Dead Week

"Show me a true blooded Aggie"

This is the absolute last week of my first year at Utah State. What a great year. I always thought that I would spend a year here and then transfer to another school. And now I can't imagine going anywhere else. Although my scholarships allow me to attend anywhere I want, I'm choosing Utah State because there is no place like home. I know I'm suppose to "spread my wings and fly" but I'm a simple chick who doesn't like change.

I'm taking two summer classes and haven't really decided if I want to work all summer or not. I plan on taking one trip out of here but other then that, Logan, UT will be my home for a very long time. If the next three years are as good as this one, I'll be happy with this decision.

Being a "My Friend" was a fun position to have my first year. It helped me stay involved and allowed me to view my first years progress. I couldn't imagine a better way to start off at Utah State. Gotta love our Aggie Pride :D

Ciao

Easy Breezy!

-Best "Finding Nemo" quotes-
Seagulls: "Mine."

What I like most about this semester is the fact that I only have one real final. My Engineering class is a Freshman orientation class and there is NO FINAL! My Rehabilitation/Special Ed. class has a pretty simple final. We are going to watch the movie "Finding Nemo". That's right, "Finding Nemo". Then we have to list 200 key terms that we have learned throughout the semester that can be related to the movie. An example would be paternalism: Marlin shows this towards Nemo because he thinks he knows what is best for Nemo and never asks Nemo what he wants. Or hypervisibility: The fish in the tank of the dentist's office were always visible to others and had no privacy. So that final is going to take some time but over-all it's not as hard as a chemistry final would be. In my English class we just turned in an 8 page paper and that's the most we'll have to do from now till the end of the semester. No final in English :) Of course no final in Billiards..that would be weird. Last but not least- Math. I have a final in that class but it's my only hard final so I have been stressing on that the most. Hopefully putting this much effort towards my upcoming Math final will pay off. If it doesn't...well it will be devastating. Anyways- three more weeks till school ends! From the photo you can tell that I'm getting tired of school right about now. As soon as summer hits I'll be begging for school to start back up again.

April Fools- you fools!

Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness.

Sacha Guitry (1885 - 1957)

I feel really bad because I just texted several people saying that me and my sister, Fattima, just got into an accident. Most of them texted back, but they know me too well. Half are saying "whatever Jo" and the other half are saying "PUT IT ON YOUR MOM!". I don't know when to text back but when I do, it's on like the crack of DAWN. I also want to prank the living daylight out of my friend Mariam, so I am up googleing what kind of pranks that I can torture her with. Of course, it has to be something on campus. If I was really evil I would make up some scandalous scholarship rumor; claiming that I overheard that she was going to receive it. That wouldn't be too mean...would it? Last year she called me at 1 am, crying, claiming that her and her boyfriend had just done a hit and run and didn't know what to do. I didn't realize that it was April fools, it being 1 in the morning. After I snapped back into reality I told her "I hate you Mama. Payback." That was last year. This year I must create some sort of diabolical plan that is both devious and hilarious. This might take me all night but wish me luck! I am a very determined person so I know that I will come up with something that USU will always remember. This girl will go down in history as the poor soul that Jawahir Ahmed pranked....I might record it actually :)

Lovely!

Welcome to the SAFARI

Last weekend I attend AFSA's annual African Night and it was spectacular! To me, it was one of the most entertaining and most organized dinners that any of the multi-cultural clubs have hosted this year. Speaking of dinner, the food was delicious! I helped out a little before the event and it was long process to decorate and cook as much as I could pitch in. I can't imagine how much time and effort this event must of taken behind the scenes. From the looks of it, it was probably a long-tedious process. They pulled it off well and I was very entertained. So many countries were well represented like Congo, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, and many other countries. These countries were represented through dance(music), clothing, art, and food. The most entertaining part for me were the Burundi drummers and the Meite sisters. Those two specific performances were insane! Not only was the night entertaining but it was also Educational. We learned that Khols was donating a generous amount of money to COEEF which is a fund that helps Ethiopian girls attend school. Showing them that they can empower their own future through an education. Also, since my parents are from Somalia I had to represent and I walked in the fashion show which was a blast. Overall, great night, lots of fun, and lot's of excitement! [: Ciao

Going once, going twice...SOLD

"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. "
Kin Hubbard

Twice a year Utah State has an annual bid-sale where they take items like desks, computers, chairs, speakers, keyboards, cars etc, and have a giant sale that's open for the public. Monday morning my father and I went to the giant garage where all the items are kept. We decided to go a day or too early and look around for what we wanted to buy. There were two keyboards, two 19" flat computer screens, and a scanner that we were eyeballing. We've gone previous years so we knew that if we didn't get there early Wednesday, someone would get to these specific items before we could.

