The journal of a Girl's Journey through her First Semester of College

        August 26^th 2012

I woke up as a shy young girl ready to take the next big step in her life; college. My things were packed in boxes for months and everything was set to go except me. Why was I still so scared to make this next step in my life when everyone else seemed so happy to leave? Southern I knew was not my first choice, and I was scared of what would happen.  But sooner or later it was time to go so I got in the car and we were off. 20 minutes later we arrived at my new not so permanent home, Southern Connecticut State University. Unpacking all my things with my parents felt unreal. The hardest part would probably be when my mom hysterically cried in the parking lot after I repeatedly told her I’m only 20 minutes away and even just a phone call. After my parents left it was time to start my new journey. Of course with my luck it would have to start off alone. My roommate would not be moving in for a few more days and I had no friends yet. To the right is a picture of a compass bracelet my parents gave me when I moved in to help guide me in the right direction through college.

August 28^th 2012

Being alone is never fun unless you plan to self-reflect on your life and which in my case I had done enough of. Today I met one of my best friends named Jess Hoffer. We were both in the same position; well in her case she hated her roommate. We became best of friends and college seemed to get the tiniest bit better for me. I was so proud of myself; I came out of my shell and introduced myself. I’m always afraid to talk to people, I feel like they won’t answer or just don’t want to talk to me. But enough was enough and if I was starting a new journey I needed to change some things about myself. That was definitely one of the many accomplishments I have made my first semester. Now I am a much friendlier person and have no problem making new friends. The picture to the right is my friend Jess.

August 29^th 2012

The first day of college classes! My first class just so happened to be botany. Walking into the classroom I felt like I didn't belong already. Everyone around me was in their 20’s at the least and already experienced in these types of lecture classes. Then their sat little Gabby in the front eager and nervous and just a stomach full of feelings and emotions; which continued through my botany lab class, my math class, and my computer class. I already had so much homework to do and it was time to see how well I could do. For the first few weeks of college I was doing really well. I studied every night for my classes, reviewed my notes. My homework was also done on time and my grades were amazing. And then it took a turn for the worse.

September 6^th 2012

My best friend dies. College was going so well for me and then in a few days span my world came crashing down around me. My boyfriend’s mom and I have been close for years always talking giving advice she was like a mom to me. She suffered from a stroke and died. This point in my life was probably one of my biggest challenges. I didn't eat I didn't sleep I did nothing. I would go sit on a bench outside of Earl Hall and just watch everyone for hours just sitting on this one bench. On top of it my roommate was being incredibly rude and would come in at 3 in the morning with her friends being very loud when she knew what I was going through. My grades started to slip. As it turned out my friend Jess moved back home, I stopped doing my homework or I would do half of it and just never finish, I didn't even study for tests anymore which if you know me you would know something is very wrong if I don’t study anymore.

October 2^nd 2012

I meet Natalie and Amber. We met in inquiry and from that day forward we became best friends. They brought happiness into my life again and things started to get better. But with new friends I learned that also means having to balance your school work and friends. I’ll admit, I was having so much fun with them that I started to slack off on my work or barley do it. But I saw I was falling into the same pattern as before and it was time to change. I learned a few tips

1.       You can go have fun with friends after you finish your homework

2.       Find a time during the day where you and your friends can all go to a quiet place like the library and study and do your work together for a few hours

3.       Procrastination is like a bug that keeps buzzing around you, but you have to not let it get you and keep working

4.       Once you see your hard work gets you better grades you won’t want to stop; hard work will pay off

5.       Make sure you stay organized so as when midterms and finals come around you can look back at these organized notes and study

November- December 17^th 2012

                I continued to manage my time well and get decent grades on midterms, which only made me want to work harder for finals. I studied, did my work, and had extra time to hang out with friends and finally fit some sleep into my busy schedule. One struggle thought I noticed was with my botany class. It was a very challenging lecture class for me throughout the whole semester, but I never gave in and dropped it or gave up. I worked as hard as I could throughout the whole semester not only in that class but in all my classes, and now it is just a waiting game to see my final grades.

