Who do I think I am?

Answer: I’m David Soria; a nonchalant, easy going guy just living life.

What are my top 3 concerns about freshman year?

Answer: My first concern is how I’m going to be able to handle the new work environment and workload. Ive never found it necessary to put much effort or work into anything but now that I’m in college I realize that i will have to treat school differently. Another concern of mine is whether I want to remain in Baruch College or not. I don’t want to waste my time in a college not suited for me. My last concern is that I have fun; I am in my youth and although i realize school is important so is having fun.

How will college change me?

Answer: I am unable to foresee the future, so I can’t really answer this question. Most likely I will become more mature after having gone to college.

Monologue
I seriously doubt that more than three people in this class know my name. So what am I supposed to talk to a group of strangers about? Maybe introduce myself. “Hi my name is Julissa. A lot of people call me Julie”.
The reason many of you do not know me well isn’t because I have a social issue or dislike anyone here, I simply have time management issues. I registered for my classes late. I arrive to class late if at all (by the way the attendance policy here at Baruch is highly annoying) and haven’t really felt the motivation to give any of my classes this year my all. I’m slacking this year.
In high school, I easily got straight A’s and made it to both school and work on time. Now in college, definitely the more important institute, I can’t seem to find the will. After class I’m a real “go-getter”. I haven’t been unemployed since I was about 14 years old. Everyone outside of this building knows me to be responsible and logical. I cannot seem to figure why this is such a trouble to me, so that’s as far as the topic will go.
A five minute monologue, and I have about four more minutes to go. I could tell you all about something I find really interesting or purposely bore you. Since this is my first impression with most people here, I’ll be kind.
I currently work at a clothing store, American Apparel. We’re one of the distributors for a publication called Vice Magazine. It’s creative and funny and gross and they give the company free advertisement for the handouts. I was flipping through some of the pages earlier in the month and came across an article on seasteading. A seasteader is someone so fed up with life here in the United States, or where ever it is they’re loathing life, that he/she finally decides to build their own country in International waters.
This is totally legit and legal. Eric Klien is one of the big names in this biz. He’s a libertarian as most seasteaders are which means he values individual liberty. Klein began the Atlantis project in the late 90’s with some success. True, there is no current Nation of Atlantis due to a millionaire or two losing hope in the idea, but he’s back on the map with the Lifeboat Foundation.
The Lifeboat Foundation will basically be an international medical haven for those seeking cures the FDA may not have approved yet or American researchers haven’t looked into. This seems crazy to average joes like us kind folk but the movement is real. We can all be president. Maybe even king or queen.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/XjMQmXAJ3y4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Who do I think I am?
This question is still confusing as I’m sure it is for most of my peers. I work hard to be able to save and attend school but don’t have time for any school work. I think I am confused.
What are my top 3 concerns about freshman year?
1. failing
2. losing touch with my friends
3. giving up on myself
How is college different from high school so far?
I wasn’t forced to drop a class if I was absent more than 3 times. I’m a good student and I’m smart. I also have a job and get tired. My professors have a lot to do as well I’m sure. Sympathy would be grrrreeeeeatt.
How will college change me?
How do I know?

Imagine spending your days surrounded by the same 27 people. I’m not even talking about 27 people offering diversity and different opinions, I’m talking about 27, cookie-cutter cliché white teenagers all residing in a town with ten ton snow banks, bucolic beauty and very little else. It was only natural for us kids to soon become a unit; bonding over our identical lives and becoming a family. As a family my classmates and I fought a continuous war against the judgmental, overtly critical eyes of a tiny town, filled with tiny minded people. During the end of my senior year all I wanted was to be in New York City, surrounded by the different rather than the same, but I can’t deny it, I was petrified for the end. Then time sort of just happened, and without even blinking, I was on a stage in a potato sack with a piece of cardboard on my head getting repeatedly hit in the face with a bouncing tassel surrounded by the most important people in my world.

