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Author Archives: joanna.dobrowolski
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I Don’t Love College
My first semester at Baruch is finally, and thankfully, coming to a close. There is one month till the end to be exact, and I couldn’t be happier. The awkwardness of being in a new school is slowly but surely beginning to fade, and my time management skills are sharpening by the day. However, I would be lying if I said Baruch has held up to my expectations. I naively hoped that college would be as great as it seems on television, only to be greatly disappointed. I suppose the only person to blame is myself. It’s my fault I didn’t research other schools, and it’s my fault that I didn’t go away for college. I’m still just as confused as I was a few months ago, especially now that registration for the next semester is coming around.
Despite my discontentedness at school, I do believe that my first semester of college is going fairly well, grade wise that is. I’m doing above average in most of my classes, all of them, as a matter of fact except for Calculus. Just as I had predicted, calculus has turned out to be a problem area, despite the fact that I get tutored for three to four hours at a time. Math has never been a favorite subject of mine, yet somehow I still managed to understand it and get A’s. However, Calculus is different. No matter how hard I try, or how hard I study, I just can’t seem to get it.
If I could do my first semester over, would I do it differently? Though I think this question is silly, because I don’t believe there’s any use in contemplating the past and the mistakes you have made, even if I could, I don’t believe that I would do anything differently in my first semester. Academically, I am doing all that I can, and as I said, except for calculus, I’m not worried. In addition, even though I’ve deemed it impossible to make friends if you’re not in a Learning Community class, I don’t regret transferring my credits- the reason I was taken out of an LC. After this semester I’ll be already considered a sophomore, which means I’m a step closer to graduating college and starting my life. The only thing I would do differently, is take Music instead of Theatre, because it’s a prerequisite for my major-Management of Music Enterprises. Music would have fulfilled both my Fine and Performing Arts requirement, and my prerequisite requirement.
As we approach the closing of the semester, and I reflect back on who I was when this all first started, I can’t say I’ve really changed too much. Perhaps I am a bit more self motivated, goal oriented, independent, and organized, but not enough that I can see the difference. Maybe one semester just isn’t a long enough period of time to completely change one’s self. Either way, whether I change or not after I come out of Baruch, I don’t believe it’ll be a result of going through college, just a side-effect of growing up.
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Monologue
My name is Joanna. I grew up and live in Woodhaven, Queens, and attended Archbishop Molloy High school in Briarwood, New York. Being only 18, I’m not really sure what it is that identifies me yet. I don’t know much but I do know that whatever I think identifies me will change in a month or so. Except music. That’s one constant in my life.
Music is the one thing I like best. I don’t know how my obsession with music began, perhaps it had something to do with taking piano when I was younger, though I know that whatever I end up doing for the rest of my life has to involve music. Music is what makes me truly happy. Instead of turning to material things to feel better, I turn to music. Being able to listen to someone pour out their soul for all to hear, and letting themselves be that vulnerable is a trait I greatly admire. That’s probably because it’s one of the things that you can say I am most afraid of. Along with vulnerability, another thing I am afraid of is not living up to expectations. I’ve learned that trying to live up to other people’s expectations is an impossible task. However, it’s one thing that I like least. Each person has a right to decide on how they want their life to turn out, and I don’t think anyone should try to control or manipulate that. For this reason, independence is something that is important to me. Being able to smoothly manage your own life without the help of others is a skill that I believe everyone should possess. However, independence is a learning process. Therefore, there have been many moments that I’ve felt ashamed, embarrassed, or guilty. Unfortunately, the ones that come to mind, I can’t say out loud. But what they are isn’t important. What is, is that I’m learning from them, and trying to avoid reverting back to the same mistakes.
Though I am only 18, there are many roles that I play in life. Daughter, sister, best friend, girlfriend, student. You name it. In fact, I’d have to say that my best friend, Amanda, is the most important person to me. We have been best friends since kindergarden, and she is more of a sister to me than my own sister. However, student has easily become my most difficult role. My first day of college I came home crying. I haven’t done that again so I guess you can say it’s getting better. Though it’s still the most confusing and frustrating thing I’ve ever experienced. I’m hoping that I get used to this change, and I’m hoping that’ll happen soon. But I have to admit, that so far I don’t really like college. All I think about every day is how much I regret not doing more research on other schools, and how much I regret not going away. As a result liking school has become my biggest challenge, along with Calculus class. I’ve never taken pre calc, and I’m not a fan of math to begin with, so it’ll be a miracle if I don’t fail. Despite all the things that I don’t like about college so far, my greater freedom is one thing I do enjoy. Unfortunately, with all the workload I get, all my free time is spent on schoolwork or sleep anyway.
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Welcome To College
My name is Joanna Dobrowolski and I am currently a freshman at Baruch College. Born and raised in Queens, NY, I am no stranger to the fast paced lifestyle of New York City. Prior to Baruch, I attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens. However, to say that I didn’t enjoy high school is an understatement in the least. I’ve been taking dance classes for ten years, though one thing that I guess you can say categorizes me in particular is music. I’m not sure when or how my infatuation with music began, but I know it is the reason I’ve been able to keep my sanity for this long.
Yet these are all things that I do. Not who I am. That question is a bit tougher. But in reality, I’m not really sure who I am, or who I even think I am. I’m barely 18 years old, how could I know the answer to such a question. My views, beliefs, morals, etc, change constantly. Though living in an ever changing world, can you blame me for not being able to stay consistent? Then again, I suppose the things that a person does classifies who he or she is. Just like, “you are what you eat,” i guess you can say, “you are what you do.”
Choosing to attend Baruch College was not a difficult decision to make, though I would be lying if I said I don’t have a few concerns now that I’m here. I guess to begin, I would have to point out the same concern that I’m sure almost every recent high school graduate shares. Coming from an environment that I’ve grown quite accustomed to, and being dropped into the microcosm that is Baruch, overwhelmed, frustrated, and exasperated are only a few words to describe my first couple of weeks in college. In the beginning I wondered if I would ever get used to this new routine, though thankfully with each day I feel I become more familiarized with it, even if it’s only a little.
From the moment we even begin to think about the college process, it seems that everyone around us stresses the importance of time management. Though throughout high school I was able to manage my time flawlessly, I’m concerned that college will not be as easy. The work load appears to be doubled, and mixed with dance classes, a social life, and hopefully a new job, I worry that I’ll be in over my head.
My final concern regarding Baruch, is not so much about Baruch itself, but rather what comes after it. I’ll be attending this school for four years (probably the amount of time it’ll take me to get used to college,) and then what? Once again I’m thrown out on my own, but this time into the “real world,” By then I’ll be considered an adult, and personally I find that a scary thought.
And since, as always, I got carried away with my writing, and am suppose to answer these four questions in 500 words, I’ll keep the remaining two answers short and sweet.
How will my college experience be different than my high school one? Well for starters, I’m hoping that I’ll actually enjoy college. I’ll finally have this newly gained independence that I’ve wanted for so long as well. Not to mention I’ll be out of my comfort zone, in an exciting and diverse environment, not something found in my old high school.
And finally, I’m not sure how my first year of college will change me, though I do hope that I will grow to be more self sufficient, open minded, and goal oriented. Wish me luck.
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