As I mentioned in my last post, this week is hell week! So much is on my plate. Today (Tuesday) was a very tough day. The first sign it was gonna be a challenging day came at breakfast, when I realized that I had no eggs, no milk or cereal, and no bagels either. There say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While for me every meal is the most important meal of the day, breakfast is fundamental to get me going. I ended up warming up TORTILLAS and filling them with peanut butter and strawberry jam. A new type of PB&J! Definitely not as good as normal, but, you know, I was hungry, and it was actually pretty good.
My best-girl-friend Alyssa came pick me up (late) like every Tues./Thurs. It works well because I tutor for Stats 9-11am on those days in the Math Lab, and she usually goes there at the same time to do her stats homework. So it works out perfectly. She is not in the class I am a Gateway tutor for, but I help her out when she asks. Also, rides to school with her are great because she is so hilarious!
While I have a test in all of my classes, fortunately the Stats class that I tutor will have an exam next week. That means that this Tuesday I only had a regular number of students to help. I tutor right before their class, so on exam days, I get so many students come see me with a thousand questions and that’s very tiring!
Next, I walked across campus, to the Humanities building, to attend my Art History class. Now we are talking about Roman arts, which is interesting to me, and I think it’s funny because the professor often asks me if I have seen in person the art that we look at in class, like the Colosseum or Piazza San Marco in Venice. Most of the time, the answer is yes, so he starts discussing with me about them. He also asks for help with the pronunciation of some words, or he asks what it means, and I think it’s pretty funny (in a good way) that all these people (yes, you, Americans) are studying art from my country and see it as beautiful, while for us, Italians, those statues are mainly a place to sit down when all the benches are taken and you don't want to stand while eating your Cioccolato & Stracciatella ice-cream…
Next up was my Philosophy class, where we talked about thought, language, and experience, and how they all relate.
Then, I usually have a break from 2 o’clock to 5:30pm, when my Enterprise Launch class begins. Not yesterday. In fact, I usually write my speech before Monday, so on Monday I only need to rehears a bit and be ready to deliver my 2-minute business pitch in class. This week, however, I had some problems putting together a presentation. The pitch was about the financials of my business, which is a Software as a Service (Saas) type, and I was having trouble figuring out some details in my costs. Anyway, I wrote the speech, and then took the rest of the time to cut it down to 2 minutes. It is very challenging to explain a business concepts and a thorough financial projection fitting everything in only two minutes… The aha! moment arrived at 5:15, which gave me about 10 minuted to practice… Fortunately, once in class, I noticed I was scheduled to go last. This is something I usually hate, because I am usually prepared and I just want to get it over with, but yesterday, that was good news. A few minutes into class, after presenting the three millionaire entrepreneurs who would have been judges for our pitch presentations and business concepts, the professor announced that she wanted to change around the class structure. Instead of letting everyone give their speech and then give us an opportunity to talk to the mentors, each team was given 15 minutes to be on stage. 2 minutes for the presentation, 2 minutes for questions, and 11 for feedback and chat. That meant that I had about 2 hours of time before it was my turn. After watching a few presentations, I walked away and I memorized my presentation in about 40 minutes, talking to the air outside of class. I noticed that all three of the presenters that went before me were not able to conclude in time, so I knew it was critical I memorized the speech timing myself in order to make sure I was not going to go over.
I did a good job. And I also got valuable feedback, so I was happy. It turns out, the winners were another team, the same team that has won 3 of the previous 4 pitches. They obviously have a good product and great presentation skills. I got an honorable mention, which is not much but it is encouraging.
When I got home past 10pm my brain was fried. So, I made myself some unhealthy dinner, brushed my teeth, and then watched my favorite show on Netflix until I fell asleep.
P.S.: How To Get Away With Murder is an amazing show and I usually do not watch TV series at all. I recommend it to anyone who has not watched it yet, just like a friend of mine did with me about 2 weeks ago.
A presto,
- Fede
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