I was so proud on that day, not only because I was done with a major chapter of life, but because that was the day I realized the good I had found within the walls of Sunapee Middle High School. When I looked at all my gorgeous classmates, I was lucky enough to look into the eyes of 27 of my best friends, friends who had been with me through good, bad, ugly and everything in between. 27 kids who were once marked as “the bad class”, but who I knew would go on to change the world. We grew up in town that told us we could do anything, whilst constantly shutting down any change we tried to make, in favor of the most “appropriate” path. But we had won. In my moment of reflection time rushed past and before I knew it, it was time for my speech. As I approached that microphone I saw the faces of the class of 2012 before me and all I wanted to do was look every single one of them square in the eye and let them know, Do NOT stand for it. Fight for who you are, stick together with your peers, have each others back because, you are stronger together. Never stop thinking; the power of the mind is stronger than any weapon of corruption they might use against you. The path is long and it is tough but once you have reached the end, if you still have yourself and you have one another, you’ve made it out alive. Just be you guys. You can make it, just like we did. But that’s not what did happen, because as I looked into the eyes of the younger class my peripherals focused in on the deputy principle of the tiny academic home in which I was about to depart, her hand fixed tightly on the microphone switch, glaring at me from the shadows. We locked eyes and our earlier conversation flashed to mind,
“I swear to god if anybody even tiptoes off of the speech we have approved, I will cut your mic and you will ruin graduation for everyone. This day is not about you guys, it is about our school. Don’t make your graduation, about you.”So I did what they demanded, one last time, and spieled off a speech of cliches filled with praise and every form of flattery I knew my community was dying to drink down.
The Jordan who stood on that stage, a blur of emotion seems like a completely different individual to the one who is before you now. I am so much different than whoever that was, I am finally a member of adulthood, living on my own in a city so foreign to the Australian oceans and New Hampshire woods in which I was raised, surrounded by strangers, diverse and different. Free of everything Sunapee is, and all it stands for, free to be the change I wish to see in the world. Free to meet people who are not clones of myself, free to be surrounded by culture and change, free to be everything that I was always told not to be. Yet one thing still remains, I am still a part of an entity bigger than myself. I’m living 27 disconnected lives because a piece of me is everywhere they are.I owe my world to those people and in a weird way to Sunapee as well, Because of them I have no fear. None at all, failure isn’t even in my vocabulary do you want to know why? Because I’m never alone, I’m part of a family who has been through hell and high waters, judged together, laughed together, arrested together, and who still managed to make it out on top.

My name is Soyoung Kwon, or Skwonny,Skwonto,Skwon, or Soybean as I am so colloquially called back at home. I wanted to be able to say that home USED to be Connecticut and that I’ve made New York into my new home, but that wouldn’t be very accurate. What makes “home” home for me is the network of friends I have. Being a part of the music scene in Connecticut has made my network of friends branch from Southington to just about the entire state. Even though I’m having the time of my life in the city, I still miss being able to arrive to shows alone and know the bands, venue owners, promoters, and kids equally as friends.

Since I’ve moved to New York, I’ve been to 4 shows. At each show, I noticed the obvious differences in the scenes. At the hardcore show, I saw the guys sporting other band shirts, beards and skinny jeans discussing the Boston hardcore scene or how awful such and such’s new album is. At the electronic show, the guys had their thick rimmed glasses, disheveled hair and were discussing new equipment and illegal substances. The other two were an instrumental and an experimental band, both with very different groups of people. Despite the conflicting genres, these shows all had something in common, something that is depicted at every show nationwide: circles of friends; the friends whose entire relationship is based on a shared interest in the same music. These friends are usuals at shows and can be seen together at all times. I was always a part of one of those “circles” since my very first local show in the 7th grade. I felt a pang of homesickness at each of these shows, but then I realized that I traded this sense of comfort and familiarity for the opportunity of something greater.

What I need to remember is that Connecticut may be “home”, but it definitely is not where the heart is. I’ve rummaged throughout Connecticut so much that there’s nothing left to excavate; it can’t offer me anything else. So what CAN offer me something?