                December 18^th 2012

                I am officially done with my finals; I have successfully finished my first semester here at college! I would say that this semester has been an adventure and quite the journey. I was shy at first, but stepped out of my comfort zone and made friends. My life took a turn for the worse but it got better in time and I finished off my semester with success and could not be more proud of myself.  Here are some of the things I learned

1.       Moving into college is hard but trust me in time your parents will run out of tears and accept it

2.       Don’t be afraid to get out there and make friends! Step out of your comfort zone!

3.       Sometimes life flat out sucks and when you reach rock bottom there is nowhere to go but up

4.       When your roommate is incredibly rude and not respectful talk to your residential hall director and make the switch

5.       Always do your homework before you hang out with friends

6.       To not procrastinate go into a quiet place like the library and turn off your phone

7.       You need time management skills to ever succeed in college

8.       Don’t eat too much Cafeteria food

9.       Stay organized with your notes, make sure you have notebooks, folders and binders for each class

10.   Never give up because this new journey in your life is all about making mistakes and learning from them

              My journey has only just begun but yet I have grown up so much. I've succeeded, I've failed, I've made mistakes, but most importantly I have learned. I have a long way to go but with fingers crossed I can only pray my journey continues in the positive direction. I know along this journey I have much more to learn and experience, but I will take it all in through my college experience and only make it make myself a better person and succeed; and with what I have already learned so far I can only learn to not make those same mistakes. What I see in my future right now is a woman with a degree in her hands, who knows majoring in what but she is happy and so proud of herself.

I lied, this is my last Campus Safari!

        For this week's campus safari I decided to visit the office of Study Skills Enrichment. They are located in Engleman C 106. They offer workshops on learning methods  self improvement skills, and education. These workshops are provided to everyone to help enrich  their educational experience here at SCSU. They also offer something called the Campus Outreach which are workshops as well that they present for any clubs at SCSU. Overall the office of Study Skills Enrichment cover the groundwork to help students with time management  test taking strategies, and note taking and study skills. It is a great place to go if you need any help with the listed topics above or just want to learn more about the topics and enhance your ways as a student. Below is a questionnaire the office offers to help show you if you need help with your study skills.         

Sink or Float

Throughout this semester I have times where I have succeeded and times when I failed. I would say one of my successes would have to be in my botany class. I am the youngest person in that class as of most of the students has already taken it before since they did not pass it the first time. Not only have students told me this professor was hard but even other professors as well. Another thing I learned was that many of the students already took bio 102 so they had some background knowledge to this class where as I had none. When I first started this class I could tell it would not be easy and require a lot of hard work. The tests were very hard and my lab was okay. I had a quiz every Monday and Wednesday as well which I pretty much got 100’s on. Towards the end of the semester though the class got even harder and it was very hard to keep up with. I thought I was failing because the professor started to make the tests even harder. But I kept trying my hardest and pushing through and now I have a B in the class and I could not be prouder. I knew if I tried my hardest and did not give up then I could do it.

                One of my failures I would have to say was in my math class. I was doing well but then we recently moved onto a new chapter and I did not understand it. I had no time to go to the tutoring center and I ended up doing badly on the test. I was disappointed in myself because I know that if I just sat down for an hour and just focused on that then I would have finally understood it. 

Time for the Finished Product

                For my final project, I am not completely finished but am in the process of it. So far what I have done is write some bullet points to support some of the paragraphs that the Professor gave us to help organize our thoughts. I have been trying to support these ideas with specific evidence from my life here at Southern and my own personal experience. For some ideas I found it hard to relate it to my life here but for others I found it rather simple. I found that by providing this list it helped me not only organize my thoughts but it showed me my life through my first experience here at Southern. I was able to see how far I really have come with a lot of things some including my procrastination, my grades, and even achievements I have made and places where I have fallen and not done my best. This list I have made to help support those ideas has given my final project a direction.  I am going to focus on what I have accomplished and achieved but also what I still need some help with. I have not yet figured out a way to put it into an interesting format but I am still working on that.  Right now I am just trying to organize my ideas and create reflections that mean more than what they state, I that makes sense. I want my reflections to affect people in some way in either they relate or have had the same experience. I think where I should really start though is to organize all this into a clear and distinct beginning middle and end. I think the finished product will be a success and truly provide am honest evaluation of myself. 

