Sexism within Engineering classrooms....

Lets talk about things I hate strongly dislike; 

I really hate bugs and ugly insects, may God forgive me but I do hate them. 

I hate being disappointed.

I hate being sad/feeling guilty

I hate being sick 

I hate when ignorant close minded people try to make a legit argument with me even though what I say is irrelevant to them and will not change their view no matter what. 

Most importantly I hate racism, sexism etc

as you may already know, I am a muslim hijabi (scarfed) living in the most islamophobic country in the world-America...so as that life can already be difficult for many. But thankfully I have very thick skin and people usually change their minds ones they get to know me. 

I am also a civil and environmental engineering majored FEMALE. enough said. knowing that its 2012 and its been years since females have lost their lives and fought for just being heard, still nothing seems to have changed the mind of some males. all theyve learned to do was SAY they "accept, respect, cherish, value" females opinions. Nothing but talk. 

of course I said SOME men not all, as I am not trying to come off as a hypocrite talking about sexism towards females and being sexist toward males. 

I do believe that there are somethings men are better at that women- (ie hunting a woolly mammoth) but at the same time there are somethings females are better at than the male race. However, even-though this is whith most it doesn't happen with ALL. these "stereotypes" varry depending on the individual. 

Almost ALL the males ive had classes with (all my engineering classes) have "looked" down on us females, and always ALWAYS expected us to do worse because we are "stupider"...that is until the marks come out and those few males that get pissed and angry and swear its unfair all because A GIRL  did better than him. 

I had many incidence like this, just recently after I got a lab-report back (which I worked extremely hard on) a male friend of mine was so eager to know what my grade was (they're always eager to know your grades in order to compare your stupidity with their "bad luck") and after he saw my grade and lab which was way more done than his, all he said with an angry tone was that "the grader likes girls"    WHAT?!?!, are u serious? so if im a female and I do better than a male its because the professor  or grader likes girls more, yet if you do better its because your smarter? get out of here!

it really such a sucky feeling when people dont even LISTEN to your opinion, for example if a guy asks a question and you have an answer and his friend doesn't and no matter how much YOU explain it they will assume your wrong and not take you seriously. or if your having an argument with a male and HE IS wrong and your not the others males will believe his argument over yours. for example I was having an argument about Islam to this other Muslim male which happens to be in engineering classes, clearly what he was stating was WRONG. yet somehow, the listeners (also 2 males) believe him over me and they just wanted to end the argument saying its okay and they were laughing and not taking me seriously I even caught one of the males winking at this muslim to stop just so the argument would stop, and of course being the strong female that I am I made sure I called him out saying that I saw his winking. we ended the argument by saying we will ask the sheikh on the Thursday night lecture held in our university. I made sure to let him know that I WILL NOT forget about it and we will ask it in front of everyone including the majority of male muslims there. later on that night after a few hours he texted me with "you were right, I asked my sister and she was actually married before he saw her hair I just got confused" so no need to embarrass him on Thursday. I appreciate his honesty but I do not appreciate that he made me look like an idiot in fornt of the non-Mulsim males and did not appreciate that he did not go out of his way to make sure they get the right truthful answer to their question rather than believing a lie...which is very serious when it comes to Islam. 

I can go on for hours about the events that I have encounter being a female in engineering not to mention the professors and staff. this makes me so angry but motivates me more to work harder so they can be even angrier that me "just a female" is getting higher grades than them ;)

xoxo-SL

university needs balance!

:D

Happy Friday <3

EXAM EATING ME ALIVE

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all great. 

Im on my "spring break" week, this semester is flying by, 

Ive realized that I tend to stress my self a lot before,during and recently even AFTER an exam. 

Like I would come home, and remember all the questions and think to myself  "OH MY GOD, I DID THAT WRONG" and than think of all the different ways that I should have done it. its never happen to me before so I dont know about this semester. 

lately my Engineering Mid-term is EATING ME ALIVE. Im thinking of all the negative things, Im thinking of how many things I think I did wrong. especially when that class only has two exams so each exam is worth A LOT. 

