DTE: Surviving College 101

So for my community service, i decided to help out my own church. During this type of season, there is this activity called kettling, where you would stand outside with a kettle and a bell, and ring that bell in order for people to come and donate money. I thought this was a great cause in order to help the church and in order for the church to help others. So on december 3rd, i stood outside of the big HSBC bank in chinatown between bowery and canal street for about 4 hours. It was really cold outside, and whenever people pass by and look at me, they would either come donate money, or just walk away, and whenever someone would walk away, you have a real bad feeling inside of you. I get really joyful when kids come upto me and donate some money into the kettle also.

I attended a workshop titled “Between Two Worlds”, and i realized that we are really lucky to be in the United States. This workshop showed a documentary about the struggles in Israel. This film showed that there are people in the world who stand up and would die for what they believed in. People were upset when certain facts that they believed to be false were shown in the film. The saddest part of the film was when it showed how the tanks ran over a girl named Rachel who was protesting peace in Israel. I believe that everyone should know the positives and the negatives about the country. Once the negatives are identified, we should work towards solving those problems.

I tutored middle school kids during my time of community service.  The field I tutored was 8th grade mathematics, this experience made me remember how easy I had it when I was their age. Of course the real challenge was being able to explain to it the kids, it made me realize how challenging it must be to be a good teacher. When I got to know some of the kids, I noticed they didn’t care and most didn’t bother trying. I could relate to them in such a sense, they weren’t really given much motivation. My way of teaching them was showing them how I solved it, explaining why each part fit and somehow relating it to other things. Each kid learned differently, I suppose thats how it works and makes it much harder for a teacher to help an entire class do well. With the time I’ve spent tutoring these kids, I am hoping that i did a good job and that these kids will begin to do better.

I went to the workshop “Build Confidence! Improving Your Interpersonal Skills.” I was a little late on that day and when I came to the class I saw Mindy and Lalit sitting in the class. There were many other people sitting around and they definitely were nor freshmen. The first impression I had was that this class may be helpful since many others came here not for the reason of freshmen seminar. The professor was an Asian and she looked like she knew what she’s doing and what she should teach us. The class was not boring as I thought I would be. Instead, I found it interesting even though it was a little awkward at first. We first stood up and made a circle, then introduce ourselves in a weird way. We had to put our hands together like when praying and pointing it at someone else to introduce ourselves. She said that by doing this she can tell immediately who is not confident because someone avoided eye contact or couldn’t do the movement fluently. The lessons she tried to teach us are that eye contact is a very important way to show confidence but in some culture people avoid eye contact to show respect. After seeing some power points she had, we stood up again and did another activity. We paired up and tried to copy our partners’ movements while. She taught us that it’s human nature that people copy other’s gesture unintentionally. She also pointed out that it’s actually helpful when you doing that because it makes the person who you are talking with feel comfortable. The workshop ended very fast, and I had to run to my next class. However, I found the workshop helpful for the reasons that the professor taught us how to communicate and advices for interview.

They say Prospect Park is small compared to Central Park, but it is still huge as hell. Sweeping leaves; sounds easy right? Not at all. Too many roads and to many trees and to top it off  it was chilly that day. On the bright side I got a free bagel and hot chocolate, but I had to work for it. First off I had to carry both a broom and a shovel, which was annoying. Secondly every few minutes I had to switch from broom to shovel because I had to dump all the leaves gathered off the road and onto the dirt. Despite the annoyance of carrying the shovel and broom and having to switch between the two, the paths I had cleaned look nice. Who knew that removing a bunch of leaves and twigs would make a difference. And with the rest of the people helping out we cleaned a bunch of paths. I may have went to that park on that chilly day just so I can have something to write about but I may come back in the future. After all free bagels with cream cheese is what its all about. Well that and helping to make the park a better place is a motivation to go. But its mainly for the free bagels and drinks.

Had it not been for this class I probably wouldn’t have gone to a single workshop. I went to the resume workshop which was actually helpful. The workshop stressed the importance of resumes and supplied a bunch of samples of what to write and what not to write. On the down side they kept on stressing about how so many people can make simple mistakes. I know resumes aren’t easy, but the instructors made them look like that they are almost impossible to make. In my opinion if you know the format and stick to it, then there is nothing to worry about. Yet going to the workshop makes me think that there is something to worry about………. Well at the very least, since I attended the resume workshop, I can now get any resumes I write to be reviewed and corrected.

I went to a workshop the other day…..it sucked.  It was about making small talk and the importance behind it.  This was a workshop I registered a month ago because I had some interest in it.  It was awkward, useless, and a waste of my club hours.  Basically, I don’t think the host said one word about a business meeting.  He kept talking about conversing in a social manner. O yeah that reminds me, THERE’S NO WORD CALLED “CONVERSATING”….it’s “CONVERSING”. ANYWHOOO, yeah so he kept talking about conversing in a social environment.  He unknowingly made it seem like we were all losers.  I know he wouldn’t do that, but that’s what it seemed like.  But it wasn’t just me, everyone thought the same thing because he told us to go around the room and form groups of three and meet each other.  He gave us topics to talk about, I deviated from that and decided to talk about how strange I thought he was and how this was nothing like I expected.  EVERYONE agreed with me.  He gave us a packet with like fifty things to say when you run out of things to say….I could have picked better conversation starters out of my ass.  Regardless, I spent the rest of workshop thinking about how I could DEFINITELY teach this workshop better and what else I would teach….well if it were really about talking in a social environment because there was no doubt in my mind, that I could pick up more women in a bar than this guy could.  I was hoping he would give some tips on avoiding awkward silences.  It doesn’t really happen that much to me because I have my own techniques and I clearly love to talk and ramble as you can probably tell….but still, I would love to hear from someone else.  If I taught a workshop, I would also teach how to CREATE an awkward silence.  Sometimes, creating an awkward silence is a good way to just break out into mental laughter which I BELIEVE, is the cure to most of the planet’s diseases.  That, and it helps send the message to others that you don’t want to talk with them.  I was pretty upset after the workshop because I feel like these resources that Baruch offers can be helpful, but after my one bad workshop, I lost faith in workshops and I lack the motivation to register for another one.  I am confident, that I can become a better motivational speaker.

