Reflecting Back on my First Semester

So this is the last time I will be posting on this blog. It is the end of this semester and it is now time to reflect on my first taste of the college life.

As a college student I have learned that this isn’t as hard as I first anticipated. My senior year of high school I was ready to get out. Then over the summer my nerves started getting to me. Two weeks before the semester began I suffered from migraines from stress and lack of sleep. I was a wreck the night before the start of classes. I made my boyfriend drive with me to Southern multiple times before the semester started to ensure that I wouldn’t get lost commuting to school. Now I look back and laugh at myself. I learned that once I adjusted to having independence and control over my education, life became so much easier.

My biggest challenge so far has been putting myself out there. I barely spoke during all of my classes and never asked any questions. It’s not that I’m afraid that if I ask a “stupid question” or answer a question incorrectly that people would think that I’m dumb. I just never liked talking in general and figured someone else will ask the question I have and if they don’t then it’s not an important question. I knew I needed to change this habit.

I started off slowly by talking more in smaller groups. Then once I was comfortable with that I started talking more class discussions. It began with just answering simple questions that I knew I couldn’t answer wrong. Then I got more comfortable with putting myself out there. And I knew it was okay to get an answer wrong. By getting an answer wrong you help dismiss that answer as a possible right answer that someone else may have thought was correct. Then I started asking questions when I was confused with the information, especially in statistics.

I guess my biggest achievement is just being here. I’ve changed so much since I started college. I feel like I’m being intellectually challenged and I’m not being babied anymore. I’m speaking out more, socializing, and trying new things.

Being punctual and determined have helped me to be successful this semester. I hate being late because I believe it’s rude. So I prepare myself the night before so that I’m ready to get to class on time. I plan accordingly so that I make sure all of my work is done ahead of time. I use the library to get homework done. It’s a quiet place where I can be alone and focus on my schoolwork without the distractions of friends and technology. I’ve also used the computer lab to type up blogs, reports, etc. And I use the fire study are upstairs in the student center to be able to be in a quiet, comfortable environment to study or read.

I have done a great job with my time management. I’ve had no problems with getting my assignments done in plenty of time. I haven’t put the majority of my time into my schoolwork. I work 30+ hours a week and I try to have fun on the weekends but I have no problems with fitting in schoolwork. Having 2 hours in between every class helps because I’m forced to get work done since I don’t live on campus and can’t just go back to my dorm and nap.

My grades have been pretty good so far. I’m learning a lot in all of my classes except for anthropology. I’m learning useful computer skills and being introduced to new software, I’m learning the basics for my major, I’m learning a lot about statistics and the business world, and I’m learning a lot about important college habits. But anthropology just seems pretty useless to me. I usually zone out, but I’m trying to improve that. Last class I paid more attention, took better notes and even participated in the discussion. I feel as though I learned a bit more than I usually would have.

I’m not where I expected to be at this point, but I’m definitely improving. I knew it was going to be a long process of becoming more open and social. I think I’m headed in the right direction. Hopefully next semester I’ll be over the first hurdle and sprinting for the finish line.

I just want to keep headed the way I am. My time management is pretty good, but I can always improve on that. I want to spend more time focused on my schoolwork so I may need to cut back on my socialization. Although my boyfriend and I understand and respect when the other person needs to spend time on their schoolwork. Maybe I’ll try to set one day a week to just focus on getting assignments done.

Next semester I want to become more involved. I planned on joining clubs this semester, but with trying to adjust and balance college, work, and other aspects of my life, it just escaped me. I’ve done research and asked other students information about when and where clubs meet. I plan on at least joining one next semester. I also need to keep myself motivated. Half way through this semester I got a little lazy and slacked a bit. I’m going to try to keep myself better focused and motivated by reminding myself why I’m here.

Final Draft of my Final Finally Finished.....

Done

Improving my Paper

Oh happy day, this will be my last campus safari assignment! I figured this would be the perfect time to visit the writing center since I have an anthropology paper due for our final grade. I hate editing my writing. It seems like a tedious, boring, pointless task and I never have the attention span to sit down and tear apart the paper I just spent hours writing. I had trouble starting up my paper, but once I got past the introduction I was on a roll. But I was still apprehensive about the quality of my writing.

So I decided to have people who know what they are doing rip apart my paper for me. First thing I had to do was find out where this place was. I went online and found the room (EN A012). When I got there I was a bit nervous. I hate having people read my papers or view any other forms of my work. It makes me feel vulnerable to criticism and feeling stupid. 