I was watching a documentary today and they were talking about how stress literary "makes you stupider", meaning the stress triggers a function in your brain which is the same function that allows you to remember things. and they used a university student as an example (just what I need). saying that you take a GOOD student, give him loads of work stress, he studies a lot but due to the stress he is unable to use his brain to its full capacity, thus making him less smarter than he really is. or less able to use the "weapons" he has (in the brain). which sucks, Ive come across many students that use/smoke marijuana to calm themselves, of course not too much as we know smoking weed does kill your brain cells. so yeah, this guy I know, extremely smart and is always calm and cool and is able to use his brain to its full ability and he is one of the top students. HOWEVER, due to my religious believes, many scholars say that it is forbidden for me to smoke weed, so I am not taking that as an option :( 

although there is no real saying in the Quran that say weed is forbidden, but since a lot of scholars agree its better safe than sorry. 

do you guys have any ideas or tips on how to completely distress, keep calm at all times specially during exams and stuff such as presenting and so forth. 

thank you guys for reading <3

XOXO-SL 

Japan Earthquake.

September 11th world trade center. 

January 11th- Haiti earthquake. 

March 11th- Japan tsunami and earthquake. 

damn. </3

Happy new year!

First I'd like to welcome the new year :) 

happy new year to you my lovely readers! and I PRAYING to God that this be a good year! 

this is my new years cake :) 

xoxo-S.L

a maghribiya's new year resolution

2010 was a difficult year. I have been through a lot this year and in return  grew so much wiser. I have been through difficult heartaches;  from a person who I loved deeply, to a family member, to some of the best friends I have ever met. But loosing them made me stronger, wiser. Going through some difficulties made me turn to the one Person that is and will always be there for me; Allah (God). I became closer to my God, I started wearing Hijab and increased my interest and knowledge for Islam. 

After all, I am much happier with myself, I learned my own strength and learned to greatly love myself and not feel guilty or selfish about wanting to make my self happier before others. I am much more confident, I know what I want and what I don't want. and I will not let anyone try to bring me down. 

anyhow, goodbye 2010, heeeloooooo 2011! here are 11 resolutions for this new year.

1.Become more organized!!!!

2. Get a cute little notebook, and write a to-do list everyday. 

3.Get a grant tutor for calc, physics, and chemistry. 

4.NOT TEXT IN CLASS

5.Sit away from my loud and obnoxious friends in class to focus more. 

6.lead a healthier life style. 

7.grow my hair even longer.

8.focus focus focus in uni. 

9.DO ALL MY HOMEWORK ON TIME. 

10.get straight A's in alllll my classes. 

11.stay happy :D

okayyy, so CLEARLY my new year's going to be all about my education. Im really determined but I feel like last semester I was goofing around and stuff and its time to get serious again :)
what are some of your new years resolutions?

New year clebration?!? WHY SHOULD I celebrate exactly

Instead of feeling happy and the need to celebrate the new year, I have a weird unwelcoming feeling. Specially when I think of the last year's new years. I swear it feels like it was last week, last year on January,01,2010 at 12:00 I was at the airport in Dubai waiting in line to get my passport checked. I was excited to start the New year in a different country, this year I will be at work. I just feel sad when I think of how fast it went by and quite honestly I am scared of how fast it will keep going. its scary, I dont want my life to rush by. I mean people are always complaining "AH CAN SUNDAY COME ANY FASTER, CAN THIS HOUR GO BY ANY FASTER" and before you know it a whole year goes by. then two, three, four suddenly your whole life just passed by without you even noticing or feeling it.
I wish for my time to go as slow as possible, I want to feel every second of my living years to come.

all I remember is being at the airport in Dubai, random people in line saying "HAPPY NEW YEARS " to me, my mom hugging me and screaming happy new years..........................

12 months

52 weeks

365 days 

8,765 hours

525948 minutes

32556926 seconds LATER 

Im sitting in my bed blogging about how fast that year went by. 

where did all that time go? I dont know about you, but I see NO reason to celebrate. 

but I will anyways, not for the sake of the new year but just because I love celebrations :P