 My last and final Campus Safari

      For this week's campus safari I attended Day of Peace. The event started at 3pm on Thursday at the Lyman Center and ended at 10pm. I performed at the event with SPDC and we did a lyrical dance. Although the event started an hour late it was a lot of fun. I didn't stay the whole time but I saw a few acts and they were good. I thought it was nice how all of Southern's clubs and teams all came together to create one performance together in a Day of Peace. It was really a wonderful event with an even more incredible meaning behind it. Below is an image of a band that performed.

Procrastination Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZC9cS-gtDw&feature=plcp

        For my video, I decided to use the topic of procrastination. I found that this is something college students deal with on a daily basis. Some try and learn from their mistakes while others don't know how to fix their procrastination problems. In my video i decided to go with the topic of the MTV show True Life. True Life follows and records people to see if they learn from their mistakes or continue on with their bad habits. In my video I used two students at Southern and showed one student which succeeded and one that failed. With the student that succeeded you can see his tips on how he improved. On the failed student you can see how her future will basically be since she doesn't want to put in any effort. Overall both videos show you what procrastination causes and the effects it has on your everyday life. By putting assignments and studying for tests off another day it will finally come to the day of that test or the due date for assignments and the procrastinator will not be ready or prepared at all.

"The unknown is a fearful place, and anything new is a step into the unknown."

-Twyla Tharp

                Overall I thought “The Creative Habit” was a good book. It taught you how to shape yourself all around to become a better creative thinker. What I liked most about this book was that it is the few of many books I've read that actually ties back to the beginning. Most books have weird titles and you never know why sometimes. With Twyla’s book it all made sense to me once I finished the book and in class today when I happened to actually read the title of the book without just glancing at it.  What Twyla was trying to get you to do throughout the whole book was to make creativity a habit.  To bring creativity into your life you have to be accepting and willing to make it a habit. By following all the steps in her book one can then make creativity a habit in their life from now on, or realize it has been a habit in their life this whole time. Throughout her life she has been striving to make creativity a habit and has done so and provided in this book the steps to not only begin creativity but once you find it, how to keep it rolling and where to go with it.

                Twyla’s book taught me a lot and I’m glad I was able to take so much from it.  She was the one who finally showed me why I have such bad stage fright, why I hate public speaking, and etc. It was because of fears always in the back of my head. I never really thought to take notice of them until I read her chapter titled “Rituals of preparation.”  In it she has a list of fears that always paralyzed her creativity. I found that I pretty much relate to all of them. This list of fears showed me the root of my problems I mentioned before, I just never took the time to actually try and see what was stopping me. Now that I have discovered what has been getting in the way of my creativity, I can work on getting rid of these fears to better help myself.

Autonomy 

                 For this week’s Inquiry class we went to the Library to learn more about what it has to offer for its students. The Librarian Wendy showed us floors one and two. On the first floor she pointed out some places that a student can go to for help with any homework assignment and these included the Reference desk and the Circulation desk. On the second floor we went to the computer lab while she showed us a tutorial of how to find a book or any journal article on Southern’s Library website.  I learned how to research books on this website and where to find them and overall it showed me finding books in the library are not as hard as it may seem.

                One thing we were instructed to research was autonomy or a form of it. I found a book called “The Property Tax and Local Autonomy.” It proved to be a good resource because it provided many examples within the text of how tax-base sharing undermines the efficiency of the property tax. A journal I found was called “Autopoiesis and Natural Drift: Genetic Information, Reproduction, and Evolution Revisited.” This came up as a result of typing in biological autonomy. The journal proved to be a good resource because it had a list at the beginning of over 10 resources that helped contribute the facts into creating this journal.

                Aside from forms of autonomy, the general meaning of it that I learned today was that it is the right of self- governing, directing freedom, and moral independence.  This applies to me as a first-year student because within the freshman class there are those that are self-motivated and some that are not. Freshmen should try and be autonomous, and set that goal for themselves instead of entering college with a mindset of not even trying. An autonomous freshman will succeed because they are well rounded in the sense that they have self-motivation, independence, and appropriate mindsets.

Campus Safari

For this week’s campus safari I decided to do #8 which was to visit the office of the secretary of the department you are majoring in and ask about the process of getting an adviser  As of now I am majoring in Biology and went to the main office which is located in Jenning’s Hall on the second floor. The secretary there is Xan Walker. She explained that to get an adviser in this department you have to fill out a blue sheet and put down your major and personal information. From there you will be assigned an adviser that has studied in that concentration of your major. I was not allowed to take a picture of the mailbox in the biology office but here is a picture of where the office is located. 