I found nothing but friendly people who just wanted to help me. I sat down with one of the workers and we went over my anthropology paper. After talking and listening to her recommendations, I made the necessary changes to help improve my paper. Now I feel more confident about submitting my paper. Hopefullyprogress will show and I'll get a good grade on it.

2nd draft of inquiry final

Ok so I already know there are a few technically issues with my video project, but I won't have time to fix it before I present on Tuesday. Unfortunately my computer crashed while I was making my project. Luckily I backed it up on my flash drive. But now if I want to make any changes I have to re download every picture, movie, and song/sound. I will try to fix it before next saturday though.2nd Draft

Learning Community

My first Tuesday/Thursday classes began like this: I went to anthropology class at 11; saw some unfamiliar faces, at 12:10, trudged up 3 flights of stairs to find my inquiry class. While I waited I saw a few kids from my anthropology class waiting outside the same room. Then I realized as more people came they were all from my anthropology class. I was completely confused. When we went inside our inquiry professor asked us if we realized that our inquiry class contained the same students from our anthropology class. She then explained to us that we are a part of a learning community, and that we all had two classes (anthropology and inquiry) together. This was designed to help freshman students develop friendships and have people they were comfortable with to help work on class assignments together.

My first thoughts: wow this is stupid, it’s like we’re in high school all over again. As you may have guessed, I am not very social. It takes a while for me to make friends and I prefer to do independent work and just figure things out on my own. So I was not too thrilled about this learning community.  It took a while for the class to warm up together. And it took me longer to open up and talk.

But what really bonded us as a class was our anthropology professor. The ridiculousness of how she ran her class gave us a common bond, which we were able to vent about in our next class (inquiry). We were able to laugh, comment, express frustration about that class or assignments and everyone in the room could understand and relate. We were all going through the same thing, which helped us connect on a different level.

It also helped that the group was not cliquey and no one was a pain. Everyone was nice, friendly, and generally cool.  I don’t think I worked with the same group of people twice on discussions or projects. It was awesome that I felt comfortable going up to anyone in that class and asking if I could work with them on something. I did not have to worry about feeling intimidated or feel like I don’t want to work with a certain person because they’re lazy, or mean, or bossy. It’s very rare that you’ll find an entire class of students that are just so nice and open.

It took me a while to realize this but Mike is also in my psychology class and Ashley M is in my computer applications class. I knew no one in those classes before so if I missed any work or if I wasn’t sure when an assignment was due I was in trouble. By knowing that they are in my other classes makes in so much easier. Ashley and I would talk about how ridiculous our class is and we would ask each other when assignments are due or how to use a certain program.

Overall, I’m kind of bummed that I won’t be seeing my learning community next semester every Tuesday/Thursday. And in the beginning of the semester I couldn’t wait to get out of this “high school non-sense”. But now I realize it’s not juvenile, and it’s actually beneficial to our adjustment into college life. I hope that I’ll get to see some of these people in my next 3.5 years as an undergraduate. But if I never see any of them again I’ll always remember this great experience with such a cool learning community.

Post-College Life

My first semester as a college student is coming to an end and I survived it! I feel as though it went by so slowly and yet so fast at the same time. I know that doesn’t make sense, but some weeks it felt like I would never get through my first semester. And right after Thanksgiving I feel as though I have five seconds to get everything done. I only have one week left and then its finals time. It’s kind of scary if you think about it. I am excited to start my next semester, but I’m afraid that the rest of my time in school will fly by now that I have successfully adjusted to this crazy new world of being an adult and an independent student.

I have thought about my life post-college and it seems like a long time from now (especially since I’m planning on going to grad school and hopefully obtain my doctorate). But I don’t have anything set in stone. I want to travel and see the world. Even if I only get to travel to one country I’ll be happy. I just need to get off of this continent and see some of the world. I also want to travel to different parts of the country, to see the middle and west of the country (I’ve already seen some parts of the south). I want to settle down outside of Connecticut and New England in general. It’s nice, but I’ve always liked the south too.

Once I settle down I want to shoot for my dream job. It’s either in a hospital of a mental health institution as a psychiatrist. I’ve always been fascinated with the human mind and why people are the way they are. Any doctor can just hand someone pills to fix problems, but I have always been more interested in the counseling part of it. I have always been a good listener and I try my best to help people out whenever I can. I have not decided specifically what topic I want to focus on more, but I have had an interest in eating disorders and suicide. Hopefully I will have already decided by the time I graduate.

