FRO12 BRB

My favorite enrichment workshop has to be the one where we all sat in a circle and shared our biggest problems we faced while transitioning to college life. Baruch is very different than the traditional life because most of the students commute to the school. With this being said, there is little to do around school out side clubs. Because of this, Baruch feels much like high school, except with more people and a lot more work. I liked this enrichment workshop because it helped me to understand that the stress i was feeling and the change i had to go through wasn’t hard only for me, but for everyone else. We all shared our problems and possible solutions. This really helped me to feel more comfortable with my classmates and it helped me to realize that there were people that had it worse than me.  During this workshop, I learned a lot of helpful tips and it helped me to fix my problem of procrastination. I learned that I had a lot of similar problems as my classmates. We had problems waking up on time, getting to school on time and getting our work done on time too. A lot of people had problems balancing their social life with their education and it made me feel relieved that i wasn’t the only one.

source: http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/5618652_700b.jpg

I chose this photo because I thought it was funny but at the same time it describes how I’ve been feeling so far at Baruch. The work load can be quite overwhelming and can really frustrate me. Sometimes, i find it nearly impossible to do the homework. The difficulty can make it very time consuming. This mainly applies to papers and essays. They can take up weekends and i often work late into the night. I miss out on sleep and I am always tired. I  find it really hard to balance out work and my personal life. Homework takes up a lot of my time and it leaves me with very little time for my social life. through the last three months, it has been a struggle to balance homework and socializing. Homework is an important part of learning and reinforcing what you learned in class. However, it is very time consuming and it can be quite difficult. It makes me question whether if there is really time for homework. Although i feel this way, I know my priorities. School comes before everything else even if it means doing my homework and having no time to socialize and relax.

My favorite enrichment workshop hands down was the museum. It was really short, and we BARELY saw anything, but it definitely sparked my interests. I’m really intrigued by other cultures and other points of view. I like to see how other people see the world and how they live their lives differently from mine. From what we did see I can tell there is a lot of history in that building. History I personally would like to know more of just for the sake of knowing. I feel that when you understand the ways of the world more, then you build yourself to be a better person. The fact that we get in for free is also pretty cool, even though it was decently cheap.

http://m.distort.org/di/graffiti-20.jpg (link)

I chose this image because it’s wild. Everywhere. Chaos. A blur. That’s exactly how my first few months at Baruch has gone

Not that it has been bad. Actually, in my eyes that’s a good thing. It means I’ve been busy living my life. Every moment has been used and every second had a purpose. I didn’t have time to be lazy or distracted or anything BUT focused. These past few months have forced me to be exactly what I wanted to be, and that’s determined.

I’ve always been a fan of street art. Murals, graffiti, you name it I like it. What I love so much about graffiti is that it’s raw, but controlled at the same time. With the rough edges comes character. Discipline. It can only go so far. It spreads itself to its own capacity, and when it can’t go any farther it stops. And through the picture’s journey of “finding itself”, it obtains color in the process. It earns its street stripes that give it its niche. Its edge. You won’t fine any two pieces of graffiti the same. They’re like fingerprints. Or better yet, urban snowflakes.

At the end of my time at Baruch, I want to be that much closer to knowing exactly how far I can go. What standards I can push and what challenges I can conquer. It’s more than just book smarts. I want my experience at Baruch to be a total life experience that I can look back on years from now and say that I learned a lot during that time. And so far that has happened. In just 3 months I feel that I’ve become so much more goal oriented than I was in the past. I understand now that there’s no looking back to high school, and now I really have to be independent. For good.

But it’s cool. I’m ready.