Brown Eyed Girl

               For this week’s blog, we were to pick an exercise out of Twyla Tharp’s book “The Creative Habit.” I decided to choose exercise 9 on page 75-77. She wants you to take a picture of you, you with your family or any picture of yourself, and study it. “What do you see in it that is indisputably similar to your life today, to the person you’ve become?”(77). I decided to choose a picture from when I was about 9 months old. My mom took this picture on my first Easter and she always used to tell me how it captures exactly who I am.

                The reason my mom told me she took this picture was because of my eyes. My family would always call me their Brown Eyed Girl from Van Morrison’s song.  What I can take from this picture is that my eyes are big and brown and always deep in thought. From such a young age I was observing everything and just taking in the world around me. I find that today I still do the exact same thing. I’m always deep in thought just taking in everything as it comes my way. I’m a very observant person and even as a baby I was too. I also can see from this picture a little girl with eyes that hold so much curiosity but yet have a hint of confidence in them. It’s as if I’m questioning things and observing but yet I’m ready for what comes my way. I like the scratch mark on my face above one of my eyes. It shows that I was always exploring and not afraid of anything. It didn’t matter if I got hurt or not it never bothered me, as long as I was crawling and exploring new things I was fine. Overall I see a girl that is curious yet ready to take on the world little by little. She always looks at her mom and dad for support with her big eyes but she is ready to take on anything.

                I would say that this picture basically describes who I am today. I still observe everything around me and am still curious about things to this day. I’m always ready to learn and discover new things because I have always wanted to know as much about the world as I possibly could. I still have scratches but more specifically I have bruises on my legs from many things ,climbing West Rock, Dancing the list is endless. I still see the same girl today that I see in that picture just a little bit older, and now she has grown into a smart successful woman.

Face Your Fears

                “So I combat my fears with a starting-down ritual, like a boxer looking his opponent right in the eye before a bout.”(22) Like Twyla says in her book The Creative Habit, we all have fears that get in the way of her true potential, but to face them we must first define them.  To practice this she has given us an exercise to do which requires just that; putting a name to our fears.

                With most things in life everyone has those fears in everything they do. They always remain in the back of our minds as a constant reminder of what could go wrong. For me personally it depends what I’m doing with which fear is holding me back. When presenting a school project my fears are 1. That I’ll look stupid 2. I’ll blurt something out that makes no sense 3. Everyone can see how nervous I am 4. I won’t do the best I can.  These are the fears associated when I do anything related to presenting projects, or talking in public. When I’m about to do a solo or perform in a dance recital the fears that constantly run through my head are 1. I’ll forget the whole routine 2. I’ll fall or hurt myself 3. I’ll look like a bad dancer 4. I’ll recognize someone in the audience and get 10x more nervous. Taking a closer look at all these fears, it shows me that they’re taking away from my true potential. They stop me from achieving my very best and that shouldn't happen. Now when I do things with fears in the back of my mind, I will take them and try and prove myself wrong, by doing my very best and really not caring what everyone else thinks.  Like Twyla says, “There’s nothing wrong with fear; the only mistake is to let it stop you in your tracks.”(32)

Campus Safari

      For this week’s campus safari, I decided to join the fitness center. I was fortunate enough though to only pay $30 instead of $60 because they were giving away memberships for half price. Once you get your membership, you can go to the gym whenever you want. The specific hours are:

Monday-Thursday      7:00 am-10:00 pm

Friday                       7:00 am-8:00 pm

Saturday                   9:30 am-4:30 pm

Sunday                     2:00 pm-7:00 pm

They have many ways to work out once you are a member. You can run on a treadmill, lift weights or use any of the other fitness equipment. The gym also provides the students with classes they can take all times during the day. One specifically I know about is Monday-Wednesday are Zumba classes. They have yoga classes, weightlifting and many more to pick from. While there Natalie, Canisha, and I decided to do Zumba Pink which was an event that was to raise money for breast cancer. The Zumba teachers at the gym taught it and overall it was a fun time and all while serving a great cause. Here is the link to the article regarding Zumba Pink and the embarrassing interview they did with me... http://thesouthernnews.org/2012/10/09/zumba-shakes-it-for-a-cause/

