Isla del Encanto

This past August I went on vacation to Puerto Rico with some of the girls in my sorority. Before setting my foot into the beautiful island, I had plans on eating a lot of food that we don't usually eat in America. The main thing that I go for when I travel is the food.
When I arrived there, we went to a Walmart to buy some stuff to stock up for the villa. We bought a ton of Ramen and spam and eggs. I guess it's an Asian American thing to save up on money and buying easy instant noodles while on vacation. The first thing we found aside from the Ramen was a KFC and then a McDonald's and then a Wendy's. Mind you, this is 4PM and we don't see a single local food place opened. I watch a lot of the travel channel, and anywhere that Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain went to was impossible to find. I guess what I find normal is seeing a variety of different restaurants on almost every block I walk around in New York City. Also those fast food joints was not any cheaper than stocking up on the ramen. The only "local" food place we found was a small bar called Charlie's Tacos. The tacos there were amazing. It was a soft tortilla shell stuffed with chicken, pork, or beef with mashed potatoes. I had it almost every day of the week that we were there for.

Another thing about PR was that I figured everywhere would be walkable distance. It turns out that we had to road trip everywhere for about 2 hours. One night we went out to Old San Juan, but it was no different than being in Times Square. The only thing different was that the names were in Spanish, like Senor Frogs. Party life was exactly the same as NYC. We somehow came across an Asian Fusion restaurant/lounge, and I felt like I wasn't even in PR at all.

I am native born, but my background is Chinese. Going to PR with 10 other Asian girls and 2 Asian guys made us stand out as a group. I guess maybe people in PR aren't use to seeing that many Asians in one place, but we were always gaped at like zoo animals. And all I heard was "las chinitas" or "los chinos". It was kind of uncomfortable. America is so diverse that running across someone who doesn't share the same ethnic background as you isn't such an unusual thing. But aside from the awkwardness of being stared at, everyone there was really friendly, particularly street vendors.

This lady who crafted handmade leather bracelets was a really welcoming person, and she was really curious about where we're from and all that jazz.
In the picture, the bracelets looked like this before the brown polish and the buttons were added on.




The amazing rainforest, El Yunque








The Bacardi Rum Factory

Who is this Extraordinaire person?

First thing that comes to you mind: Who in the world calls herself an extraordinaire?! Is she really that gassed up in her head?

To begin, my name is Caren C. Obviously, I'm a student in Prof. K's MGT 3120 class. This marks my third year at Baruch. I'm a junior, and I'm 20. I earned my place at Baruch as a SEEK student. SEEK helps students with poor grades and in need of financial aid. Easily said, in high school, I was dumb and poor.
Since I'm in the SEEK program, I had to start my freshman year early. I began summer 2007 with a class and some math tutoring sessions. I had no idea that ANT1001 was a real class and I ended up beginning my real freshman year with a low GPA :(

As my freshman year progressed, I searched for what would interest me. What can I make my major become? What is there to do on campus to brighten up my time between classes?
In the beginning I hated sororities more than anything. I hated the fact that catty girls could be so fake and dramatic while calling each other Sisters. This particular sorority named Kappa Phi Lambda had rushed me prior to my freshman year, and it continued to rush me until the spring semester. If you don't know, "rush" is a process in which girls want to get to know the sorority and its members, and might potentially become a part of them. (learn more at http://baruch.kappaphilambda.org/)
That spring, I made my decision. After seeing and meeting most of the Sisters, I realized that my stereotype on them was entirely different. They actually do philanthropic activities and are on campus to spread cultural awareness - things the I enjoy doing. So I went through the process and became one of the Sisters.
I'm really not a witty person. The name I came up with for this blog, Extraordinaire, is really my sorority's Sister name (most of you know this as pledge name or nickname, etc). In other words, I really cannot come up with a clever enough name for my blog.

Ever since my freshman year, I knew I was going to major in business, particularly accounting. After interning at a firm, I found out... I really hate math. I was never good at it. You can ask me what is 9x9, and it'll take me a whole lifetime to remember that the answer is 81. Thank god for smart phones with built in calculators.

Now I'm sitting here, stuck figuring out what I want to make my future career. At the moment, my major is Business Communications with Graphics Communications Specialization. I deal with artwork, mainly on computers. Ironically enough, I repel technology. I visit the Sprint store on a weekly basis because my HTC Touch Pro feels a little anti-Caren. I swapped it in for a Samsung Intrepid recently, and I have no idea how to manage this phone. So this assignment is actually kind of amusing to me, being that I don't know how to work a lot of things on a computer. Blogger is so similar to Xanga, and I never knew how to work that. It took me forever to know how to write a post!

Aside from my life at Baruch, I really enjoy going out with a people for bubble tea, frozen yogurt, ice cream, and more. In fact, I really love dim sum, but I would never wake up on a Sunday morning for it. I like taking a lot of morning classes because I rely on my dad to wake me up. Not only that, I hitch a ride off him since he works midtown anyway.
I'm generally a very nice person, but I don't like taking crap from people. I'll give a person up to three before I snap. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a mean person either. I'm superstitious - I believe in karma, and what goes around, comes around - therefore I will never hurt you :)
More about me... hmm... I have a cat.
She is the most ferocious furball I have ever seen. Trust me, you don't want to meet her. I am accident-prone. I recently did a slip&slide down half a flight of stairs and now I have injuries on my back and arms. I spill things - I carry a Tide-to-go pen. I also tend to walk into doors or trip over air, so please don't laugh :(

I love watching the food network and the travel channel. Oh, I actually met Anthony Bourdain once! I've attended Catholic school up until my junior year in high school. I don't believe in Valentine's Day because it's so commercial; but I wouldn't mind being lavished with gifts heheh. I'm a little OCD. I clean stains until I come to a realization that it will not go away. I absolutely despise germs. I have stage fright. One day, I will join PETA. My favorite book is The Giver. I can watch the Lion King over and over again without being sick of it. Im not talented, but I love kareoke. I love traveling, I'll go anywhere every chance I get. I'm easily distracted, and my attention span is the size of a teaspoon. I hate going on computers unless I really have to. I enjoy community service, really, I do.

I donate my time and my efforts in fundraising money for philanthropic causes, and my sorority helps bring me to these sort of events. So we will be having a bake sale some time next week. Be sure to stop by! It'll be on the second floor of the Vertical Campus building. See you all there!