The picture I chose will probably relate to just about everybody’s experience in pre-calculus.  Our professor barely taught, moved at a pace faster than the speed of light, and was extremely unapproachable.  According to RateMyProfessors.com, his in-class exams are much easier than the departmental final given at the end of the semester, causing students’ confidence to build up after the exams, only to be crushed by the devastating blow that is the final exam.  He would also show up to class about 15 minutes after its scheduled start-time, and end class a half hour early, muttering something about an appointment.  In addition to the lack of actual teaching I’d experienced in this class, the professor wouldn’t slow down a lecture if a dinosaur busted down the classroom door and ate a student.  A student had once asked him to slow down the lecture because the class was having trouble keeping up with his hurried pace, and he answered with a muffled, “It’s on the board so just copy it…”  He must have been under the impression that everyone already learned college level pre-calculus in high school.  When questioned about the very homework he assigned, the professor often responded with, “I can’t help you with that” or even “I’m not sure what this question is asking.”  I’ll stop myself here before I go into a vicious personal attack on this guy.  Most people cannot pick up a math textbook and teach themselves pre-calculus.  I’m not necessarily saying that all professors should be experts at relaying their knowledge to their students, but many students would appreciate a little effort.

My favorite enrichment workshop was Baruch Voices.  It was interesting to hear some of the things that freshman outside our schedule block were going through.  Some of the people had written about some pretty tough times, and it was nice to see how they used those experiences to learn.  It’s nice to see that, despite the hardships they had went through, they are still pursuing a college education.  Besides the fact that it showed perseverance in fellow freshman, it was pretty entertaining.  The actors and actresses were great, they conveyed plenty of enthusiasm and incorporated humor when they had the chance.  Some of the monologues selected were pretty funny, too, especially the one that let the audience think the narrator was talking about a girl he liked, but revealed that he was actually just talking about cigarettes in the end.  The Baruch Voices workshop displayed the literary skills the class of 2016 brings to the table as well.  The monologues were engaging and interesting, it was hard to believe at times that people my age had written some of the great stuff being acted out on the stage.  It was pretty cool to hear Kevin’s monologue read, too.

My favorite enrichment workshop was when students from my block and I attended the Voices monologue performance. Because I enjoy visual and performing arts, this enrichment workshop was especially a treat for me to experience with my friends. It was remarkable to see and hear the different stories, experiences, and perspectives that my peers are have gone through—even if I do not know them personally yet. The Voices monologue has taught me to never judge a book by its cover—as cliché as that sounds. Everyone has his or her own story and experience that has developed him or her into the person they are today. Although looks are deceiving as we walk by thousands of different students on a day-to-day basis, the Voices monologue served to augment my perceptions of Baruch students. Not only has the Voices monologue allowed me to understand my peers much better, but it also provided me with a sense of comfort and belongingness. I always thought that I was the only person who had internal issues that no one understood. However, when I realized that other freshmen students had the same struggle, I felt a sense of relief and contentment that I was not a psycho that had these mental thoughts in which I myself found odd and weird. I truly hope that the future freshmen classes will all get to watch the Voices and relate with their peers on a personal level.

Dear Professor Trapani

I am writing this about the midterm that took place yesterday. I am sorry I could not make due to my illness. Can you please reschedule it for me on another day? Please reply as soon as you can. Thank you!

Your student,

Kalden Tsering

The first week

I was like lets eat some halal food

Its cheap and looked good

Had some chicken over rice

and i was like wow this is pretty nice

The second week

Lets switch up the meat

I got me lamb over rice

I sat in a seat

and I was like wow this is pretty nice

The third week

Lets combine the meat

Lamb and chicken meat

Every bite was different

and I was like wow this is pretty nice

The fourth week

Lets combine the meat

and combine all the sauces

after i ate

i got a stomachache

went to bathroom

and created havoc and doom

The fifth week

now the halal cart messes up my mood

No more halal food

I am sick of it

It taste like shit

Dear, professor.

I am having trouble connecting to one of the websites for this weeks assignment. Where is the link? Or can you possibly email me the link? I would also like to talk to you concerning the material and how I am doing in the course. you may email me whenever you are, thank you for your time.

Yours truly, brandon rodriguez