Section BPR2D

The Freshmen Reception 2009.

Few days before before the Freshmen Reception I received a mail which informed me about the workshop. I was so anxious and I didn’t want to miss it. In the card sent to me by mail it also included the information about knowing our advisors but more interesting was that it said we will be served, and also if we bring the card we could enter the raffle. Unfortunately none of them appeared according to my expectations.  The advisors were there and all of them were shocked by the number of freshmen of this year.

I won’t complain a  lot but I was somehow sad to hear that most of the services which we were to be given cancelled or couldn’t meet our numbers. One of the advisor came and she gave us a good idea about the workshop which I believe was real useful to me.She didn’t take long and we were allowed to leave.

My first 2 weeks at Baruch have been very exciting and different. I am adjusting to the new environment at college which is completely different from my high school. I am meeting and interacting with new people every day and learning about their unique cultures and backgrounds. I am also getting used to the independence in college, where I am completely on my own and have to make wise decisions. I am learning how to better organize myself and manage my time because I have to be on top of all of my tasks in order to do well in school. Everyday is a new experience for me at Baruch, and I am enjoying every minute of it. College is great and I think that having freshman seminar is an amazing way to ease the transitional process from high school. I look forward to each day at Baruch and I wish everyone the best.

It is no doubt that going to college is a big challenge. It daunts almost all incoming students; the very thought of meeting and making new friends, how different and hard would college classes actually be, and especially the commute from New Jersey. I definitely was one of them, for the fact that I am an international student who was raised outside the United States, with very little English and such different culture and knowing that I will not know anybody only adds up my anxiety. I had almost missed the freshman convocation due to the lack of information that I received. During my first two weeks of school, Ms. Govan (the person in charge of the class scheduling) had already recognized my name, just because they kept changing my class. However, I came to a realization that my unfamiliarity with the college life in the might just be the reason. Above all, this experience taught me a lot and I certainly took some of the necessary life skills away from it. I hope my years in Baruch will be the time where I learn not only academics, but also the social skills that I would need in order to fit in and function in society.

My experience in baruch so far was okay. Everything went fine to me. However, i could feel the change from high school to college in these two weeks. Unlike high school, we don’t have classes everyday, yet it is still a bit challenge that we have lots of reading to do every night. Also, we have more time to spend daily on our own , and so in these two weeks, when i had my gaps between the classes, i went to the gym, clubs center, and library to spend my time. It was a real pleasure to play sport in the basement mostly because i am very passionate in basketball. Anyway, baruch is good college so far. i have been making friends, learning new stuffs, enjoying my time, and i will look forward to the rest of the time in baruch.

My Baruch experience is really frustrated and exciting, because

I really like to meet new people and that makes me excite everyday

when I go to school, but I still get lost from classroom to classroom, sometimes

I forgot to bring my Id card, and I also felt that there are big differences between

high school and college. For examples, in high school, teacher gave you notes but

in college, you have to listen to what professors are saying and make note by yourself.

Those things are making me frustrated, but still I really like to being baruch student,

and I really am having so many good experiences so far.

I’d be lying if I said my 1st week at Baruch was easy. This week was more like a wake up call that high school is really over. My professors are pretty cool for the most part, but the work is gradually getting harder by the day. I realized that it’s nothing compared to high school and I won’t be able to fly through my classes without studying. Art History is my hardest class and already I am struggling to keep up. My favorite class is Philosophy. My professor has a great sense of humor and he has us involved in group discussions as well as fun activities. This first week has had its ups and downs but overall I am excited to be at Baruch and making new friends.

My first week at Baruch has been great, I’ve met new people, new professors, and new huge classrooms! In some classes you may notice the difference from high school to college. But other than that I feel that i have made a smooth transition from high school to college. School will always be school; tests, homework, studying, etc. The only difference is that now we have to pay for our education! As long as i keep focus and on task i shall survive the next 6 years! No big deal.