“Creativity takes courage. ” 

― Henri Matisse

          

         Personally for me, Twyla Tharp’s book “The Creative Habit” has been very interesting. It is one of those books where I actually can pay attention to what I’m reading and not fall asleep because it does not interest me. I think Twyla was clever in how she set her book up. When reading it she makes words bigger than others or sets the page up differently than that of a standard page in a book. She finds a way to not only write about creativity but to also make that writing creative. What I liked a lot from reading her book are the struggles she talks about in regards to creativity. One of her quotes stood out which was “Some people find this moment-the moment before creativity begins-so painful that they simply cannot deal with it.”(5) I always find this to be exactly how I feel before starting something. I find it painful because I always have that feeling of fear that it won’t be good enough or I’ll make an idiot out of myself. But what I do find is that the feeling of fear does not last forever. Once you actually start the creativity process of what you are working on the rest will come naturally. This happened to me last year when I had to create a dance using dancers from the dance department to show in the senior recital. I had no idea what song to use or how to even start it. But after a few weeks I started trying and making choreography and soon it all came together perfectly. But the time before when I was in the decision making process was the hardest part because Twyla was right, it is so hard to deal with because it’s not only stressful but it brings up all these free floating fears; that continually are what you can only think about getting in the way of your creative process. 

Successful Video for Gabby

                 For my video I decided to document Southern’s Symphonic Pulse Dance Company’s first performance this year with its new members including me! I wanted to capture the team in action so I thought recording us dancing would show what were really about. Overall I thought my video turned out well. I used iMovie and in my video I put in the performance cut into sections that went along with what each dancer being interviewed was saying. I interviewed four members of the team to get their perspective on what SPDC is, what we do and what it means to them. I thought they gave excellent answers and really captured what the team is all about. I also included a personal reflection at the end of the video of my opinion on the team.

                If I were to compare this video assignment to my last one, I would say that it is much better than the last one. I have never made short movies like this before and I think my first video was just me getting my feet wet. In other words my last video was me experimenting and trying things out. I learned a lot since that last video project on what and what now to with making a movie. Some of these tips included

1. Try to not use Windows Movie Maker, try and find access to a mac.   
2. Do not play your whole interviews of people, split them up if they are too long
3.   Music is nice to add it gives the video a more upbeat feeling instead of just dragging on
4.  Try and find topics that not everyone is using, be different
5. If you are going to put text in your video make sure you give the viewer enough time to read it

Campus Safari

        For this week’s campus Safari I choose to do #14 which was to attend an artistic performance on campus. I was recently accepted into Southern’s Symphonic Pulse Dance Company and we performed Wednesday night in the ballroom for the Caribbean Showcase. Our dance was to the song “King of Africa” which is a remix of the Lion King song. Overall, the whole event was a lot of fun. We got to see a few clubs perform which was awesome. Everyone was in costume and ready to dance. There were also performances where we learned about the history, culture, song, fashion, poetry, and inspirations of the Caribbean Islands.

"Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful."

                                                     ~ Brian Tracy

For this semester, I would have to say that my midterm grades were decent. I mainly got all good grades except in math and Botany. I do not believe that those midterm grades reflect on the amount of time and effort I put into those classes. Math is that subject for me where it’s not easy but it’s not too hard. I’m not usually one to complain or make excuses but I feel the reason for everyone and literally everyone getting a bad grade on the midterm in that class is because of the professor. In Botany that is a very challenging class for me, because the teacher goes very fast. I usually end up teaching myself the lecture that day on plants and use my own notes to study for the tests. I mainly get B’s on the tests and am doing very well in my Botany Lab. I went to the professor during her office hours and asked why I had that grade for my midterm and she told me it was because I do not ask enough questions. I feel like I put in a lot of effort in all my classes but I will still try and push myself even further.

                Overall, I would say being as my first semester in college, that my midterm grades are good. I think that the big lesson I learned from midterms is what and what not to do in my classes. It taught me that I need to take more time into doing work rather than hanging out with my friends. It also showed me that I need to do more than just the work. I need to participate more and engage in class discussions more often. If I have questions one option I realized is that I can go during the professor’s office hours to ask them or just send them an email. Midterms are never fun but you learn from your mistakes and grow from them to do even better.