Once we got home my father let me know the GP(game plan) and told me that on Tuesday night I better be well rested because he wanted to wake up at 7 a.m and stand in line until 9 a.m. He said "Once the doors open, go straight to the keyboards while I get the monitors. We'll worry about the scanner if there was time." It was an intense amount of responsibility..... but i was mentally and physically prepared to push people out of my way and stand in the cold for 2 hours. Tuesday night came along and I knew I had to sleep early. That didn't really work out when my friend "Kastumo" challenged me to an allnighter. Long story short; I fell asleep at 4 and thank goodness my father slept in and woke me up at 7:30 am. We got to the bid-sale at 8 a.m and there were only about 40 people ahead of us.


It was 9 a.m and they were just about to open the doors. Someone came and gave us a little speech "No pushing- no shoving and if you see an orange bid paper do not take that item. It has already been sold; it's considered shop lifting if you do! Alright, let's not make you wait out here any longer." So they opened the gate and everyone floored in single file line. Once we got in I followed the GP and went straight to the keyboards. When we were there on Monday my father and I stuffed the keyboards we wanted at the very bottom of the cupboard they were in. When I reached the keyboards I scuffed through and got the keyboards we saved. FIVE DOLLARS. On my way to the check-stand I grabbed the scanner. TEN DOLLARS. I met up with my dad who had the two computer screens. SIXTY DOLLARS EACH.

In the end we got everything that we wanted and spent less than $200 dollars. We actually ended up getting a computer tower as well. It was an early morning for me but well worth it. We looked at some of the cars on sale too. Can you say CHEE- to the-EEEEP. That's pretty much how it went down- long day; glad it's over! Until next time (:

Work it** Twerk it

"Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth."
-Mohammed Ali-

There are so many things going on at Utah State right now it's not even funny! Coming up really soon is PSU's (polynesian student union) annual luau which I will be performing in. There was about 5 dances that I wanted to learn, but I've just been so busy I have only been able to learn about 2 and a half. Which reminds me...I better learn the other half of that dance soon. I've also been busy with our African dance groups performances. We probably do 3 or4 performances a month for different organizations or schools. This month we did a
performance at a fundraiser that helped children in Ghana, a performance for Dominican night at USU, and a night called "the hunger banquet" that raised awareness towards hunger in African.

Besides dances we have our basketball team heading towards victory in the WAC tournament going on during spring break down in Las Vegas. I heard that MTV was going to be down there for their spring break this year which would be wild for the folks that are going down there for the game. Which by the way is everyone but me. Las Vegas couldn't handle me...of course.

I'm also looking forward towards 2011 Special Olympics as well, it will be the third year my sister and I are volunteering. I get to see a lot of the kids I worked with back in high school so I'm excited for that. Academics is going well! I am loving this whole Tuesday and Thursday class schedule ordeal. I have a lot more time to be involved but at the same time- my family has recently started hogging me all to themselves, which I don't mind at all.

Every weekend this month me and my sisters have gone down to Salt Lake City to hangout with our other sister who has recently gotten married. Her wedding was about three days ago, she made a beautiful bride. No more weekends out of town though, back to the bookwork and back to campus life! It was fun while it lasted- SLC gave me some nirvana. Until next time, good-bye to the beautiful month of February.

Authors galore...

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."- Maya Angelou

I remember reading some great books back in the day; the type of books that made you yearn to just get up and make a difference. Those that actually kept my interest were books about those who've gone through tough situations, only to still put their time and effort towards helping others succeed. Those were the type of characters I really admired and were envious of. To me it was always comforting reading these inspiring stories. I was, and still am, curious of their whereabouts far after I've read through the book. My first week at Utah state I took a connections class that all incoming freshman are required to take. In that class we read an amazing book called "Outcasts United" by Warren St. John. Our professor told us that Luma Mufleh (the main character) would be coming to Utah State to talk about the book and answer questions. I probably asked her about 50 questions while she was signing my book. I was shocked and delighted that she came to our school. I felt we bonded a tad bit when she actually pronounced my name right(very rare). Her life was really inspiring and it made it all the more real to actually meet her in person.

Later that semester I met another author named JoAn D. Criddle, who wrote "To Destroy You Is No Loss"- The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family. Her story described how she came in contact with a Combodian family, who suffered through the horrible Khmer Roughe, brought them to American and helped them get back on their feet. It also gave an intense amount of information about the Khmer Roughe. Of course when JoAn D. Criddle came I bombarded her with questions as she signed my book.

Just when I thought that this author streak couldn't get any better; I recently volunteered at USU's annual Latino Family Day. Where those with Hispanic decent where greatly informed on what our school has to offer. We had Judge Andrew A Valdez as the guest speaker. He shared his humble story on how he succeed in life. Letting us know that nobody can make it alone. I received two of his autobiography's, one for myself, and one for my younger sister, Fattima. He signed them both, giving us some helpful advice. It's nice to get some wise words from some really amazing people. Hopefully this streak keeps going because I'm lovin' it.
Peace in the Middle East.