Dear Diary,

I feel: 😁(great)

Life isn’t perfect; nothing is. However, with a good mindset, I can see everything will be okay. I’ve never talked to so many people about how I feel and think before now, and it turns out, I feel great because of it. Even though my life is one of the biggest roller coasters ever right now, I feel confident in knowing I will be okay.

This morning we had a class called Ethics. I wasn’t sure what it was going to cover, and it turned out to be a great class. This class focused on ethics in a professional setting, especially regarding moral dilemmas and the subjective difficulty of defining what is morally right and wrong. Eliot also sat in on the class, and he brought up great questions to get us talking. I love and hate discussing moral dilemmas, because there is no solution. It’s so easy to play devil’s advocate for someone’s idea, and the problems we’re trying to address are so complex.

Karina and I got lunch early, because we were both hungry. Karina and I had a great conversation about political theory, history, and professionalism. I really enjoyed talking with her. She’s so knowledgeable! Especially since she isn’t a computer science major, it’s exciting to understand her thought processes and perspectives. She’s in a design major too which requires a whole different way of thinking about products, and it’s really cool to learn and discuss differing perspectives.

After lunch, I got to meet with Professor Li one on one. We addressed my feelings regarding the shift in our project, and I understand why the shift was made. It was unexpected, but the reason it’s occurring is because our team was doing so well with the work they’ve been giving us. It’s fulfilling to know this change is because they believe in our ability to accomplish more. We also talked about life and education and stress. Professor Li is so nice, and I’m really glad I got to speak with him.

This afternoon, we had a human computer interaction class with Professor Gilbert. We talked about human error and how to give a talk.
For human error, it was really interesting to see the wide variety of ways to categorize human error when interacting with a product. One of the fun challenges we saw was the microwave race where different people try to complete the same task on different microwaves at the same time.
Professor Gilbert also gave us tips for giving a good talk. He gave a great idea of standing on a plastic bag if you fidget. I will definitely try that the next time I practice. We also did an activity where we put together a three minute talk in five minutes.

Tidbit(s) of information:

• This is a shoutout to Jack, because he wants one. Also, because Jack is super friendly, funny, and always willing to help.
• Chocolate milk is amazing.
• Everyone is so nice and supportive!

Sincerely,
Lara