, I hear it’s amazing.

Miami girl- Oh cool, Miami, I’m from there!

‘I think I’m so cool’ dude- Nice! Really though, I don’t mind where I go, just as long as it’s not in New York or Florida.

Everyone bursts out laughing, scarring his ego for life. Shame.

I have decided that gentlemen are not dead! Honestly, a while back I’d given up on the thought of chivalry, courtesy, and manners being existent among the youth of today. Alhamdullilah for being proven wrong- there are still men out there who can hope to someday be a fraction of what the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and the sahaba were.

I’m considering doing bio next semester. A friend of mine had a bio test today and I was helping her study for it, when I realized that I knew the answers to pretty much all the questions. I have to do one more science course, and I’m dreading physics or chemistry. So I guess bio it is inshaAllah!

Last weekend was such a great one. Friday I was an old lady, and Saturday I was a child. Friday consisted of bookstores, serenity, and walks along the beach. Saturday consisted of toy stores, imagination, and gummy bears. I guess I’m somewhere in between.

I can see the sunset from my bedroom window. It’s beautiful.

i should write a Book

(After a long phone conversation with my one of my close friends, describing to her the intricacies of my day, the ups and downs, with some talk of the annoyances of dealing with guys, I text her)

Me- “Oh I forgot to mention the awkward high five moment. Ah well, a story for another day!”

She replies- “Muslim girl meets coed university: the chronicles”

green&blue-12

I have a media design midterm tomorrow. There’s a whole lot of stuff to study, and I haven’t even begun yet. My procrastination skills are on an all time high. I’m oh so screwed.

J and I finally finished our essay. We met 4 times in the span of 2 days, for like 2 hours each. That’s a lot of time. M quit on us, said he’s dropping the course, so it was just the two of us. It was easier this way, though, J and I work really well together. It’s only meant to be the first draft, but it’s basically awesome, so I told him to print it twice more and just change the cover, having one that says draft two and one that says final draft.

There’s a blood donation campaign at uni tomorrow, I’m going inshaAllah. I hear they give you a cookie afterward. How awesome.

Green&Blue. The anti Joud would have dark eyes, because I have light ones. Or so they say.

I had my first home cooked meal in about 3 weeks. It was heavenly.

“And then a nuclear bomb exploded and the world ended.” That’s how I ended all my short stories as a kid. I convinced a couple friends writing an essay to conclude with that, and they actually played around with it to make it work.

You know how college libraries are meant to be a place for studying and acquiring knowledge? Well if you go into our college library, and check out what people are doing on the computers, what will you find them all doing? Facebook! It’s the addiction of our generation.

I have a headache. Off to study. Yay.

hello, Routine, I haven’t missed you a bit

I haven’t really felt like writing, lately. I’m not down or anything, I’m just not in the mood to put my thoughts down. I haven’t taken proper photos in ages as well, either. Uninspired, I guess.

I went out with a bunch of girls the other day. I call them girls, not friends, because I’m not so sure just how exactly I can be friends with them. I thought we were just going out for dinner to relax on the weekend, so I was a bit surprised to see everyone dressed up like they were going to a party. Little dresses, full make up, hair done, heels and nail polish. I’ve never felt more out of place in my life. One other like minded friend also felt the same way.

I’d overlooked something important about uni- just because people are nice and friendly, doesn’t mean you should be their friend. These girls are great, and we occasionally hang out between classes, talk and laugh. But I think that’s where it should end. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that we have so little in common. During dinner, I wasn’t interested in participating in any of the discussions, they all felt so meaningless.

I’d gotten used to being in a class of 10, close knit, like minded, absolutely incredible girls in high school- and I’d taken them for granted. I guess in uni you’ve got a huge spectrum of people, and you’ve got to pick who you want to spend time with and who you don’t. Here’s to hoping I’ll find someone who’s on the same wavelength as me.

I’m working on a collaborative essay with 2 partners for writing class, J and M. I mentioned J earlier, he’s the math major, and he’s pretty smart, so it’s good to have someone who I can actually work with on the same level, rather than having to step things down a notch, as tends to happen when teachers do the whole ’stupid student-smart student’ pairing thing. We have so little time to write this essay though, so we’ll probably be cooped up in the library all day tomorrow, trying to get it done.

The novelty of uni is starting to wear off, and so is all my determination to get good grades. Well, not really, but I have noticed that lately I’m not too concerned with awesomeness. It will pass, though, inshaAllah. I can’t believe the first semester is half over, time passes way too fast.

My family have become big on ‘early morning family breakfasts on the weekend’. Meaning that the only day I can even consider sleeping in a little is utterly destroyed by the rents forcing me to wake up and eat a gigantic meal. I am sleep deprived.

I have 2 midterms next week. Plus the essay due on Monday. Plus my Arabic presentation. Plus assorted uni events. Writing it down helps organize it in my head.

My blog posts have become really dull lately. Assuming that once upon a time, they weren’t, of course. I apologize for that. InshaAllah soon enough, I shall write the most incredible words you will ever set your eyes on. I’m getting to it, really.