~The Beauty of Simplicity~

              Walking on campus near Morrill Hall I came across a very unique sculpture. When I took a closer look it had two labels. One engraved in it said “Commissioned by the state of Connecticut for Southern Connecticut State University through the Department of Administrative services and the Connecticut commission on the arts.” The second engraved scripture said “Serie Metasfiscioa xvIII Herk Van Tongeren 1988.” After googling this person’s name I found that this sculpture on campus was in fact done by a girl named Valerie Salamander from a photograph of the sculpture “Serie Metafisica XVIII,” by Herk Van Tongeren. A little background history on Tongeren is that he was especially known for his finely crafted bronze sculptures which were said to grow from paintings by Giorgio de Chirico and sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. As seen in the picture I took above, there are four pillars with roman columns designs. These pillars stand on one level while the next level slants towards the ground and has one ball at the top and one ball at the bottom.

                In my opinion I think that this sculpture really is something amazing. I never realized it before but after taking a closer look I now can see it has meaning behind it. To me the pillars stand as a symbol of maturity. They stand the tallest and are the most dominant structure on the sculpture. The slanted level represents the pathway one must take to reach their final maturity in life. The ball starting at the beginning represents someone just starting off in life. They travel up the ramp and that’s where the second ball comes in. It represents the point in life where you are ready to take life in your own hands. From there come the pillars. In a way they stand as if they are never ending. The reason for that is because in life you never reach your final maturity, you continue to grow. You are always learning from your mistakes and you continue to grow from them. In a way the pillars can extend forever. We continue to grow forever and even when we pass our life contributed to others and helped them and continues to help them as they grow forever; which is why there are specifically four pillars. Overall to me this sculpture is captivating the human life in one image. By captivating the human life in the details within the sculpture give it the emotional depth which then show the deeper meaning of how one grows throughout life and after life.

Campus Safrai

      

         For this week’s campus safari I decided to write about #19 which was regarding the Major’s Expo I attended on October 10 in the Adanti Student Center. When I first got to the event I walked around not really finding anything. Then I came to the marine science and environmental studies table. I met with Professor Tait, and he explained all about these two minors and how I can major in them if I choose to do liberal studies.  I then told him that marine science is not really what I was looking for but rather biological oceanography. His face lit up the second I said that. We then talked for about an hour all about that major. He told me he was going through exactly what I was at this time in my life. He said he wanted to find a major that could provide him with a job but then years later he decided to live his dream and become an oceanographer. He told me that being an oceanographer is worth it in the end, and that you should always do what you want in life because you don’t want to look back on something that you missed out on. I told him that the ocean has always been something important to me and to work with the marine life would be a dream of mine, and he told me to go for it. He said he could even write me recommendations to pursue this major after four years here, and go to school in California and work with dolphins. (Dolphins are my favorite mammal). Overall, Professor Tait helped me a lot. He gave me some hope that biological oceanography is something I can pursue. He told me not to be afraid but to just go for it. I plan to stay in contact with him through my schooling here at Southern so he can help me figure some things out. Below is a picture of one of the projects in the marine studies minor, and backgorund information on the Center for Coastal and Marine Studies itself.

               

Tiny Dancer

              

               For this week’s blog we were to do something fun on campus to relieve the stress of the midterm season. This week were auditions for Southern’s Pulse Dance Company. I decided to audition since I love to dance, and it ended up being a lot of fun. We auditioned in three categories, lyrical, jazz, and hip-hop. Dance has always been something I loved to do ever since I was a little girl. ECA ended in June and for the summer for once I was not dancing. I thought that once I started college I would have no time for dance. My parents were mad too because they always wanted me to stick with it and always keep dancing in my life. When I saw Pulse Dance Company at the club fair I knew I would want to audition. Not trying to jinx it because I don’t know the results yet but I would love to be part of their company.

                Dancing has always been something that relieves stress for me. All through high school dance was almost like an escape from all the stress in my life. When you dance you forget about all your problems and are just in the moment. Every pirouette, every leap, you get lost in dance. Everything about it relieves my stress instantly. The long mirrors, the broken in ballet shoes, all that makes me feel at home. The dance world is something great to get lost into and I find it the best escape from stress. When you do something you love that is the best stress reliever you could ask for. You get lost in a moment and it really is the best feeling in the world.