“New York City, the Mecca and hub of the cultural world” -Stevo, SLC Punk,1998

• I never really missed high school and I still do not. High school for me was a really fun time that had a great ending. I think to myself sometimes that all good things come to an end and it is okay to move on.
• College is full of all different kinds of people, experiences, cultures, and new friends. It seems at times I am taking on something bigger than me. But this makes the challenge “oh so much sweeter”.
• College is a lot more involved with you being on top of your school work. It takes a lot more studying to do well on a test, rather than when you were in high school. This for me has to be the hardest aspect of college thus far. I can’t start to explain how I used to get 80’s and 90’s on tests in high school without studying. I am a good audio learner and that will be very helpful in the next 4 years.
• Studying and school work isn’t just what college is all about for me. The experience is what it is about too. Now I’m not going to sit here and act like we all aren’t thinking the same thing. The parties, the clubs and those crazy nights that Facebook will replay for you via mobile upload. Choosing Baruch wasn’t just for academic purposes, “Hello we are in New York City.” Shopping central of America, any kind of food you can think of and the most amazing night life. This is one of the perks to going to school in Manhattan.
• Now back on a serious note, I want to major in business marketing. I want to focus on fashion or make up. I truly have a passion for both. I wake up every day and those are the first two things I think of, what am I going to wear? And what make up am I going to put on today? Rachel Zoe who is a celebrity stylist inspires me. She has an amazing look on fashion and dresses amazing herself. Kim Kardashian wears stunning make up and clothes that are always being spoken about. I would love to promote something I am passionate about and show others that wearing what you want makes a fashion statement.
• 

Me at my Senior Prom, being my funny self and enjoying every moment. :]

This is possibly one of the more confusing things I’ve had to write, as I’m not sure how it’s supposed to go exactly. My name is Krystal. I was born and raised in Queens,  New York. I’m colombian. Right now, I’m on the path, hopefully the right path, to the future I have envisioned for myself. The free writes we wrote in class are really not helping this monologue. I guess I’ll just blab on about what I hope for myself. I’m hoping of course to graduate college, mostly to be more of a well rounded individual. My dream since I was really little is to be a pastry chef, and I am going to go to culinary school after I graduate college. Hopefully my college degree will allow me to work in the food industry beyond just the kitchen as well just because I like being able to try different things.

College hasn’t been what I thought or heard of it to be.. If that makes sense? I was always told it was so hard and that the people are so different, mature…But I feel as if it has been the total opposite of what I have heard for so long. Yeah, it’s hard but when I was younger, with the things they said, they made college seem like a nightmare. I am excited a little about being able to pick my own classes next semester, and cannot wait to be done with the core classes as well. I’m hoping these 4 years are the fastest of my life because I just want to hurry up and graduate. I actually really dislike classes like these, where I have to talk about myself, or even classes that involve group work, but I do understand that unfortunately that’s what its like in the “real world”.Uhmm.. there isn’t really much to discuss. One thing I can honestly say I’m excited about in college is studying abroad, which I’m really hoping I get the chance to do.  This is the most random paper I’ve ever written.

The picture I have attached is one my cousin made for me, she is 5 and I just thought it was cute. Although I look absolutely nothing like the picture, it was still sweet.

Post the monologue you’ve developed in your seminar, along with a self portrait (which can be a photography, an image, a cartoon, a drawing, or some other depiction of how you see yourself).

1. Who do I think I am?

My name is Zahava, I am a Jewish American, from a half israeli and half american background. I am a daughter, a sibling to three other kids in my family, a friend and a student. I am a social and fun girl who is always up to having a good time, but also love relaxing on my own and doing my own thing. I love going out, but also love coming home. I’m living in the city now and I love it. I have always been a city girl and now i can take full advantage of it. My biggest hobby is dancing, I have been dancing for years and hopefully will continue for a while.

2. What are my top 3 concerns about my freshman year?

a. my biggest concern is not being able to keep up. I think I am a good worker and don’t get too overwelmed but i am very nervous for midterms and finals.

b. my next concern is not being able to decide what i want to do and what i want to major in

c. my last concern is not registering for good classes second semester! I have no idea which classes to take..

3. how is college different from high school so far?

I went to a Jewish High School, and had a double carriculum. I started school at 8:15 and didnt finish untill around 5:30 everyday. I had all the regular english subject and also Hebrew and biblical studies. In college i have so much free time and not as much work! The work in college is more important and feels like it matters more, but I feel like i have so much time to do it which is awesome. College is also different because i met so many people from different backgrounds and ethnicities, and in my High School everyone had simiar jewish backgrounds. I love that i am able to meet different kinds of people and learn more about different values and customs.

4. How will college change me?

Its hard to answer so early in my college experience, but I am hoping that College will give me a very clear idea of exactly what I want to do, and teach me to work hard until I get there. I hope to meet a lot of people and help me learn how to adjust to all different situations and people. I want to keep growing and maturing and am excited for the experience.