I want to own my own house, car, and just be financially secure. I am pretty good at managing my money and from first-hand experience I know the anxiety of not having any money, constant foreclosure notices, things like water, electricity, cable, etc. being turned off. I want to save enough money so that in a crisis, my family and I will be okay.

This leads me to my next dream for my life post-college. I want to start a family. I want to get married and have children. But I have always been torn about the children issue. I want to have my own kids and experience carrying the, and giving birth, but I am also passionate about adopting. I feel it’s almost pointless for me to have my own kids when there are so many more out there that need someone to take care of them. Maybe I’ll have some of my own children and adopt a few. Maybe I’ll decide just to have my own or if I can’t maybe just adopt all. I am sure that it will all work out. Whatever I decided, I’ll be happy to have kids.

Day of Peace

My campus safari for this week was not one of the original events on the list, but our professor made an exception and allowed us to count this event as one of the safaris. It was the Day of Peace Event. Another inquiry class organized this entire event. It was in memory of late Beatle John Lennon. With me being a Beatle’s fan, I was really excited to go to this event and see what it was all about. It technically started on Wednesday with a speech made by two World War Two veterans, one American and one German, where they spoke about their experiences. But the majority of events took place on Thursday. It started at 3pm and ended around 10pm.
First of let me just say that I loved the fact that they had so many things going on at a variety of times. Students were able to attend any part of this event at their convenience. I did not feel rushed through it and I also was not stuck around waiting hours for it. I decided to go around 3pm because my last class usually ends at 1:40, so I would only have to wait a little over an hour. I was thinking about coming later on in the night, but I did not want to waste my gas by going home and coming back and then going back home later. Plus I honestly would have gone home, fallen asleep, and just blown off the whole thing.

Unfortunately for me, my last class got out a bit earlier than expected (around 12:30). And I did not have my lap top or camera, so I could not work on my video final. But I decided to take this extra time to get something to eat and work on other papers that I have due in the upcoming week. So I guess it was a good thing because I was able to get some other work done while I waited for the events to start. Another great thing about this extra time was I actually got to enjoy being on campus for once. I usually get here, rush to class, spend time in between getting work done, go to my next class, then rush to my car to get home to go to work. It was nice being able to walk around and check out where everything is on campus.

So at 2:45 I started heading over to the Lyman Center. I saw a girl from my old high school and sat with her. The event began with a few speeches. I am not going to lie, I was kind of zoning in and out a little. I have a bad habit of doing that, especially when I’m tired. Then the step team and dance team performed. They were amazing. I’ve always loved watching stepping because it fascinates me how they can move so fast and create crazy sounds. And being a dancer, I can appreciate a good routine. Then there was a karate demonstration. I wish I could have stayed for it, but I had to leave. My younger brother does not have a working car right now and he needed a ride to work, and since my mom and older brother were at work he called me asking for a ride.

It would have been nice if I could have stayed longer, but I really enjoyed what I did get to see. That inquiry class worked really hard to set everything up. They should be proud of what they accomplished.

Final Project

I am going to be honest for a moment. My midterm video project sucked. I was not happy with the final results. I know I can do better than that. Problem is I waited too long and had to rush to finish it. And that process caused me nothing but migraines. So this time around I am going to do a whole lot better.  For starters, I gave myself more time. I immediately started filming. One helpful factor about this video is that we got to pick the topic and interviews are not required. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to find people to interview last time. 

 

I am ecstatic that we got to choose our own topic. Last time, when we were assigned one, I really did not care at all about it. Hence my lack of enthusiasm which led to procrastination which lead to my crappy movie. This time I chose a topic that I know and care about. I chose to do my project on the daily struggles of a commuter. I know from first hand experience most of the issues I’m addressing. And I know other commuters who have gone through some of these themselves and can get their perspective on certain issues.

For this week’s blog post we were asked to tell our readers how we plan on stepping up our game a bit and improve our videos. First thing is I made my introduction a bit more interesting. I set it up like the beginning of a True Life episode. I am hoping that this will capture my audience’s attention from the start. And during my transitions I’m setting it up like the transitions in Law and Order. The part where they say “The following takes place at blah blah blah….” and I want to try and incorporate the sound they use to. Another improvement is I have a lot more  actual footage than I did last time. I’m having skits to demonstrate problems like oversleeping and car troubles. I even filmed a car trying to start up with a dead battery and then people trying to jump the car.

I am also going to play around with the sound of the video. I did not have much time during the midterm project so I just threw songs in there to keep it from being boring and quiet.  I want to try to incorporate different sounds that apply to the topic I am discussing. For example: find car horn sounds to play while I’m discussing the issue of traffic. And then I want to add a song for the slides with words.