My first week at Baruch was both difficult and exciting. Not only did I meet new people, but I also got to be in a building much bigger and more crowded than my high school. It wasn’t anything that I was used to and on my first day I felt a bit intimidated at how many students there were in the school. On my first day, I got lost and couldn’t find any of my classes. But after my first week, I began to get used to it. Apart from the huge school and meeting new friends, the schoolwork is so far tolerable. Sure there is alot of reading and studying to do, especially since all my professors want their students to read everything ahead of class so we have an idea of what they’re talking about, but so far I can handle it. I cant wait to see what the rest of these weeks have in store for me, I just hope I stay organized so I can balance all the work.

My Baruch experience has been good and bad at times, but as I’ve adjusted to Baruch’s culture, I find that this college has many resources that I appreciate. There are many little things that we miss out on such as dorm life and campus life. I’ve been to our athletic area (the gym, pool, fitness center, etc.) only about five times in my year here. Mainly because I don’t want to go to class really sweaty, and because I also don’t live close to school, I lose two hours of my day to commuting, if not more. I come into the city early and I leave the city late because I want to make the most of my time that is wasted commuting. Ironically, because I felt compelled to use the most of my time and to use it efficiently, I have really experienced a very unique college experience.

During my freshmen year, within the first week, I joined three different extracurricular: RSD (church college ministry), NYU KCCC (College Campus Ministry), and The Ticker (Baruch’s newspaper). Each club or activity has really shaped my first year into an unforgettable one. At RSD, I have met a great community of friends who have supported me and held my hand, helping me through the struggles of college. In that community, I have found friends in whom I can confide my troubles in and thoughts, asking them for advice at times and just having fun hanging out.

Through a few of my friends at church, I came to join NYU’s KCCC. There I’ve met new friends and I actively take part in a small group there. At small group, we interact on a more intimate level while also having fun. At both of these Christian related activities, I’ve taken away something valuable. I’ve learned a lot more about myself. In small group, I am able to be honest with them and they are able to be honest with me, thus building each other up.

Freshmen year has been full of emotional and character growth. As well as exploring different areas in my career, I realized that companies also search for competent people who have integrity, a wide base of knowledge and skill, and work ethic. I realized that companies are searching for people who they can trust to “get the job done.”

At the Ticker, I’ve learned about working in many different ways. As a part of the newspaper staff, we have to work together as a team and I have learned a lot about team dynamics. One thing that I really enjoyed learning was to use Adobe inDesign. Because I have been exposed to this program, I have become a little bit knowledgeable about graphic design. As a result, I have found that it is a useful skill to have under my belt, from making flyers to designing bookmarks, there are many ways to use the program provided a creative mind is present.

Later in the year, during the Spring semester, I joined TEAM Baruch and eventually became a Peer Mentor. I’m still learning how best to help everyone, but I am trying here. Please be patient with me.

That was a little about my freshmen year and how each activity has just given me a greater sense of who I am, how each extracurricular has sharpened my character, attitude, and added to my repertoire of skills, and how I have just had fun in the past year. Because I was a part of so many things, I do not regret any part of my freshmen year.

P.S. Don’t feel pressured to write long blogs because my is long. I just tend to take my writing seriously and I use it as a way to process thoughts and ideas in my head. Anyways, continue having a great weekend and I will see you all in class!

Two weeks of college had passed and so far things are going fairly well.  The commute to school is tiring since I’m not used to waking up very early.  Hopefully, in a few more weeks, i’ll get used to it.  I’m usually late for the first lesson because I’m still finding it hard to located the classrooms. Therefore, i was usually around five minutes late for the lessons. But things had been better since the first day of college. So far, I like all of my subjects. Some are harder than the others, especially math,  but i’ll try to manage.  Other than that, there are a huge collection of good books that i really like in the library. Back in my high school, the library was really small and there was nothing much inside so I was really happy when i came to Baruch.