Hello, I’m Naomi Hakimi. Identity has always been a weird topic for me because I’m Persian-American and I’m part of a large Persian community living in Great Neck, but I got my education in the Herricks School district. Even though I identify myself more with the Great Neck crowd, my  personality was influence by both the Persians in Great Neck and the Herricks School students, so I don’t fit into either. I would describe myself as a fun-loving but quiet and nervous person. Because of that, I have many fears. My greatest fears are a fear of public speaking and a fear of animals. Dogs are so scary and I always feel like they’re about to chase me. My fear of dogs is so bad that I occasionally cross the street when I saw a dog on the same side of the street as me. Although, my greatest fear are of birds. I don’t know why I’m afraid of them, but I always have been. Thinking about their feathers and eyes gives me anxiety and sometimes nightmares. Because of my nerves, socializing is also a problem for me. It’s very difficult for me to talk to people because I can sometimes become really awkward, but my family and friends are always around to help me relax when I talk to other people. They’re always around to help me or care for me which is why they are so important to me. Luckily, I already had a few friends at Baruch when I started. My first few days at Baruch were difficult because I didn’t know what to expect. I came with the hope of making new friends and being independent, but once I arrived, everyone seemed to already be in clusters which was very intimidating. Though, I slowly began to make more and more friends and am still becoming more independent. My problems then transformed from social to educational. I am now really feeling the pressure to do well in my classes which are becoming more and more difficult. The math we are doing in precalculus are no longer simple equations, the webworks are becoming harder to do and keep up with. My english professor scares me and I have yet to figure out a topic for my term paper. I have no words for my political science class; although, I like that we have no homework in it. Organization and time-management have always been flaws of mine, which I hope I can fix in order to earn good grades. Overall, I look forward to how the rest of my time at Baruch turns out.