I won’t even be modest about it.  Superman is nothing compared to me.  I’ll admit, he was my FAVORITE superhero.  I have his T Shirt, I’ve watched the cartoons and movies, I own the game.  But like I said, he WAS my favorite hero…that is until I looked in the mirror and saw God’s achievement at creating, in his perspective, AWESOMENESS.  Kids should be like “Superman who? O YEA THE INDIAN DREAM=BOSS”.  OOOO big deallllllllll, Superman saves a few lives with his alien powers and what not.  I SAVE LIVES TO.  YOU WANT PROOF? Look at my frequently used, NY Blood Center Donor’s Card.  I save lives with my B+ type blood. Does Superman? I THINK NOT.  You can’t put a needle through his impenetrable skin.  ALLL HE DOES IS FLY AROUND and beat up some bad guys and save the universe a few times when most of the bad aliens are from his OWN PLANET. It’s his fault, BUT ANYWAY LETS be realistic.  We all know Superman isn’t real, but IF HE WAS, all the destruction he does to the city’s infrastructure would just increase our nation’s national debt even more.  I don’t think the pros of his work outweigh the cons.  OK MAYBE A FEW PEOPLE MAYYYYY die….in my opinion, useless is better than a burden.  I’m just kidding.  My narcissism has a limit……actually no it doesn’t, but I know I’m not in Superman’s league YET.  He is way cooler than me, no joke.   But seriously, for saving as many lives as we do by donating blood, super heroes would come up short if trying to describe us.  Getting a small pinch and a small bruise/temporarily weak arm that lasts a few days is definitely worth it when you compare it with the benefits.  MY ONLYYYY wish in this matter is if somehow (I know it’s unreasonable) the blood center would be able to tell us if someone survived off the blood that I donated.  I feel like it would be a great incentive to get more people to donate, afterall, who doesn’t like to feel important.  Personally, if the idea of doing a good deed doesn’t feel like a reward at the time, the fact that donors get free shortbread cookies and beverages is also a plus 🙂 O YEA, I forgot to mention…….I really am The Indian Dream.

If you are keeping up with my blogs, you may remember that I pretty much had a bad feeling about Baruch. Well….I pretty much have most of those feelings still, but a lot of it has changed.  For example, although I was worried about making a lot of friends in college, I’m fine with the few close friends I made whom are also in most of my classes.  A few weeks ago, scheduling began for the Spring Semester, and I was kind of upset that I’m not in the same classes with most of my friends.  It makes me wonder what our relationship will be like after Spring.  I’ve recently been going to the library the past week every day after class to study for upcoming finals in a last minute effort to boost my grade.  I took the elevator to the top floor where it’s less crowded and more quite.  When I got to the top, I saw a few kids from my Calculus class.  I’ve been going there every day and meeting more of the Macaulay kids. I never thought that the LIBRARY is where I would make friends, nor did I ever think that THAT’s the place we would hang out. I envy the group for not getting into the program (which I still don’t understand why because I did better than a lot of them in high school), but also because they have a really close bond with each other.  Their personalities all blend together with each other, which makes it fun and easy for me, as an outsider, to converse with them.  It also made me realize that Calc was the only class that I had that didn’t have 100+ students, so I’m getting a little upset that it’s almost over and I may not see the rest of those classmates again.  If I could do first semester over again, I would go to the library more to study after class.  What need to I have to go home right away? Just to watch TV?  I know I can do better in school, but I just want some kind of inspiration/ motivation to keep my grades higher.  I have SOOO much reading for my classes to do and my super duper long commute doesn’t make it easier for me to get work done.  Between school, sleep, commuting, and the very little amount of homework that I do, I don’t have time for much extra studying because I MUST set aside at least an hour a day to ME TIME, where I can just watch TV and relax.  Most people would say they have changed in college.  I can’t really say that I have.  I’m still the same slacker who has had senioritis since 11th grade.  I still make people laugh all the time, which is my daily goal.  I might say the only thing different is that, I’m keeping a bit more facial hair, and spending a lot more money.  I’m worried about next semester.  My schedule is spread out, I have more and harder classes, I will still be commuting, and I won’t have Fridays off anymore.  I need someone who has been in my position or knows me well enough to tell me I will be fine and I will do well.  More importantly….I need to believe them.

Well my experience at Baruch College wasn’t exactly as i had to picture it to be back in August. I knew what I was getting myself into with my education but with Baruch being a commuter school I didn’t think time and assignments would wind down on us so fast. It feels like 3 weeks ago we were beginning our journey into college and with finals week coming up It’s all about finishing off strong. I feel as grades wise I could’ve done much better but I think I did alright, what I would do differently is interact with more of my peers build relationships and connections. I feel as I have changed for the better ever since I started school at Baruch because I now see how hard work pays off and how being persistent gets you the A in school.