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I would describe myself as an 18 year old, white, catholic, Italian and Irish college student. I’m a son, a grandson, friend, nephew, and brother. I enjoy playing basketball and I love eating new foods. I completely hate heights. Baruch is going decent so far. Too many classes are pointless in the school for my major. I plan to go into finance and hope to have a successful career with a degree from Baruch College. I wish I was more confident in myself and hope I can learn to be by my experiences through college.

Cold is all I remember.

I was forced to do community service before in high school, at least 5 hours every semester. This means twenty hours of community service per year which means in my entire high school career eighty hours of community service. Not to mention the community service I did in the summer is completely disregarded because I have to do community service during that semester in the school year. Frankly, I don’t give a damn. I have other things to worry about, this is like swatting an annoying fly that won’t go away. But at least I remain committed to it. If I have a task I will still finish it.

Imagine my expression when I realized I had to do even more community service in college. I thought that was done with but apparently not. Anyway, our living community decided to go to the Making Strides: Breast Cancer walk on Sunday October 16. The walk starts at 7, which means I had to walk up at 6:20. This was alright on weekdays since I have school but on a weekend when the MTA system is unpredictable and annoying? Worse yet, it was still early in the morning and it was freezing. We had to stand around in the cold. I admire that walkers, for enduring that weather and smiling at the same time.

Community service I guess can be interpreted as the humanistic side of business. Non profit organization go out of their way to help people without an intent of having any type of profit besides doing a good deed. And that is a nice reminder in society today.

Honestly, if I tried harder and expected more out of myself I could have done a lot more for the community service. Alas, it was not meant to be and I am not going out of my way to repeat the experience.

I am still traveling down that road called life.

I am exiting one stage and entering another.

I stand here firmly in the present:

attempting to look forward in the future

and yet afraid to continue my journey.

I look hesitantly into my past

the memories that remain grow hazy

but the experiences become vivid.

If I look in a dictionary and search for my name,

I find no meaning

the entry is blank.

So I take a pen and write

the pen hesitates before meeting the paper.

What defines me?

Do I write my meaning or do others write if for me?

Should I leave it blank and expect it to write itself?

Still, I attempt to write something

but I grow frustrated and dislike the entry I have given myself.

I cross it out.

The blot is ugly and I immediately regret what I have done.

Then I realize why the entry remains blank,

it is because I am still traveling down that road called life.

I don’t know what I like best about myself, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I see it more as I like everything about myself. Therefore, there is nothing I don’t like about myself. I identify myself as a white American male who lives in New York State. I am also a son and a brother who looks up to my parents. I know that I may not agree with them, but they have been through what I am going through now. I always respect guidance given to me although I may not listen to it. I am afraid of heights and I am not a fan of spiders. Succeeding in my endeavors and being with other people makes me happy. My family is important to me. I would like to increase my musical ability. I am enjoying school right now. I’ve made friends, classes are going well, and I’m enjoying my days off. I’m doing well in my classes and I am managing my work well. I’m just here to have a good time.

I Think I am a coqui. A coqui is a national animal of Puerto Rico. Its a small frog that can only be found in Puerto Rico. The reason I think I’m a coqui is because Puerto Rican culture is a big part of who I am.  The music I listen to, the sports I watch, the food I eat and the way I speak my spanish. I am all about Boxing and baseball; I am all about rice and beans; I am all about slasa and bachata. I was born and raised in the South Bronx but as a kid I would go to Puerto Rico every summer to be with my family. I am Boricua to the bone.

As I came into Baruch three of my top concerns were writing essays, making friends, and keeping up with all the work. Since Baruch is a commuter its harder to make friends that a college with a campus and dorms. And as far as my wrting goes, I had challenges with high school writing so I know I’m going to struggle in College. But So far my experience at Baruch has been great. It has been different from high school because I pend more time studying outside of class than I do inside of class. I think after my first year in college will change me for the better.  I’m going to be more independent and have better writing skills and study habits.

Good afternoon, I am Ivana, although many prefer to call me Eve. I was born and raised into a lower middle class family living in a third world European country. Life over there is a lot different than in the States. There’s actual law and security while over there it is pure chaos. It’s a good thing we moved here in 2001. The “ghetto” here does not even compare, this country is far better. As an immigrant, I can define myself as a harder worker than most because I have been brought here to learb, if I don’t it’s a fail. That is what has lead all my life all these years. As an entering freshman, I ammostly worried about the workload I will be handed. Apart from that I am unsure how difficult it will be to meet new people and also how easy it will be to maintain a relationshop with these people in a commuter school. I think what truly makes this expirience more different than high school is is the piles of homework that I am certainly not used to having. I think this first year will hep turn me into a far more responsible person and also end my procrastination on just about everything.

My name’s Sam and I’m just another freshman at Baruch. I spent half my life in Brooklyn, went to PS97, then IS228 (best years of my childhood, I miss the food fights), and John Dewey for high school. I’m not going to brag about this and that since I’m fairly modest.

I enjoy the outdoors. Admiring the nature’s beauty is a hobby of mine, but only when I’m with friends since when I’m alone, I lack the motivation to do a lot of things. This directly translates to laziness and procrastination, which is why I’m blogging in the last 30 minutes on the due date. I’m trying hard to get rid of this trait of mine, but it’s a tough fight.

