Author Archives: melanie.ngo

Baruch has lived up to my expectations in that, it’s college… I know that sounds kind of stupid, but seriously. When I think of college, I think more responsibility. Professors aren’t going to spoon feed you te information you need to perform well; they give you the resources and then from there it’s what you make of it. It’s about taking advantage of the resources and doing your work and participating. I know that sounds really obvious, but thats my take on it. Also the freedom I have now is overwhelming. Not just because I can go out wherever I want with who and at whatever time, but because I really have to take care of  myself and create a budget. I think my first semester at Baruch was aaalright. I didn’t have many expectations regarding what the first semester would be like, but it was nice being in an LC and always seeing familiar faces. As far as grades go, I was definitely more driven and focused at the beginning of the year, and now I’m getting SO lazy. It’s pretty bad, but I hope I pull through though. I’m kinda worried that I wont. Anyway, if I could do anything differently during my first semester, I probably wouldn’t. Besides like, keeping the drive and focus to maintain good grades, I like where I am. The only thing I’m worried about are my grades, and that pretty much covers it really. I don’t think I’ve really changed much my first semester, I think I’m the same way.. And.. Yeah……….. Okay, I guess I’ll stop now since there’s nothing else to write about. Is this long enough? Whatever.. Okay yay bye 🙂

Hi. My name is Melanie as you probably all know, and as you might remember from English class my last name is Vietnamese, but I’m full Filipino. I don’t really know how to describe myself at all, so I guess I’ll just tell you some basics. I love to laugh, and I’ll find any excuse to laugh. Unfortunately, I tend to laugh extremely hard at inappropriate times (i.e. Ji Won Seo’s story-telling speech in COM 1010). I tend to be really sarcastic a lot of the time, and I get scared very easily (i.e., Murder int he Cathedral). I know this is extremely random, but whatever – I’ve come to really hate tight clothes. I guess it’s because when I go out to eat and I want to stuff myself, at the end of the night I look really unattractive; plus, looser clothes are a lot more comfortable. I really like to eat; I love trying new foods, and I can’t name my favorite cuisine. I’ll eat almost anything, besides pigeon and chicken feet. I try to stay away from spicy foods too, but I love curry and kimchi. I listen to all different kinds of music and last Thursday I went to a Justin Nozuka concert – everything about it was amazing. I love romantic comedies, and comedies in general. I watch Gossip Girl and the Jersey Shore kind of religiously; other than that though, I don’t really watch TV… Ever. I dorm at 101 Ludlow, and it’s been fun so far. College has been alright. To be honest, it still feels like summer for me – school is only four days a week, there isn’t much work to do besides reading, and I still get to hang out with my friends a lot. I’m glad I’m in a learning community. It’s nice seeing familiar faces in every class and it’s helped me make friends. It really is nice to go to the same people for homework and whatnot. A lot of people say it’s like high school, but at Townsend nobody really asked anyone for help with the homework. Anyway, I feel like this is getting long so I’ll end it here.

a) Tell us who you think YOU are!

Who I think I am… I don’t know. I think there’s far too many things to list here in this blog, and it’s rather exhausting to try to do so. My friend says I’m a pessimist, but I consider myself a realist. I care a lot about my loved ones, I guess that’s kind of a give-in for everyone here, but I feel like it’s an important part of who I am. I don’t like to burn bridges, meaning, once I care for someone I don’t let them go easily. I really like to laugh.. And, I don’t know what else to say. Oh, I actually like free-writing. I really wish that I was creative. I feel like, when it comes to being creative I hit a brick wall. I hate wearing jeans. If I could I would go to school in sweats, but I.. Don’t know why. Being in the city makes me feel like I really shouldn’t be wearing sweats. I’m scared easily, and I’m really afraid of pigeons and squirrels; luckily I haven’t seen many since I moved in on Ludlow.

b) Share your top 3 concerns about your freshmen year at Baruch College and explain why.

One of my top three concerns at Baruch is choosing the right major… For obvious reasons. I don’t want to be stuck with a major that isn’t going to do anything for me economically, but at the same time I want to be happy and enjoy what ever I end up doing. My second concern is keeping my grades up. I really want to do well at Baruch, and I’m worried that I’m going to slack off. I’m extremely lazy, but I don’t want that to affect my grades the way it has in the past. My third concern is choosing classes.. I have no idea what to choose or how to choose.

c) So far, what do you think will make your Baruch College experience different from your high school experience?

Dorming definitely makes my Baruch College experience different from my high school experience. I no longer have the comfort of going home to my mother cooking dinner and my father sitting and watching the evening news. I have to budget my own money and figure out my own meals. The amount of freedom that college has is incredible. I’ve also realized that this freedom comes with a lot of responsibility. If I know I have plans for an upcoming weekend, I’ll do my work ahead of time so that I don’t have to worry about it later. I also have to find the willpower to go ahead and read the assigned pages even though the professor won’t really assign any handwritten work to accompany it.

d) How do you think your first year at College will change you?

I don’t think it will change me much asides from the fact that I’ll learn how to better manage my time. I’ll definitely meet more people and have other sets of friends that I’ll make, but as far as my personality and my morals and values – I doubt that those will change much.