I am definitely feeling more confident about this project than I was about the last one. I have experience with the technology, I started earlier, I have a topic I enjoy, and I thought of ways to make my project more creative. I mean for my first draft I have over 5 minutes done and there’s so much more I want to add to it.

Video Final

So as you may have already guessed I’m not exactly excited for this video project. But as I said for the midterm, I really don’t have much of a choice here so I’ll just have to suck it up and trudge through it. (Luckily for me there are no required interviews). Our assignment is to basically bring up a problem/solution type situation college students face. And for my problem I decided to focus on something that I find relatable. My project will be issues of commuting.

 

Now this may seem a bit broad, but I basically wanted to go through the daily life of a commuter and the unexpected problems that almost every commuter has faced. From sleeping through the alarm, car problems, traffic, nowhere to park, running late, waiting hours in between classes with nothing to do, and having to rush home due to other obligations and missing out on campus events. I read that Louie is focusing on commuters’ lack of social life on campus, so I won’t go too deep into that.

I’m going to basically have the video run through a normal commuter day, but everything that could go wrong. Then I was going to go through the day and give helpful tips to prevent or fix the situation at hand.

Lecture

A few weeks ago our inquiry professor told us about the author Wes Moore coming to Southern to give a speech. She told us to save the date and highly encouraged us to attend.  The reason why he is so important to the freshman class is because we were given a copy of his book over the summer and very highly encouraged to read it during and after orientation. I did not mind going, but there was one tiny problem. The date of the lecture was my birthday. It was not exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday, but I decided to go anyway.

Now I am going to be completely honest for a minute. I did not read his book. I read the sections I was told to for orientation and then I attempted to read it later. I think I may have gotten through most of the first chapter before I gave up. I had no desire to read on and plus I am in the middle of reading a really good series. I mean, have you ever just got so caught up in a series that everything else you read is just so bland and boring? Well that was the situation I was/am in.

So I drove to Southern to go see Wes Moore and I’m honestly glad that I did go. He obviously talked about his book The Other Wes Moore. For those of you who have not read this book here’s a little summary. The author and another guy share the same name. They grow up in the same time era a few blocks away from each other. They both grow up fatherless (for different reasons). The author became successful and won awards. The other guy is in jail for life for killing an off duty cop during a robbery.

But Wes Moore just didn’t talk to us about his book. He talked to us about life. He said that everywhere we go we’re in a new surrounding and we need to adapt and shine in different scenarios. He also said that what’s important to us today won’t be important to us when we get older. We need to do what we love and makes us happy. Wes Moore wasn’t there just to talk about himself and his accomplishments and promote his book. He was there to share a story and to encourage us to live up to our potential.

Breaking the Shell

I did not get the chance to blog about the last group that presented on Tuesday because they took too long to post their readings and I had work so I only blogged about the first group. The second group covered the topic of dating. I liked that they covered all aspects of dating: on campus dating, long distance dating, hooking up, etc. And all of the dangers of dating in college.

I liked that they divided us up into groups for discussion. They gave each group two dating scenarios to discuss. Then they opened up each scenario for a class discussion. Some scenarios were a bit extreme, but it definitely was not a bad thing. They made each scenario different and took them to the extremes to make sure they covered every possible aspect of dating in college.

This group was also engaging. They asked us personal questions that allowed the discussion to get a bit personal and take it to a whole new level. But they also did not pressure us into revealing details we were too embarrassed to answer. They were not afraid to get personal, but they were not prodding. The group allowed the class to share information that they were comfortable revealing.

This Thursdays group is covering the topic: social life in college. This topic is relatable to everyone because we are all trying to become more social and adjust to college life. And since the majority of our Inquiry class lives on campus, it is a good topic to discuss.

The articles we were assigned to read were kind of interesting. I mean both listed ways to adapt and become more social. Some ways were a bit obvious: like joining clubs or attending sport events. But some were ideas that I never heard of and never would have thought to do. For example:  studying in the library instead of your dorm or hanging out at the gym to meet new people and stay in shape.

I am interested in seeing their presentation, especially since it is the last one. I want to see how they will make their presentation engaging. It should be easier for them because they have already seen each group present. If they were not sure how to make their presentation engaging they could get ideas from other groups and develop them into something different. I am concerned that they will only address students that live on campus. It is a lot easier to be social on campus than it is for a commuter. I hope they give tips for commuters with busy schedules.