“There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.” 
― Sarah Dessen

Looking back at this semester I cannot believe how fast time fly’s. Looking back on my first day here at Southern and comparing it to now, I can see how much I have grown academically, and socially. At the beginning of the semester I set a goal to continue getting good grades and keeping a good gpa. Although some of my classes have been challenging I have been trying my hardest. I have been studying, doing my readings and completing my assignments on time. So far, I have achieved my accomplishment of continuing through the semester with good grades. Another personal goal I met is managing my time. I said in one of my first blog posts that the transition from high school to college will be completely new to us, and every person must manage their time to fit them. I wanted to maintain a balance throughout the semester of homework and time with friends. So far I have balanced them fairly well, and want to continue that way throughout the semester.

                For the second semester a personal goal I want to have, is to basically figure my life out. As of now I have no clue what to do with my life or what direction to lead it in (career wise). I like biological oceanography but I also enjoy business but then I find that I like the health field as well.  I want to take the time for this semester and all of next semester and just figure everything out. Some things I could do are make a pro and con list of all the careers I am thinking of. That way I can see the good and bad and hopefully limit some career choices out of the mix. Another thing I could try is doing some research. I want to look up all the classes each major involves and I want to see what jobs you can obtain from that major later on after college.  I could also try talking to some professors to help me see my options. Recently I went to the major’s expo and I met with Professor Tait. We ended up talking for almost an hour and I told him I was always interested in biological oceanography and he told me one of the professors here is an oceanographer. I think if I try talking to him I can figure out some things. But in the future I plan on figuring out everything to be on the right track.

                                                    Campus Safari

          For this week's campus safari, I decided to meet with one of my professors during their office hours. I met with Professor Peters which teaches my CSC 101 class. In his class we are creating a family tree on youworldtree.com by gathering pictures from home of our entire family. We then must scan them, edit them, and upload them which sounds easy but is a very confusing process. I went to his office on Wednesday and he helped me scan a picture of my parents and edit it. I found that going to a professors office hours can be very helpful. They are more than happy to help a student out with homework and answer any of their questions.

The Idea of the Natural

In the book Mindset, the topic of failure is a prominent theme mentioned throughout the novel. It is mainly connected to sports and how failure is never an option for some athletes. One example I liked from this book was about the gymnast named Elizabeth. She failed at her first meet and her father told her if you want to succeed you have to work harder. Elizabeth did just that, and continued to win every other meet. The lesson learned from all this was that Elizabeth learned from her failures. I always have thought that learning from your mistakes is something important that everyone must experience in their lives over and over again. If you never fail you will never grow from that. This in a way to me connects to the fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset would have gone to that meet and when they lost like Elizabeth they would not put any effort into becoming better, but just blame something else for their loss. Elizabeth on the other hand had a growth mindset and knew that she needed more effort into her technique.

                Another quote I liked from this novel was in the chapter “The mindset of a champion.” In this chapter the author related failure to an athlete. Billy Beane was a natural and was compared to Babe Ruth. He thought he had everything, but what he was lacking was the mindset of a champion. Whenever he lost he searched for something to break. The quote “It wasn't merely that he didn't like to fail; it was as if he didn't know how to fail,” was used to describe Billy. He believed that since he had natural talent he had no reason to fix things when he continued to fail. At this point Billy had a fixed mindset. Fixed mindset is what will lead a person to failure, just as it led Billy down. But what makes this story interesting is that he managed to change his life around. He watched another player and saw that mindset was more important than failure, and baseball was about the process more than the talent. Billy managed to change his mindsets, and that is what brought him out of failing. I believe that this is true, it’s not about how well you play the game, but instead the set of mind you go into it with. Not everything is about how naturally talented you are. An athlete who is always flawless, that does not make them the best out there. I can correlate this example to my own personal experience.  As a dancer I have seen girls that are just naturally good at dancing but then theirs others that have to work their whole lives. When you watch them both on stage I always saw that the dancer that worked harder was the better one. The dancer with the natural talent it just looked like it was a piece of cake for her. But the dancer that was really trying that went in with the mindset that she could do it was the better dancer over the one that knew she would always be picked and would never fail. 

“Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.”

                                                      -Shirley MacLaine

For this weeks blog we were to do something that pushes us outside of your comfort zone. Whether it be academic, or social, and we are to blog about the experience. A lot of people probably won’t thing this is stepping out of your comfort zone, but to me it was.

My aunt tried teaching me this past summer how to play pool. I have always been a terrible pool player and I have no idea why, I just can’t get the hang of it. Not only did my aunt beat me but all her old friends did and they thought it was hilarious. I swore I would never play pool again since I always get continuously beat at by people. So today was time for a change. I went into the pool room without looking back and decided to play a game with some people. Yes, I was completely terrible but I did not care. I had a lot of fun and just tried my hardest. Even though I said I would never play again of course I found myself playing again.
I would define myself as an outgoing person but with only some things. I find that and have been told that I give off a shy personality but don’t be fooled by that. I am a really loud person and not afraid to try things. Pool was just one thing I did not like to do but I tried it again. I pushed outside of my comfort zone considering I’m always embarrassed playing pool since i’m terrible at it. What this week’s blog taught me was that pushing out of your comfort zone is not as bad as it seems. Most people are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of others but you just have to learn to not care. When people stop caring what other people think then they can really act themselves.

Day of Service

For this week’s campus safari I decided to participate in Southern’s Day of Service. We were put into teams and bused out to various locations all around New Haven. My group was Natalie, Amber, Erica and her lacrosse team. We were assigned Whalley Ave where we walked down it cleaning up trash. We had huge trash bags and we ended up picking up a lot of trash. Overall it was a good experience. People would come and thank us for cleaning up and a lot of people really appreciated what we did. It ended up being a really fun day and it felt good to give back to the community.

"When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world."

               

         For our inquiry class, we were assigned to read the first three chapters of “Mindset,” by Carol S. Dweck. Reading these chapters I saw that I agree with the points the author has been making. There are two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. Fixed mindset is the belief that you have a fixed amount of ability and intelligence and you are unable to change that. Someone who has a growth mindset has the universal belief that their basic qualities are things they can cultivate through effort. Although we have both these mindsets, I believe that as we go through life and make mistakes and what not that our mindsets will be affected. For example, with a fixed mindset that is what you were always taught to believe in or do. In my opinion those are the things our parents taught us and what influenced us to believe in something the way we do.  As we grow older and experience things on our own, that fixed mindset can change a little. We can start to have a different opinion about something we were once taught by our parents. Our minds are always learning new things everyday so it is impossible to have such a fixed mindset that you will always just see things in black and white.

                With both these mindsets I believe they provide motivation. Regarding the 10,000 hour theory, it states that when you do something for 10,000 hours, that is when you will become a master at it. My opinion with this is that when you have a fixed mindset and you do something against what you believe for 10,000 hours, you will start to change your mind and see things differently. With a growth mindset with the 10,000 hours they will learn from their failures and try harder.

How to Create a Successful Video

Overall, this project took me a week to complete. I managed my time well and spaced out when I would do interviews. I think that helped me with the finished product because by being organized it was easier to complete this project and I had a lot of time to complete it. I think my video came out well, although I had to use windows movie maker because I have a pc it still came out nice. I decided to make my video about all of what goes into declaring a major.

 I asked a wide range of students who either knew their major or did not know at first to get different perspectives for my video. I also incorporated professor’s views in my video to show an adult’s perspective since they have already gone through the whole process themselves. With different ages and majors I thought it would provide my video with a good balance providing all different answers. The reason for that is because everyone is different and some things may apply to one student that may not apply to another.  My goal was to hopefully help out a student in guiding them into choosing a major. I also did this topic to help myself as well. By listening to all the answers students and professor’s provided me with it helped me in deciding how I should choose my major.

The conclusions reached after I asked each question to students and professors, their answers were very similar to ones that I would say. I videotaped all student interviews and from there I was able to listen to their answer and draw the conclusion they made along with one I made from their answer as well. I balanced the material they gave me in the interviews with my own voice well. I was able to make many conclusions from the questions I asked. My overall conclusion was: Deciding what major to pursue in college can be very challenging but as long as you research the major and find an interest in it then you should go ahead and pursue it.