Reading or watching anything that has to do with the military (i.e. firearms, fighter jets) is another hobby of mine.

I also like good food, coffee (Starbucks is a ripoff), biking, soccer, cars, black comedy, sitcoms, ’80s music, and video games. One thing that bothers me is the horrendous grammar mistakes people make on the internet. People don’t seem to understand the differences between “your” and “you’re”, “their” and “there”, “where” and “were”, and so on. What’s wrong with them? English isn’t my first language and I don’t have a tough time distinguishing the differences. Surprising, huh?

My top 3 concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College… I believe they’re quite common and obvious.

1. Maintaining a high GPA – Everyone wants to be the top dog, what other explanation is needed here? I just hope my procrastination won’t get in the way.
2. Internships – I need to get myself to the STARR center someday and get a head start. It’s not easy to get a job and I could use some experience/extra money. I’ve never had a real job in my life and I worry about not being able to support myself by the time I graduate and having to leech off my parents.
3. Making friends, networking, and outgoing-ness – Baruch’s a commuters’ college, networking might be difficult unless I really put time into a club/fraternity/etc. Hopefully I’ll find some awesome people to hang with for the rest my life, or at least a close friend to have lunch with everyday?

What will make my college experience different from my high school experience? Read on.

• Longer commute time
• More independence; less support; self reliance
• Maybe a part time job
• Walking by more people I don’t know
• Not having to walk through snow and ice skating rinks to get to school since I’m off for the winter semester
• Lack of sleep

I think my first year at Baruch will make me a more independent person, not exactly more mature (how do you define maturity?), and change my mind about the amount of stupid people that inhabit this planet.
“Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein

Ron Paul 2012!

I think I am one of the species Homo Sapiens, who lives in New York City, and attends Baruch College. I’m sorry if you don’t agree, but that’s who I think I am. I also think I am fairly outgoing, very sarcastic, and decently intelligent. Aside from that, I also think myself an efficient person, and very open-minded.

My top three concerns are; grades, career, and money. I want to get really good grades, and that causes a good amount of stress, even though I cannot call the course materiel hard (which gives even more reason for me to need good grades). I’m also worried about getting started in my career, finding internships, etc. And everyone worries about money.

I think Baruch College will be easier than my high school. With only 3 days of class a week, it’s not a lot of school. There’s enough homework to keep one busy for a few hours, but I’m used to doing the same amount of homework daily back in high school. It’s also slightly amusing that I am taking the similar classes in college as I took in senior year of high school (Calc, law/politics, philosophy,etc).

I think my first year at college will change me…how? I suppose I will be using the word ‘college’ in present tense and not future tense…

Maham, when I hear my name the first thing that comes to mind is , Pakistani American Muslim. I’m a very hard working person, I wish for everyone to smile, and I hope that one day where ever I am, I will make everyone around me happy.  I’m very loving and caring. I’m a role model for my little sister. Many of my friends know me inside and out; I’m an open book, well after you get to know me.  Like if you’re not a friend you would never know that I listen to Korean music or even the fact that I watch Japanese dramas. That I have a big fear of animals, no matter how cute they are.My top three concerns in college are, finding friends, getting use to the college atmosphere, and being able to handle the work load. After coming to college though all these concerns are gone, thanks to the block program.  I have made a few friends that are helping me get use to the college atmosphere, as well as the work load.  Everything is falling into place. Baruch is different from high school for the very fact that I have to go on the bus and subway every day. The protected child has to face the real world. This change is just a very big one on its own, but another change is the very fact I’m no longer in Queens, and now in the city. I can finally explore the city and learn what’s it’s all about.  The changes I expect after my first year of college in my life , is being more independent, yet learn that I will always have help available if I need it.The changes and concerns may be the same for many other freshmen, yet the way we face them and experience will always be different.  I will always be my unique self, and they will always be their unique self.

Before entering Baruch I knew myself as a student from Brooklyn Technical High School. I am a person that does not mind helping people out when they need it, whether it was through Red Cross helping those who I didn’t really know to working at camps like Overseas Chinese Mission to teach little kids things that would be coming up in their next school year. At school I may not be the smartest kid in the school or even in the class, but I would work hard to master the things from that class. Aside from just Tech classes I  also took Chinese classes because I thought it was weird that a Chinese person does not know how to read or write in Chinese.

One of the concerns that I have for this year is that travel time to and from school would be longer than it was in high school. Especially since there are classes that start in the afternoon, there are more chances that there would be planned service changes and that aren’t always posted inside each train. Next is that I would have dedicate more time to study for my tests. In Tech an all-nighter cramming session was all I needed, but I can tell it is not going to be that easy. The last thing is that I have to limit my procrastination and get enough sleep per night so I could stay awake for all of my classes.

I think that Baruch would be different from high school is that there would be breaks between each class so I could have a breather period. Then there is a two and a half hour break that would allow me to go to club, go for a walk and go eat. In addition, it would be different that classes end at different times each day and I don’t have to go to school every single day and still get credit for them.

The first year of Baruch would change me because I would be less of a procrastinator and would make me more active inside the school. By being more active it would be to join more clubs, especially since the school has so many things to offer to students. In addition, I would probably end up doing more things ahead of time so I don’t have to worry about them until the last minute, but I think that’s going to take a bit more time.