Author: Daniel Edward

This was probably the best workshop I went to. It was about  networking. I really learned a lot from it. It was fun and I was with friends. There was a lot of participation from the audience which helped the over all perspective. I felt that the moderator knew what she was doing. This really helped the program. I learned about business cards and how to give/recieve them, i learned about LinkedIn and I learned more about my friends and the people there from all the exercises we did. I really liked this workshop and would recommend it to any person taking freshman seminar next year.

-Daniel Edward

This unfortunatley was a mandatory workshop. The author of the Bitter Sea, Charles Li, came to talk to us along with a panel of people to discuss the journey of finding your identity. This was probably the worst workshop I had to go to. Although I was with my friends and I could still fool around, there was no escaping the dullness of the workshop. It had the potentialof  being  great, however, the speakers didn’t seem to have any enthusiasm. It would have helped a lot if the speakers had sounded like they liked what they were talking about. Also, open up more questions from the audience. We were there for 2 hours and the only time we asked questions were during the last 5-10 minutes. By that time we all wanted to leave.

-Daniel Edward

So, for this workshop I went to the Mishkin Art Galeery. I went with many people from LC20. We went right after school one day. Anyway, the whole thing took about half an hour. They gave us a tour of their photo collection and then we wandered around the place for a while. The exhibit wasn’t  that interesting, but being there as a group made life easier. Probably the best part was when we first walked in and the security guard tricked us all by telling us we had to pay $20 to enter and then he laughed at all of us.

-Daniel Edward

One free write included the following questions: What makes you afraid? What makes you happy, and what’s important to you? Well I actually have no fears. I believe that there is no reason to be afraid of anything. Whatever happens… happens. So, there is no reason to be afraid of anything.  The next answer was the longest. I made a list of things I liked. I wrote the following: I like lots of things, facebook, laptop, TV, movies, junk food, music, laughter, jokes, friends, girls, youtube, google, Egypt, home family, life, cars, videogames, psp, internet, reading but only sometimes, knowing things, not doing chores, doodling, and my Itouch. The answers to the next question, whats important to me, are surprisingly different than the what makes you happy answers. I think it’s important to make others smile, succeed, have a stable family life, a religion, faith, do schoolwork, laugh, my home boy Jesus, have a good time, and learn new things.

Another free write asked about my most embarrassing moment, the moment I felt most empowered, and about my personal motto or theme. My most embarrassing moment happened when I was in Egypt two years ago. I’m the popular guy on the beach because I am the American. So, a lot of hot girls come and “talk” with me. My grandma came over one time and yelled at me in front of everyone. “You’re growing up to be a real flirt just like your grandpa was. Shame on you!”  The moment I felt most empowered was when I was a retreat leader at my High School. I always had my own group of 6 or 7 peers. I was in charge and they had to do everything I said. I felt important because they all listened to me. Finally, my theme or motto is, If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up until you do!

-Daniel Edward

So, it is hard to look back and realize that, well, after what felt like a month, the semester is coming to a close. It has been quite a ride! I enjoyed every minute of it! Almost every minute anyway.

When I first came in to Baruch, I was very nervous. I didn’t want to be the freshman that everyone could tell was a freshman. I was determined to make the best first impression ever. I wanted to be the kid everyone knew and wanted to be with. I don’t know whether I have accomplished that goal or not. However, I have grown to realize that in fact I didn’t need any  of this. When I started, I barely knew anyone in Baruch. I was absolutely friendless. I had to make new  friends. I knew this was going to be tough. Were people going to accept me? Were they going to want to be with me? All these questions bombarded me on the first day of school. However, thanks to LC 20 I can say that this semester was really the fist semester of college I always wanted. I made many new friends and met many cool people. I was able to, in three months, make friends that I would be able to call best friends. Without them I don’t know how the first semester would be. I am truly grateful to have been able to build such a good relationship with them.

The other neat thing about this semester is the learning community itself. We did many cool things together including going somewhere to eat, chilling in the game room, watching “Due Date”, and going to the New York Stock Exchange. However, this wasn’t the only thing I liked about the learning community. We constantly are there for each other, especially in school work. Whenever there is an assignment, we try to help each other and remind each other of it. The members of the learning community are the reason that I have been able to get through this first semester. Thank You guys so much. You have made this semester a great transition into college as I hope I have for you.

-Daniel Edward