My first FRO blog post
Hi, my name is Ralph Labaton and I am an orthodox Jew from Brooklyn. In other words, it is because of me (well my religion and thousands of others) that you guys have already received off from school this semester. I am actually not 18 yet but I am still a freshman in college.
My number one concern when thinking about my college career is failing. There is no one watching your back in college like there was in high school and the burden of success is completely on your own shoulders. If you want to do well and earn a good average to open doors for you, you need to put in the effort and work hard. My second concern is food. Being a religious Jew it is quite hard to find kosher restaurants in the area and so I have to travel to great lengths (3 hour breaks in the day, thank god), grab something from our local Starbucks or wait till I get home. It is quite annoying though and I am in desperate need for a kosher pizza place in the area. My third concern is money. It is very hard to make but it is very easy to spend it. A metro card for the week runs about fifteen dollars or so and then we have the books. I have spent about three hundred dollars on books and they are only for one semester. If anyone knows someone who is hiring after school I can use some extra cash.
Now college is a lot different than high school was, for me at least. I went to a yeshiva or a Jewish private school where everyone I went to school with was part of my community. I guess what I am trying to say is that I knew almost everyone in my school since they were in diapers. In college there are names I have never even heard of before. There are so many different kinds of people from different backgrounds around you, you can almost get lost. But hey, that’s New York for you. Also for a kid that used to walk four blocks to school every day, to go into the city for school every day is a big change. The city used to be an adventure every time I went, now it just my daily activity. Well on the plus side now I know where everything is and can’t get lost especially since some of my friends go to Hunter and NYU and I visit them.
My first year of college has changed me dramatically so far and I don’t see an end in sight. For one I spend more time now in the library then I do at home even though in recent memory before college I can’t truly remember the last time I studied for something. Also I am interacting with many people that I have never met before and am making some new friends. I hope all my adjustments are for the good and that I and all my classmates can succeed here in Baruch.